Post-Bergman
1. Pelle The Conqueror (1987)
“Pelle the Conqueror” is a vividly re-created, minutely detailed panorama of a particular time (the turn of the century), place (rural Denmark), and circumstance (life on a great farm) over the course of the four seasons. The observer is Pelle (Pelle Hvenegaard), a staunch, wide-eyed Swedish boy who has come to Denmark with his aging, destitute, and widowed father, Lasse (von Sydow).
Lasse has promised his son that Denmark will be a land of opportunity, a place of plentiful jobs, where pork is served on Sundays and butter is spread on bread. Instead, Lasse and Pelle are lucky to be hired as little better than indentured servants, underpaid, underfed, and overworked.
For the illiterate Lasse, who drinks too much and has no spine to fight, the farm is the end of the line. For Pelle, it is his introduction to an adult world in which rewards and punishments are thoroughly scrambled and arbitrary power is exercised by the few.
The secret to demographic-crossing appeal of this film is the presence of the great von Sydow, an actor who had already become revered enough to command one of those boxes around his name in the credits (a strange and tacky tradition that one rarely sees anymore).
Indeed, so affecting was von Sydow in the part that he was able to overcome the Academy’s historic bias against non-English-speaking performers and score a Best Actor nomination. With his beet-red face, from the sun or the sauce or both, he turns his drunken, defeated patriarch into a truly tragic figure – a man who wagered everything on a better tomorrow and lost (his spirit is more or less broken from the second scene, which begins with him confidently declaring that he will not take the first job offer he gets and ends with him taking the first job offer he gets, but mumbling the same promise under his breath).
Von Sydow is capable of exuding dignity even when his character is being constantly robbed of it, which makes him among the most humane performers in cinema. He is truly heartbreaking here, grumbling about the respect he is constantly denied and trying to stand up for his bullied son, but finding himself too weak – in body and constitution – to do so.
The film, which won the Grand Prix at the 1988 Cannes Film Festival, was adapted by Bille August from Martin Andersen Nexo’s Danish novel. August’s previous film, “Twist and Shout”, was about teenagers coming of age in the 1960s. In tone and sometimes in visuals, the movie resembles “The Emigrants” and “The New Land” (1974). Both films star von Sydow, who is unsurpassed at the difficult challenge of appearing not to act, of appearing to be simple and true even in scenes of great complexity.
Despite all the mounting hardships and setbacks that “Pelle the Conqueror” depicts so remorselessly, the film, which thankfully has the respite of humor, does not seem to exaggerate its sufferings, but rather remind us just how unjust life can be. However, at every turn, we are made to realize that this film is about as far from Hollywood movies as possible, as it dashes expectations and becomes all the more real for doing so.
In this example, we can perceive the importance of making the most of transitory happiness – a picnic on the grass, a carnival, a kind gesture on the part of another – and also of perseverance. The film extends the utmost compassion to those whom life eventually defeats, but it never preaches despair.
2. The Exorcist (1973)
“The Exorcist” is an Oscar-winning psychological horror and drama film directed by William Friedkin, written and produced by William Peter Blatty, adapted from his best-selling novel, and “inspired” by true events.
The film follows actress Chris MacNeil and her 12-year-old daughter Regan, who begins to exhibit an explicit new personality as strange events befall the local area of Georgetown. Chris becomes torn between science and superstition in a desperate bid to save her daughter, and ultimately turns to her last hope: Father Damien Karras, a troubled priest who is struggling with his own crisis of faith.
For the role of Father Merrin, the studio wanted Marlon Brando, but Friedkin immediately vetoed this, stating that if Brando was in the film it would become a “Brando movie” instead of the important film he wanted to make. Few would dispute Friedkin’s choice of von Sydow as Father Merrin. Anecdotally, on the first day of filming the infamous exorcism sequence, Blair’s delivery of her foul-mouthed dialogue so disturbed the gentlemanly von Sydow that he actually forgot his lines.
In order to make von Sydow appear much older than his then age of 44, makeup artist Dick Smith first had to apply generous amounts of stipple to von Sydow’s forehead, eyes, and neck. His facial skin was then manually stretched as liquid latex was applied and when the latex dried, his taut skin was then released, causing the film of rubber to corrugate.
Released in the United States on December 26, 1973, “The Exorcist” electrified a generation of moviegoers who lined up for hours on end to see the film, only to run back out again due to its shocking and controversial scenes. The film struck a nerve with the unsuspecting public, and divided critics, going where no film had dared to go before.
“The Exorcist” went on to earn 10 Oscar nominations and won two: Best Sound and Best Adapted Screenplay. It would also be the first horror film to ever be nominated for the Oscar for Best Picture, losing out to “The Sting”.
After more than four celebrated decades and countless sequels, prequels, parodies, and rip-offs, it remains just as chilling and effective as it was when it first premiered, continuously topping the annual “Scariest Movies of All Time” lists and – when adjusted for inflation – it is still one of the highest grossing horror films of all time. In 2010, the film was selected to be preserved by the Library of Congress as part of its National Film Registry of culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant films.
3. Three Days of the Condor (1975)
“Three Days of the Condor” is a thriller about a low-level CIA operative named Joseph Turner who has the code name Condor (Robert Redford), who becomes entangled in a complex plot after all of his co-workers are murdered.
Von Sydow plays a freelance assassin known only as Joubert, who we first see leading the murders of Condor’s co-workers. He plays the assassin similarly to how Javier Bardem portrayed the serial killer character Anton Chigurh in “No Country For Old Men”, who goes about his task quickly and efficiently.
However, von Sydow does not exactly take the approach one might expect toward the role of an assassin who is too good at his job. More than simply an emotionally detached, psychopathic killer, von Sydow’s Joubert is that of a man who has chosen the profession that suits him best.
Von Sydow has such an ease and grace in his delivery that he allows one to understand exactly why Joubert does what he does, and even why he is able to do it without blinking an eye. Joubert describes it as refreshing, and even though what he is speaking about is killing for money, von Sydow’s performance deftly displays the killer’s eerie contentment.
As is usual with von Sydow — who is perhaps more overdue for an Oscar than any actor since Peter O’Toole — he is spot-on from the first scene and ends up a terrifying presence until the end, when we get to know more about his character’s nihilistic motives. “There is not cause. Only yourself,” Joubert advises Condor.
4. Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (2011)
On September 11, 2001, our world changed forever. On paper and looking back in 200 years’ time, it is a most fascinating story filled with tragedy, triumph, and unity. Buried deep inside the one big story are about 5,000 or so subplots of loved ones lost, loved ones found, people not being there that were supposed to be there, and countless other stories that will ring true for centuries to come.
Of course, there are the many revelations that the so-called “terrorist” attacks were not carried out by terrorists, but planned, executed, and overseen by the American government itself – rendering all the thousands of stories all the more gut-wrenching.
The subject matter of the September 11 attacks has been hit and miss over the years in the world of cinema. Only Paul Greengrass’ tear-jerking love letter to the victims of Flight 93 in his film “United 93” has ever been considered a respectful interpretation and deliverance of the dreadful day.
In the film “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close”, directed by Oscar nominated filmmaker Stephen Daldry, we are exposed to a different side of the realm of sorrow and heartache not thought of before.
The film tells the story of Oskar Schell (Thomas Horn), a 9-year-old boy whose father is killed on September 11, and embarks upon a quest to find the lock to a key found in his father’s pocket. Along the way, Oskar meets a variety of characters including the mysterious “renter” (von Sydow) living in his grandmother’s house.
Von Sydow, as the mute and mysterious “renter”, is perfectly controlled and beautifully executed. As a much-needed balance to an otherwise heavy and emotional film, von Sydow uses the most effective tools in his acting arsenal to convey a character that is easily written off as mute, but feels like he is screaming off the papers on which he writes.
5. Hamsun (1996)
In “Hamsun”, von Sydow gives a brilliant portrayal of the Nobel Prize-winning Norwegian poet-author Knut Hamsun (“Hunger” and “Growth of the Soil” are his best-known works), who was the only major European artist to support Adolf Hitler during World War II, and who stood trial for treason in 1945 at the age of 86. Hamsun was at the zenith of his fame when German forces moved in to occupy Norway, and his stature might have gone untarnished were it not for his rabid anti-British newspaper editorials displaying a blind spot toward Nazi wartime atrocities and Hitler’s thrust toward continental domination.
An unrelenting nationalist, Hamsun blamed the British for Norway’s minor role on the European political stage, and believed their readiness to come to Norway’s defense against the German occupation was a plot to broaden Britain’s sphere of influence on the continent; in vehement public statements and editorials, he accused Britain of being a racist imperialist threat to Europe.
That these charges could have been leveled at Germany eluded him – in fact, he was the only literary figure of prominence to pen an admiring obituary of Hitler – until his post-war incarceration, during which he was shown filmed documentation of the Nazi concentration camps.
The film covers the last 17 years of the author’s life, which ended in 1952 when he was 93, but the film is more than a story of misguided political allegiance. The desolate minefield that was the Hamsun marriage is a potent theme, and von Sydow embodies the writer’s self-involved isolation and his condescending chill toward his embittered wife, Marie (Ghita Nørby), a once-beautiful and popular actress condemned to suffer his emotional aridity and negligence, and their four adult sons and daughters whose youth was spent at boarding schools abroad so as not to interfere with their father’s wish to write in solitude.
Miraculously, only in Elinor (Anette Hoff), whose alcoholism leads to madness, is the damage visibly apparent. But Marie eases her discontent by fervently embracing National Socialism because of its glorification of marriage and motherhood. Meeting Vidkun Quisling – the puppet head of Norway’s occupation government, whose name would become synonymous with traitor – she timidly expresses her accord with his views, and recognizing her as the wife of their country’s most celebrated author, Quisling sees in her a valuable magnet for attracting women to the Nazi cause.
At his urging, she begins to give public readings of Hamsun’s poetry and books. Marie Hamsun is an example of the masses being the opiate of politics, for not only did her public appearances draw large audiences, they also ignited her long suppressed professional talent, which in turn served to enhance the national image of Hamsun, whose hearing was rapidly deteriorating.
Moreover, he was not conversant in German, while Marie spoke it fluently and relished his dependency on her as a translator. She proudly referred to herself as “the voice and the ears of Knut Hamsun” and, in furthering her own ambition, seized every opportunity to add nuance and embellishment to his public statements.
The extent to which Hamsun’s impaired hearing truly contributed to his Nazi sympathies (as was his defense when he was finally allowed his day in court) remains unresolved, but given the circumstances of his life at the time – the marital discord, partial deafness exacerbated by a language barrier, and years of writer’s block that rendered him creatively unproductive with hours passed playing solitaire – one might find some concurrence with those biographers and literary historians who attribute the excesses of his views to Marie’s influence and her ambitiously motivated Nazi fervor.
Like being a little bit pregnant, it is a moot argument, since their support ultimately led to their post-war incarceration – Marie in prison, Hamsun in a mental institution before his transfer to a rest home by a psychiatrist looking to advance his career through in-depth observation of the great writer.
“Hamsun” is an intriguing case study of the corrosive power of art over love and intimacy; that the couple’s marital bond was not only sustained but appears to have grown inviolable, right up until his death, is somehow perversely ennobling.
In the end, as in all of his personal relationships, Hamsun had his way and, desiring to regain the respect of his nation and clear his name, stood trial. He received an enormous fine that nearly ruined him, and in his final masterpiece, “On Overgrown Paths”, written in 1949 when he was 90 years old, he presented his interpretation of the case.
6. The Emigrants (1971)
Without Bergman, von Sydow returns with Liv Ullmann “The Emigrants”, directed and written by Jan Troell. It tells an expansive saga that deals with the Larsen family, who emigrate to the more fertile fields of Minnesota during the 19th century famine in Sweden. With painstaking detail, the director follows the Larsens as they make the perilous (and, to some of their fellow immigrants, fatal) journey by foot, steamer, train, and paddle boat.
The film, which originally ran 190 minutes but was pared down to 150 by its director for American consumption, earned Oscar nominations for Best Picture, Best Foreign Language Picture, Best Screenplay, Best Director, and Best Actress (Liv Ullmann). “The Emigrants” was followed by a sequel, “Nybyggarna” (“The New Land”); both films have been edited together for TV release under the title “The Emigrant Saga”.
The subsequent American TV series “The New Land” (1974) starred Bonnie Bedelia in the role created in “The Emigrants” by Liv Ullmann, and Scott Thomas in the patriarch role originated by von Sydow.
Though weighted with a world-weary bleakness not unlike that found in Bergman’s work, “The Emigrants” and its follow-up, “The New Land”, set out to test and ultimately confirm the salute to mutual affection enduring through the most difficult of times.
Through the films, which chart the voyage to, settlement in, and decades-long toil in America of a cluster of economically fragile and committedly Catholic Swedish peasants, Karl-Oskar Nilsson (von Sydow) and his wife, Kristina (Ullmann), weather miserable farming seasons, perpetually dwindling resources, seasickness, lice, pregnancies, deaths of loved ones, and threats from outside invaders.
That they repeatedly bend without breaking, spending their tragic final frames together with fingers interlocked, is a testament to the fact that, in spite of an approach that’s fraught with an almost cruel pattern of engineered hardship, Troell’s worldview is one of blinkered optimism at its base.