The Emigrants

First half of a two-film adaptation of a quartet of novels by Vilhelm Moberg: an austere, long, and picturesque recreation of the hardships which led Swedish farmers in the 1850s to leave home and travel in search of a better life in America. It's very slow, subtly acted, and if you can last the course, quite moving. Troell not only directed, but also photographed, co-scripted and edited the film, which becomes something of an assertion of human courage, determination and dignity. The second part, The New Land, deals with the pioneers' arrival and settlement in America.