| Show z c gt CI t 7 rf r f Film Review THE NEW LAND LANDBy By COLLEEN BERRETT All too rare is the motion picture which provides a grand saga of life one that really lets you feel all the happiness and sadness that a family goes through in a lifetime The New Land continuing a long longrun longrun longrun run at the Villa Theater is a happy exception to that rule The Jan Swedish film distributed by Warner Brothers requires concentration concentration concentration tion and attention from its audience But as you stay with the saga of Swedish immigrants immigrants immigrants grants in in Minnesota in the you are literally caught up in their lives It is not a boring slow film who amazingly photographed and edited The New Land besides directing it and writing co-writing the screenplay screenplay screenplay screen screen- play has filled every scene with interest and the different moods of a family struggling for their lives The film picks up where The ended and takes a young Swedish emmi- emmi grant husband and wife played by Max Von Sydow and Liv Ullman Oilman as they begin clearing land for a home in hi the backwoods country of Minnesota in the We follow their lives from that time with three small children and Von Sydow's younger brother played by Eddie Ax worth for the next fifty years until the course of their lives has been run tun Along the way we see the travails of childbirth in the dead of a howling Minnesota winter the brother leaving for fora a futile try at riches in the California gold fields arrival of new neighbors and the growth of a new land Swedish settlement The Civil Wars War's effect on the family Indian attacks and the final helplessness of the father and mother against disease and death itself The moods of the film keep interest in it as they change The brilliant photography of the lush Minnesota which can be as vicious in w winter as it is beautiful in summer is captured But the main thing that carries The New Land is its it's sharp editing which changes moods effectively contrasting between the conflicts among the family members a great earthy humor about the basics of life and having children and strong suspense as the family is threatened by y the forces of nature Several sequences are standouts Filled with suspense suspense suspense su su- su- su is a dramatic winter blizzard where Von Sydow must kill his badly needed ox and slit open its it's stomach in order to wrap his young son inside the warm animals animal's belly and save the sons son's life rending Heart-rending and sad is the younger brothers brother's tragic trip to the gold fields in hi California Told by good u use e of flashbacks flashbacks flashbacks flash flash- backs it leads to his death after he returns back to the family and cant can't even get back the respect of his stern stem older brother The warm down to earth humor of Miss having to leave their first church service service service ser ser- ser ser- vice in years to take care of a achild's achild's achild's childs child's bathroom needs is part of the changing story Anyone who wondered what the fuss was about Miss Ullman's acting as seen in Lost Horizon and 40 Carats could have no doubts about her after seeing this film As a dutiful wife and mother still homesick for Sweden up to her death she can do more with a look of pain and sorrow than most actresses can accomplish with witha with witha a hundred lines And Max Von Sydow whose stern stem but ut loving o g image a as t the e father is IS brilliant fi fiand I and carries carnes th the film IS is also great as the brother j jOnce r Once in a while great family films with depth and meaning i like Sounder come along But The New Land different different different differ- differ ent in its it's length and ambitious sweep tries to bite off much more than that And except for a few minor flaws where the directors director's attention wanders at the end the movie is engrossing and powerful It Itis It J r. r is highly recommended J |
