"The situation in Sweden must be real bad as even lice have begun to emigrate to America."

It’s time for our first 2017 Listener’s Choice episode! Pony Prize winner Finn Frode, who’s from Norway but living in Sweden, won and selected a Swedish film with one of his favorite Norwegian actresses – Liv Ullmann. The film he selected is the first half of Jan Troell’s epic tale of immigration – 1971’s The Emigrants. Join us – Pete Wright and Andy Nelson – as we dig into our latest listener’s choice film.

We talk about the importance of the film in Sweden and how the books upon which it’s based are perceived there. We discuss the nature of this film and how it’s quite powerful, but at the same time a difficult film to watch due to its filming style, the story it’s telling and its duration. We chat about the actors – notably Max Von Sydow and Ullmann – and what they’re bringing to the table. And we hit on the strange and discordant music and how it works in a film like this. 

It’s a great film and certainly put us both in a place where we were ready to watch the follow-up. So check out this movie then tune in!

Film Sundries

• Watch this film: iTunes • Amazon
• Original theatrical trailer
• Original poster artwork
• The Emigrants Novels: Book 1 by Vilhelm Moberg
• Flickchart
• Letterboxd
• The New Land Theme by John Denver
  Trailers of the Week
• Andy's Trailer: The Bride — "I don’t know what to make of this crazy Russian film. The trailer seems to tell two stories, but perhaps one of those is just the actual film’s prologue? Who knows but it looks nuts, and don’t expect any help from the terrible synopses written on IMDb or Wikipedia. I think I want to see this just to see if it’s as much a mess as this trailer makes it look."
• Pete's Trailer: Bright — "Yeah, I didn’t need to see the trailer after I’d read that Taron Edgerton would be playing the first Orc cop, but then I watched it. Did you catch Noomi in blue (skin)? Another hot Netflix get for December."

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