Sweet Land

Synopsis: As Inge buries her husband Olaf on their Minnesota farm in 1968, we relive her life story as she tells her grown grandson about how she arrived from Germany in 1920 as Olaf's postal bride and of the obstacles they overcame in order to marry...
Genre: Drama, Romance
Director(s): Ali Selim
Production: Libero LLC
  9 wins & 2 nominations.
 
IMDB:
7.3
Metacritic:
75
Rotten Tomatoes:
85%
PG
Year:
2005
110 min
$1,265,486
Website
483 Views


- [Man] That's too heavy for traveling.

- [Woman Speaking Norwegian]

- Do you speak any English?

- English?

[Woman #2 Moaning]

- [Man #2] What's the matter with you?

- [Man] Come on. Over here.

Ja. Ja. Olaf, come on.

[Man Speaking Norwegian]

- [Man #2] I thought she understood.

- [Man #1] Nice day though.

[Woman Speaking Norwegian]

[Man]

Those fancy shoes are not for traveling.

Be happy. Uh

Olaf, how do you

- Lykkelig.

- "Lykkelig" is happy?

- Yeah.

- I thought "glede" was happy.

No. That's more like "delighted."

[Clock Ticking]

[Grunting]

Lykkelig.

[Mutters]

- [Woman #2 Mutters]

- [Man] Ja. Ja.

- [Car Stops]

- [Whimpering]

[Labored Breathing]

- [Woman] "Ducky"?

- [Ducks Squawking]

[Exhales]

- [Breathing Stops]

- Grandma?

[Shudders]

Inge.

[Crying]

[Rain Falling]

[Woman]

I'm sorry for your loss, Lars.

I can pay you 2.2 million...

and put up 1,200 homes on this land.

It's what your grandparents would want.

[Banging]

- Lars!

- Dad told me to bike over

and wait for the contract guys.

I didn't want to wake you.

[Stomping]

- Frozen.

- [Chuckles]

- Come in.

- Nah, nah, I don't want to take my boots off.

[Man On Radio] Hanoi's Vietnam News

Agency said a protest message about it...

has been sent to the International

Control Commission for Vietnam.

[Banging]

The president has been resting up after

Tomorrow, he and Mrs. Johnson begin their

official two-day visit in Bangkok itself.

[Man Continues, Indistinct]

You're up.

[Groans]

Olaf Torvik was a caring, giving man...

and I know we'll always remember him.

- He came from Norway in 19

- Very peaceful.

- 1910?

- It has lovely sunlight.

And homesteaded his farm

the next year.

He cleared the land

with the resolution...

- Welcome, everyone.

- of a pioneer.

[Chattering]

A true settler in the best sense

of the word...

creating civilization

out of the wilderness.

- [Man #2] Inge?

- Most of all, we remember his great love for Inge...

- Did you make this pie?

- his wife of 48 years.

No, this is not mine.

You know that pie?

Olaf died, Frandsen.

You remember?

[Shudders]

Mom, Palmquists are coming to pick up

the casket for the burial tomorrow.

- Now?

- Yeah.

Where does he stay for the night?

I suppose down at the

[Sighs]

I don't know what they do, Mom.

He belongs here with me.

Well, that doesn't make any sense.

I can't stay here.

We've got the chores

I don't need you to stay.

He belongs here though.

Lars?

- [Sighs]

- What's filling your head?

Ah.

[Sighs]

What?

I'm not sure what to do.

Lars.

Get yourself and Frandsen a piece of pie.

It's you?

Why are "lykkelig"...

and "glede" different?

Different kinds of happy.

It's really good.

[Inge]

Different kinds ofhappy.

[Train Rumbling]

[Brakes Squeaking]

[Train Stops]

[Chickens Clucking]

[Chattering]

[Grunting]

[Chattering Continues]

"I... could...

eat... a horse."

"I could...

eat a horse."

"I could eat a horse."

"A horse."

"I could eat a horse."

[Speaking Norwegian]

[Norwegian]

But English now.

- [Norwegian]

- [Norwegian]

Oh.

[Norwegian Continues]

No English, me.

English?

"Dear Elsa"?

"Dear Elsa"? Else?

- ElseJorgensdatter.

- ElseJorgensdatter.

Inge. Inge Altenberg.

Altenberg?

[Norwegian]

[Norwegian]

[Men Chattering]

- Here.

- Great.

Just sign this. There.

Immigration?

Do you have farms in the area?

Hello.

Ah.

[Chuckles]

Do you know about our organization?

Well, you should.

'Cause it's in your best interest.

We are suffragists.

- Immigration? [Norwegian]

- It should interest you.

- Suffragists.

- Suffragists.

Yeah. We're unified to ratify

the 19th Amendment to the Constitution

the American Constitution

so everyone can vote, especially women.

- That's what it's for. Here you go. Just sign this.

- [Norwegian]

Thank you. [Chuckles]

Just sign your name.

This is very important.

We all have to able to decide on how

we participate in our community, right?

We were opposed to the war, of course...

but we don't try to say that too loudly here

because people might get the wrong idea.

Might think that you're a sympathizer,

or something worse a lousy German.

- Yes.

- Yeah. [Chuckles]

Okay.

Mister, you... read?

Yeah, sure.

Uh "Dear Else...

I write to you with bad news."

Uh "The bank has foreclosed...

"on my farm, and I have been evicted.

"I hope you receive this letter in time.

Do not come now.

Jostein Amundsen."

Amundsen?

Amundsen?

[Chuckles]

Do you understand this?

Understand?

Do you understand this?

Amundsen no, no.

He'sAmundsen is not here.

He's not coming.

He's not here.

Uh

[Sighs]

Come with me.

I can help you. Come on.

Come on. Come here.

This way.

Wait.

[Train Whistle Blowing]

This way.

[Car Pulling Up]

[Footsteps Approaching]

[Loud Banging]

Are you from Snsa? Snsa!

Ja. Inge. Snsa.

[Banging On Door]

- You are from Snsa?

- Ja! Snsa! Inge!

[Banging On Door]

- You are here.

- Ja.

- Hello.

- Hello.

- Hello.

- Hello. Inge.

[Banging On Door]

Snsa.

[Unlocking Door]

It's locked!

I know!

Inge from Snsa.

OlafTorvik?

[Sniffles]

Ah.

Thanks.

[Man]

Long trip, eh?

Ships are hideous.

Give me dry land any day.

I was just five years old

when we came across.

- When I came, they checked us

for sickness at Ellis Island.

- Ellis Island?

Yeah. All the doctors were German.

All they said was "tak."

Working in the United States of America,

you'd think they'd learn English. Tak.

They rolled my eyelids back

with a matchstick.

Did they do that to you?

We didn't have a picture of you,

so we didn't know what you look like.

Inge from Snsa!

You could've looked like anything, eh?

I think you ought to like waking up

in the morning and looking at your wife.

I said to him, "If we don't know what

she looks like, she shouldn't come."

We should have a photo first.

You're ducky.

I got it.

- No regrets!

- "Ducky"?

Uh, it's a made-up word, like, uh

- It means "good."

- [Norwegian]

- [Norwegian] Duck, good.

- Yeah.

Yeah. Anyways, uh, here is the place.

[Norwegian]

I'll get it.

Thanks.

That's too heavy for traveling.

[Norwegian]

[Norwegian]

Do you speak any English?

- English?

- Ah. That much.

Deutsch? Talk Deutsch?

No! No. No German around here.

Welcome. Welcome, Inge.

Inge from Snsa.

- I'm Minister Sorrensen. Welcome.

- Hello.

- Frandsen.

- Hello.

Olaf. OlafTorvik.

Are you ready?

- [Grunts]

- Olaf?

Ja. OlafTorvik.

- Olaf?

- Mm-hmm.

Uh, Frandsen. Alvin Frandsen.

- Alvin Frandsen.

- Just Frandsen.

Just Inge.

I thought she understood.

Come in. Come in.

Inge, even though

you've never met this man...

Olaf...

are you ready to get married?

[Norwegian]

No, no. Only English in

the church. Only English.

Um, she only speaks this much English.

- Uh

- Well

Yes?

[Muttering In German]

Spricht Deutsch?

- Deutsch?

- [Speaking German]

[Crowd Murmuring]

[German Continues]

[German]

English only in the church. English.

Your parents sent you a girl to be married,

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Will Weaver

Will Weaver, (born William Weller in Park Rapids, Minnesota in 1950), is an American author. more…

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Submitted on August 05, 2018

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