The New Land

The United States is a nation of inmigrants. And there have been movies dealing with the inmigration of the Irish, Italian, Greek, Mexican. But there has only been one movie, and a forgotten one, about the inmigration of Swedish people into the nation. This excellent movie is it. It's called "The New Land" starring Max Von Sydow and Liv Ullman and it's playing at odd hours on Cinemax.

It tells the story of a Swedish family in the 1850's who decides to settle down in Minnesota and begin a new life there. While other ethnic groups settled into a crowded city and had to deal with crime, gangs etc, the Swedish, peaceful people that they are, settled in houses by the lake where they built their new life in an atmosphere of peace, tolerance and camaraderie.This is a story that needed to be told. After all, these are the ancestors of the people who created America's breadbasket, the farmers who today, basically, feed the world.

This is an excellent movie. We see all the heartbreak, homesickness and struggle of these early settlers. We realize their courage in trying to build a new life. We also realize the beauty of the land and why they fell in love with it. This is one special movie.