Pelle the Conqueror (1987) on Netflix

Name: Pelle the Conqueror
Genre: Drama
Released: 1987-12-21
Duration: 157 min
Rating: 7.7
Cast: Pelle Hvenegaard, Max von Sydow, Erik Paaske, Björn Granath, Astrid Villaume

PG-1319872h 37mDrama

Widowed Lasse Karlsson brings his son Pelle from Sweden to Bornholm seeking work and a way to America. The farm that hires them treats them as the lowest of the low.

Netflix4.0/5
IMDb7.7/1012,798 votes
Rotten Tomatoes84%

Trailer

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Plot summary

In the late 1850s, Lasse Karlsson leaves Skåne County in southern Sweden after his wife's death, taking his son Pelle to the Danish island of Bornholm. Lasse is old and Pelle is young, and work is hard to find; they are hired at a large farm, where the managers treat them badly. The estate belongs to the landowner Kongstrup. Pelle picks up Danish, makes a friend of Rud, and hears the Swedish worker Erik talk of traveling to America and China, which Erik means to see for himself. Pelle is still taunted as a foreigner at school. Both he and his father keep to their aim of earning enough money to reach America.

Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Pelle the Conqueror (1987)

Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.

Pelle Hvenegaard was 11 when Bille August cast him as Pelle, choosing him after he and the crew auditioned some 3,000 children; August said the boy showed concentration, patience and self-control. Hvenegaard happened to be named after the novel's character, as are many boys in Denmark.
Ingmar Bergman told Bille August he had seen Pelle the Conqueror seven times, and afterwards chose August to direct the film The Best Intentions.
Pelle the Conqueror won the 1988 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film after being submitted by the Danish government, giving Denmark its second consecutive win following Babette's Feast. The same ceremony brought Max von Sydow his first nomination for Best Actor.
Filming on Pelle the Conqueror lasted nearly six months spread over a one-year period, with a long break built in so the production could wait for winter.
Production designer Anna Asp, working with Bille August for the first time, designed the house in the film to evoke a prison, so she built its walls and painted them black and white.