Småland, Sweden, mid-19th century. A farming family struggle with their rocky, unyielding land, and decide to embark on the arduous journey to new hope in America.Småland, Sweden, mid-19th century. A farming family struggle with their rocky, unyielding land, and decide to embark on the arduous journey to new hope in America.Småland, Sweden, mid-19th century. A farming family struggle with their rocky, unyielding land, and decide to embark on the arduous journey to new hope in America.
- Nominated for 5 Oscars
- 8 wins & 11 nominations total
- Nils
- (as Svenolof Bern)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaWhen filming the scene towards the end, where Karl Oskar walks off to find a better place for his settlement, director Jan Troell forgot to yell, "Cut." Max von Sydow just kept walking and walking, waiting for a "cut", and nobody realized until they took lunch.
- GoofsOn the train west a character shows an American silver coin and yells out it has "In God We Trust" on it. The scene is the 1850s and the motto was not added to American silver coins until 1867.
- Quotes
Arvid: What do you think it will cost to ship us there?
Robert: Around 200 riksdaler.
Arvid: Ya, well, might as well forget it. 200 riksdaler. I'll never have that much.
Robert: You don't have it?
Arvid: I will go anyway. We can travel to America on foot.
Robert: Nah, there's an ocean. You can't go on foot to America.
Arvid: Do you mean there is no way?
Robert: I'm afraid there is not. America is an island.
Arvid: Damned ocean.
- Alternate versionsThe USA television version, retitled "The Emigrant Saga", consists of this film plus its sequel, The New Land (1972), joined and re-edited together in chronological order and dubbed in English.
- ConnectionsEdited into Catalogue of Ships (2008)
The characters, played by Ingmar Bergman regulars Max von Sydow, Liv Ullmann and Allan Edwall, face poor harvests, starvation, poverty, religious persecution and even false rumours of bestiality. They look to the US as a place where a farmer can become rich, with even American slavery looking better than their previous situation. Getting to North America, however, will take a rough voyage in which our heroes will face disease, lice and death, and come into psychological conflict with each other. This makes for a strong drama.
Surely one of the best foreign films of the 1970s and a great addition to the strong cinematic year 1971, The Emigrants is an understated but still compelling film, and I look forward to The Criterion Collection's restoration.
- gizmomogwai
- Nov 21, 2015
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Box office
- Gross US & Canada
- $1,156,554
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