Plot Summary
Inge (Elizabeth Reaser) is a feisty German mail-order bride who has come to Minnesota to marry Olaf (Tim Guinee), a young Norwegian immigrant farmer of few words. But in a post-WWI, anti-German climate, the local minister (John Heard) openly forbids the marriage. Inge and Olaf fall in love despite the town's disapproval. But when the town banker (Ned Beatty) attempts to foreclose on the farm of his friend Frandsen (Alan Cumming), Olaf takes a stand...and the community unites around the young couple, finally accepting Inge as one of their own.
Credits
Director
Movie Reviews from Rotten Tomatoes
TOMATOMETER
84%- Reviews Counted: 70
- Fresh: 59
- Rotten: 11
- Average Rating: 7.3/10
Top Critics' Reviews
Fresh: ... a beautifully photographed film ... that celebrates its regional identity.
Fresh: If its drama of German and Norwegian newcomers on the plains of southern Minnesota is modest enough, it's also clearly a labor of love.
Fresh: As Sweet Land demonstrates, bigotry is vulnerable, and love is universal. Sweet Land is a fervent movie poem to that love -- and to family, land, lost times and old beginnings.
Rotten: As empty and beautiful as the picturesque Minnesota terrain it's so clearly taken with.
Customer Reviews
Sweet Land
Hauntingly realistic, beautifully told tale echoing my wife's Norwegian forebears stories. A portrait of a time and place that was like that even well into the 20th Century with lessons relevant today. Rural Lutheran church parishes were powerful influences - mostly for good. Being part of the community was essential to survival in the 19th and 20th Century on the prairie. The film intimately portrays independent farmers learning how to work interdependently for their survival. Having a cloud of post WWI fear bordering on bigotry makes for dramatic and at times painful scenes. Elizabeth gives such depth of character to Inge throughout the film. Settings were thoroughly researched. The thrashing of wheat scene was accurate - though Inge and Olaf are shown cutting corn? We relived moments in the film for days.
Highly Recommended
Great Film & love story.... Beautiful cinematography & music...... Conveys a wonderful sense of time and place...... Appealing actors convey the moving story with humor and longing...... Also nice political touches that seem relevant to today......
sweet movie
A wonderful movie. Elizabeth Reaser is simply amazing. Her best role. Watch it.
Viewers Also Bought
- Evelyn
- Bruce Beresford
- View In iTunes
- Saving Sarah Cain
- Michael Landon Jr.
- View In iTunes
- Tara Road
- Gillies MacKinon
- View In iTunes
- Believe In Me
- Robert Collector
- View In iTunes
- No Greater Love (2009)
- Brad J. Silverman
- View In iTunes
