Sweet Land, the film

The last couple of weeks, I have felt the urge to go see a movie and searching through the listings in Brockport and Rochester, NY, there is nothing but garbage. If films are any measure of our cultural literacy or pop culture, we sure are in trouble. However, I had the good fortune of renting a wonderful movie from Netflix made in 2005 entitled, Sweet Land. It is the story about Inge, a German mail order bride, who arrives in Minnesota in the 1920s to marry Norwegian, Olaf Torvik.

The creative tension in the film is derrived from the circumstances that Inge doesn't have papers to prove her nativity or citizenship and so cannot legally marry Olaf at a time with strict mores that governed the appropriate interaction between the sexes. At one point, Inge and Olaf are ostracized by the minister and the church for living in sin even though Inge slept in the house and Olaf slept in the barn to minimize scandal.

Overall, this is a lovely love story set in a historical time which was in some ways more simple but much more constraining.

Warning, there is no sex, car crashes, explosions, aliens, drugs, or obscene language. Further more, there is no loud music or hyper stimulating special effects. Therefore, this movie is recommended only for a more sophisticated and mature audience. For such an audience, I highly recommend Sweet Land.

Link: Sweet Land (2005).