The Emigrants

PG

Released Sep 24, 1972

2 hr. 28 min.

Drama

List

94%

17 Reviews

Tomatometer

86%

500+ Ratings

Audience Score

Karl Oskar Nilsson (Max von Sydow) and his wife, Kristina (Liv Ullmann), work a farm in a cold and desolate area of rural Sweden in the middle of the 19th century. The growing privations of their life, combined with increasing social and religious persecution, cause the Nilssons and many of their neighbors to strike out for the United States. Following a treacherous ocean crossing and an equally grueling land passage, the emigrants find themselves in the seemingly idyllic land of Minnesota.

Read More

Read Less

Alec B

A deeply moving and intimate epic that is always honest about the characters and the time period. One of the great movies about immigrants coming to America.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

01/10/24

Full Review

Dom

After watching the sequel, I enjoyed this movie way less now after discovering the director's tendency to drag out plot-lines unnecessarily and stick to the same three characters/locations, sacrificing world building and the inclusion of more characters to flesh out the story. The director's experimentalism almost seemed to extenuate the movie's slow plot progression. 3/4s of the movie is literally the main characters stuck in Sweden, suffering and suffering on their poor farm, slowly discovering that they should go to America. Oh yes, here and there a kid is born, a plow breaks, a neighbor visits them, but that's really what most of the film is about. This film had a lot of potential (and might have been ahead of its time), but it's just too slow and a plot that does not deliver enough punch. I found this movie rather forgettable.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

07/30/23

Full Review

david f

It's a slog but this patient film about Swedish farmers, their frustrating lives, and their decision to make a trip to North America is a kind of fanfare for the common man.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

Audience Member

A deeply moving and intimate epic that is always honest about the characters and the time period. One of the great movies about immigrants coming to America.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/13/23

Full Review

steve d

Not interesting at any length.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

03/30/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Watching this three hour long Swedish epic was not exactly fun but I do feel that it was a rewarding experience as I saw a film that was full of subtle details that added to the simple story the film follows and a terrific performance from Liv Ullmann. In many ways I am saddened that more people do not watch this film nearly 50 years after it's release as it still has a lot to say about the world we live in and the difficulties of acclimating to a new environment. When there are so many people emigrating to new countries whether by choice or not this film is timely and it helps that it also features beautiful cinematography from director Jan Troell who also served as editor. In the mid-1840s Swedish farmer Karl Oskar Nilsson, Max von Sydow, marries the young Kristina, Liv Ullmann, and the two have four children. Their farm proves to be infertile and they struggle to feed their children and earn enough money to make repairs to their house. Nilsson's troublemaker brother Robert, Eddie Axberg, plans to travel to America but needs to sell his share of farm in order to have the money to do son. Nilsson then confesses to his brother that he would like to move to the United States because Kristina is hesitant to put their children in danger. She changes her mind after tragedy strikes and the family begin a long and difficult voyage to the United States on a boat. Kristina comes down with a life threatening illness and suffers greatly during the journey while Nilsson tries his hardest to keep the children in order. When they do arrive they are shocked by the different languages that people speak and are confused by the different customs found in America but Kristina is happy to have survived. Most three hour films feel like a chore to watch as they can be lethargic and often feel padded with unnecessary shots of landscapes and scenes of movie stars being themselves. In this film every moment feels essential and scenes naturally flow into one another so when we reach the film's end we do not feel that we have endured a long running time but that we have seen the human condition represented in full. The people that populate this film are remarkably normal and their trials and love affairs are not the sort of thing that would be found in a grand Hollywood epic but Troell is interested in their small lives. Some have complained that the family spend too much time suffering in Sweden but I felt that this section of the film was essential as we need to understand what would push these people, so restrained and averse to danger, to travel to a completely new country and abandon all that they have known. When we finally reach America we have the very odd experience of feeling like outsiders among English speakers and after hearing the low tones of Swedish tongues for several hours the hum of mid-19th century Americans is shocking and terrifying. Troell loves his characters and does not feel the need to surround them with an overly melodramatic story that would overwhelm the themes that the film tries to represent. I was surprised by many choices he made as we spend only a few minutes watching Nilsson romance Kristina and then cut ahead to the point when they are already married and she is pregnant. This makes sense as both characters are practical people who are more driven by a desire to follow the patterns of their parents and survive than by frivolous young love. Despite this their marriage is one of the most believable ever put on screen as their regular arguments and devotion to one another is seen in small actions and scenes that directors less interested in their complex characters would have cut out. The acknowledgement that Nilsson is occasionally tempted to stray also adds depth to their relationship as he is not just the perfect husband but a man who loves his wife and still has a life outside of her. Fortunately the film does not become an Adrian Lyne thriller and we get no gratuitous sex scenes but the threat that this presents to their marriage is real and we really worry about their bond. The other characters in the film are equally fascinating as Robert goes through his own transformation and as a loutish young man he is somebody who relates to younger audiences. He is lazy and selfish but he has enthusiasm about traveling to America and unlike his practical older brother spends time romancing Swedish lasses and getting drunk with his friend. His subplot is something of a reprieve from the torture that the Nilssons go through in that he remains optimistic and happy in the face of all the pain and punishment. There is also the small fundamentalist religion that has been established by Kristina's uncle Danjel Andreasson, Allan Edwall, which we are initially compelled to defend and feel sympathetic for but later come to be concerned about. He is so pious and self righteous that it causes trouble for those around him and the frustration that the Nilssons have with him is understandable. We mostly get snippets of these people and follow the Nilssons throughout but they enliven the story nonetheless.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/01/23

Full Review

Read all reviews

Post a rating

Jan Troell

Director

Max von Sydow

Karl Oskar

Liv Ullmann

Kristina

Eddie Axberg

Robert Nilsson

Sven-Olof Bern

Nils

Aina Alfredsson

Marta

Show Less Cast & Crew

Show More Cast & Crew

92%

81%

Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore

60%

84%

Tomorrow

56%

45%

The Fox

80%

75%

Panic in Needle Park

100%

83%

The Swimmer

Discover more movies and TV shows.

View More

On DVD This Week: Spectre, Crimson Peak, The Leftovers, and More

View more photos

Pauline Kael

New Yorker

Troell composes every shot as if it were to be his last, but at the same time he expands our notions of what screen lyricism is, because he’s solemn and yet lyrical, disciplined yet rapturous. He will not be hurried.

Sep 21, 2023

Full Review

Geoff Andrew

Time Out

It's very slow, subtly acted, and if you can last the course, quite moving

Jul 6, 2010

Full Review

Vincent Canby

New York Times

The Emigrants is a stately, pictorially romantic chronicle of the lives of a small group of peasants for whom existence at home becomes so tenuous that emigration seems the only solution.

Rated: 3.5/5

Jun 24, 2006

Full Review

David Elliott

Chicago Daily News

They've made a connoisseur's "family movie," without special pomp or special pleading, one that sums up the best spirit of our country's past and that could, without a bit of jingoism, help revive our faith in its future.

Oct 3, 2023

Full Review

Brian Susbielles

InSession Film

Moving and an extraordinary spectacle...

Mar 8, 2023

Full Review

Howard Pearson

Deseret News (Salt Lake City)

The Emigrants is a mighty picture, powerful in its simplicity and earthiness, beautiful in its presentation, inspiring in its theme and message. The people are real people, the story is a real story.

Aug 16, 2021

Full Review

Read all reviews

Synopsis

Karl Oskar Nilsson (Max von Sydow) and his wife, Kristina (Liv Ullmann), work a farm in a cold and desolate area of rural Sweden in the middle of the 19th century. The growing privations of their life, combined with increasing social and religious persecution, cause the Nilssons and many of their neighbors to strike out for the United States. Following a treacherous ocean crossing and an equally grueling land passage, the emigrants find themselves in the seemingly idyllic land of Minnesota.

Director: Jan Troell
Executive Producer: Finn Gjerdrum, Michael Hjort, Tim King, Stein B. Kvae, Petter Skavlan
Screenwriter: Bengt Forslund, Jan Troell
Distributor: Warner Bros.
Production Co: Svensk Filmindustri (SF) AB, Warner Bros.
Rating: PG
Genre: Drama
Original Language: Swedish
Release Date (Theaters): Sep 24, 1972, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Apr 16, 2012