The New Land

The New Land (Nybyggarna, 1972), directed by Jan Troell, is the second chapter of the Swedish emigrant saga you can watch online on iFILM. Max von Sydow and Liv Ullmann reprise their roles as Karl and Kristina Nilsson, now settled on a patch of Minnesota farmland beside a lake — far from the Swedish parish they left behind.

Building a farm from scratch turns out to be as grueling as the ocean crossing. The Nilssons recruit neighboring Swedes into a small community, clear fields, bury their dead, and raise children who speak English better than their parents ever will. The Civil War, a Sioux uprising, and the pull of California gold all arrive in turn, threatening to scatter what they've built.

Troell shot in natural light across real locations, giving the film a documentary texture that sets it apart from studio-bound period pieces of the same era. The second of two films adapting Vilhelm Moberg's four-novel cycle, it picks up without a break from The Emigrants (1971). Stream The New Land online on iFILM.