Winner of the Adademy Award for best Foreign Picture, this epic drama about human resilience stars the hypnotic Max Von Sydow as a poor, but never downtrodden widower who emigrates with his young son, Pelle, from the economically depressed Sweden to Denmark at the turn of the century. His illusory quest for the good life leads only to a straw bed in the cold barn of a brutally insensitive farmer. The story centres around the close relationship between the father and son as they attempt to live a happy life amid the oppression. As a hopeful Pelle grows older, he wants to see more of the world and sets out on his own, full of questions and a need to know and conquer.....

Winner of the Palm d'Or at the 1988 Cannes film festival; an Oscar for the Best Foreign Language film in 1989; and a Golden Globe also in 1989.