Overview
A family's journey through hardship and hope as they seek a new life in America.
Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Measured
- Intensity
- Strong
- Complexity
- Layered
- Violence
- Mild
- serious
- poetic
- disquieting
- historical film night
- arthouse movie night
What critics said
Critics broadly regard Jan Troell’s expansive immigrant saga as a masterfully made, deeply humane historical drama distinguished by powerful performances, poetic detail, and an unusually nuanced portrait of Indigenous relations.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
Karl-Oskar and Kristina establish a Swedish homestead in Minnesota while negotiating language, family pressures, Indigenous relations, and the approaching Civil War.
The Nilsson family’s Minnesota settlement runs alongside Robert and Arvid’s journey toward the California gold rush.
The film’s long historical scope and Minnesota frontier setting are expressed through prominent landscape photography and large-scale settlement imagery.
Swedish emigrants remain the narrative center as they rebuild their lives in the United States and confront unfamiliar language, institutions, and cultures.
Films like The New Land, and why
The Emigrants
shared historical immigration drama, naturalistic performances, and sustained attention to frontier survival
Heaven's Gate
shared period drama, immigrant community perspective, and expansive treatment of settlement and displacement
The Mission
shared frontier history, cross-cultural conflict, and morally serious depiction of settlement
Days of Heaven
shared literary historical drama, arduous migration, and intimate family-centered storytelling
Movie Details
- Director
- Jan Troell
- Release Date
- 1972-02-26
- Runtime
- 202 min
- Rating
- 7.5 / 10 (110)
Cast
- Max von Sydow
- Liv Ullmann
- Eddie Axberg
- Pierre Lindstedt
- Allan Edwall
- Monica Zetterlund
- Hans Alfredson
- Agneta Prytz
- Halvar Björk
- Tom C. Fouts
Common questions
- What is The New Land about?
- Swedish immigrants struggle to build a home in nineteenth-century Minnesota while family ambitions and frontier dangers pull them in different directions.
- What is The New Land like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of The New Land as measured, its intensity as strong and its storytelling as layered.
- Is The New Land violent?
- Only mildly. Ember rates the violence in The New Land as mild.
- What did critics think of The New Land?
- Critics broadly regard Jan Troell’s expansive immigrant saga as a masterfully made, deeply humane historical drama distinguished by powerful performances, poetic detail, and an unusually nuanced portrait of Indigenous relations.
- Which films are like The New Land?
- Films with a similar feel include The Emigrants, Heaven's Gate, The Mission, and Days of Heaven.
- How long is The New Land?
- The New Land runs 202 minutes.
