The Emigrants (1971) - Jan Troell

Surprisingly the first Swedish film nominated for a best picture Oscar happened to not be directed by Ingmar Bergman, although he answered back with Cries and Whispers the next year. Instead it is the rather long and not that interesting film from Jan Troell, who also wrote, shot, and edited the film. I should take this time to point out that I saw the film the way American audiences saw it some 35 years ago. This is to say that it was cut significantly and dubbed. These two factors were damaging, but the film is quite long enough as it is, and I don't know if more footage would help. There still were some things about the film that made it interesting in contrast to most American pictures, but to be the first Swedish film to receive such an honor, it seems ill advised, and the picture has not aged particularly well.

*The Emigrants was nominated for best picture, best actress (Ullmann), best foreign language film, best adapted screenplay, and best director.