Sweet Land (2005)

I have always admired the ability of the human mind to fill in the blanks. Last Sunday, I had to make use of this skill while watching Sweet Land - the tale of Inge (Elizabeth Reaser), a German mail-order bride from Norway who arrives in a small Minnesota town in 1920 to marry an aloof farmer named Olaf (Tim Guinee).

Adapted from Will Weavers story, A Gravestone Made of Wheat, Sweet Land begins with the death of Inge and the agony of her grandson over selling the family farm. Suddenly, we are thrust into a striking set of flashbacks as this man remembers his childhood. Step by step, story by story, we discover the younger Inge for the first time. She is in a train, packed with two suitcases and a big phonograph, recently arrived to America.

Even though some of the facts in the storyline may not be completely memorable, the experimental narrative is worth a try. Sweet Land trusts moviegoers to catch the essence, instead, in its details. Inge (Elizabeth Reaser), for example, speaks Norwegian, German and broken English without subtitles, but you don't need to know exactly what she is saying to understand what she means.

Sweet Land conveys a simple but fulfilling love story between people and that more complicated love story of people and their land. The 1920's immigration experience and American society in 1920 are less distant to our current reality than you may think. You can catch this film at AMC Loews Shirlington 7 and Landmark Bethesda Row Cinema.