a Arts/Review PELLE THE CONQUEROR. With Max von Sydow, Pelle Hvenegaard, Bjorn Gra- nath. Directed by Bille August. In Danish with English subtitles. At the Ridge Thea- tre, Vancouver. In the 19th Century, conditions in Sweden forced many of its poorest citizens to seek work abroad. For some, that meant immigration to promised lands such as North America. For others, however, the choices were limited, and many found themselves crossing the Baltic to labour in the rich farm fields of neighbouring Denmark. The opening scenes of Pelle the Con- queror, an award-winning film from Dan- ish director Bille August, shows these Swedish peasants huddled on the deck of a schooner about to dock at a Danish port. Among the crowd is Lasse Karlsson (Max von Sydow) and his young son Pelle (Pelle Hvenegaard). Lasse, a man probably in his late fifties, is telling Pelle the usual tales uprooted people fabricate to make the tran- sition easier: that the wages are so high for adult labourers that children don’t have to work; that ‘“‘we’ll be able to have coffee in our beds on Sunday morning.” Lasse with bravado tells his son they will be wise not to take the first offer for work that comes along. But reality belies the fic- tion, and the labour contractors at the dock dismiss Lasse as being too old, and his son as too young. Redemption comes when a late arriving farm foreman hires on the man and boy for 100 crowns a year. Lasse and Pelle the Conqueror reveals ruthlessness of class exploitation Pelle are about to start their lives of living hell on Stone Farm. Pelle the Conqueror works on a number of levels. It is, in part, a coming-of-age tale for its title character. It is also a kind of _companion piece to such Swedish made films as the Immigrants and The New Land, which also told the story of 19th-Century peasants leaving the exploitative conditions in their homeland. But mainly, this is a story of rank exploi- tation and prejudice under the rigid class barriers of a near-feudal society. Hence it serves as a kind of “roots” movie for anyone in the working class who may need a refresher course about the conditions which gave birth to the movements for trade unions and workers rights. The sorry lot of the peasants on Stone Farm is such that at one point they stage a minor peasants’ revolt over the brutal excesses of their overseer. For the most part, though, Pelle is concerned with depicting the grim realities of Scandinavian peasant life with almost unrelenting intensity, and the redemption is personal rather than col- lective. As Swedish immigrants, Lasse and Pelle, and a new-found friend Erik (Bjorn Gra- nath) are on the lowest rung of the social ladder. It follows that they are rendered as objects of loathing and derision, by their bosses and even by Danes who suffer the same oppression. When Pelle is whipped and humiliated, and called a “goddamn Shevchenko Ukrainian Canadians are gearing up to celebrate the 175th anniversary of the birth Taras Shevchenko, the Ukraine’s revered national hero and renowned poet. Celebrations begin Friday, April 14, 7 p.m. with a reading of Shevchenko’s poem’s by translator Mary Skrypnyk at Ballantyne’s Gallery, 1897 Powell St. (foot of Victoria) in Vancouver. An accompanying display of art by Ukrain- ians Vasyl Perevalskiy and Vasyl Lopata will be on display through Saturday. of song, music and dance entitled, ”A Heritage to Share”, at the North Van- couver Centennial Theatre, 23rd and Lonsdale, at 2 p.m., Sunday, April 16. Admission is $8 adults, $5 students and seniors. For information on the poetry reading call Nadya Niechoda, 253-8642 or 298-1513; for the performances, Joan Kowalewich, 984-7222. Both events aré sponsored by the Association of United Ukrainian Canadians. * * * We met with this remarkable woman last summer, after she had finished her performances at the weekend Vancouver Folk Music Festival. Unfortunately, the brief chat we had with musician, singer and progressive Esther Bejarano of West Germany did not, due to constraints of’ time and the fact we were short-staffed, result in an article. We can note here, however, that Esther performs exciting music of the reminds us of the German cabaret tradi- tion. Her musical talents are responsible for her surviving the death camp at celebrations Celebrations continue witha program - Folk Music Festival Society. Tickets are ghettos and concentration camps that- ESTHER BEJARANO ... performs April 20. Auschwitz where she, a young Jewish woman of 19 at the time, was shipped when Hitler rose to power. Esther will be at the Vancouver East Cultural Centre on April 20, 8 p.m., accompanied by a four-woman band that includes her daughter, Edna. The concert is sponsored by the Vancouver $12, phone 254-9578. ee eck Knowledge Network presents Daugh- ters of the Country: Places Not Our Own about a young Metis woman growing up in rural Manitoba in the 1920s on Mon- day, April 17, 8 p.m. and again on Wed- nesday, April 19, 10 p.m. 10 e Pacific Tribune, April 10, 1989 Max von Sydow and Pelle Hvenegaard outside school house in Bille August's remarkable film. Swede” by the manager trainee and some hirelings, the onlooking servants join in the cruel laughter. At school, Pele’s role is never secure: he’s singled out for punishment by his teacher and persecution by his class- mates, many of whom share his social cir- cumstances. This is hatred of a specific minority, but its role — undoubtedly a message by the film makers — is universal. It will be vented wherever differences can be found and exploited by the ruling class to keep workers divided. It becomes clear to Pelle that, however boldly his aged father may talk, in fact he has been beaten down by the decades. True rebellion comes in the form of Erik, a proud man whose anger readily flashes at his employers’ injustices. One memorable scene has Erik defiantly playing his accordion at top volume during a party in the fields, despite being given the message that his boss, Kongstrup, finds the loud revelry dis- turbing. Pelle the Conqueror also takes special note of the oppressed lot of women. A teen- aged peasant woman’s life is ruined when she is implicated in the murder of her illegit- imate child, the product of a romance for- bidden by class distinctions. A local woman ~ who is Lasse’s romantic interest is bound by law to a marriage she detests. Even the Missus of the manor must suffer her hus- band’s philandering — which itself has vic- timized several women — until she takes drastic action. The performances, particularly those of veteran Max von Sydow, and of young Pelle Hvenegaard, are outstanding. The photo- graphy is frequently breathtaking, showing a Danish countryside beautiful in summer and magnificently moody in winter, and always at curious contrast with the grim social reality depicted. Pelle the Conqueror can be frustrating because its school-of-hard-knocks theme is not balanced by what we’d dearly love to see: comeuppance for the oppressors and the overthrow of their hideous, demeaning system. But the conquests are there, in bits and pieces, and this film gives us an indict- ment of the class system for the historical record. — Dan Keeton Mary John’s life portrait of Carrier community STONEY CREEK WOMAN: The Story of Mary John. By Bridget Moran. Tillacum Library. Paperback, $9.95. At the People’s Co-op Bookstore, Vancouver. Stoney Creek Woman is the story of Mary John, a Carrier Indian, and her community, the Stoney Creek reserve near Vanderhoof. Bridget Moran, a social worker from Prince George, has eloquently and sensi- tively portrayed the life of Mary John and her people. In reading Stoney Creek Woman, we become more acutely aware of the poverty, neglect and racism dealt by the federal court and its Indian agents to Native people, and more understanding of Native family life and culture. We share, for example, the shock and estrangement that the children go through as they are taken from their parents and their community and removed to the residential boarding schools. This is a very emotional book that reaches a climax in recalling the July, 1976, death of Coreen Thomas. Thomas was nine months pregnant when she was struck down and killed by a car driven by Richard Redkop, a local non-Native, while walking back to her reserve from Vanderhoof. What raised this tragedy above the standard was the fact that two years earlier, Larry Thomas, from the same family, had been run over and killed by Richard Redkop’s brother, Stanley. The case was taken up by the Native women’s organization, The Homemakers, who retained Vancouver lawyer Harry Rankin to act for them. The subsequent trial gained national prominence, as Mary John recalls: “The eyes of the nation were on our village. Here was our chance to talk and talk we did, about the poverty of our reserve and the lack of opportunity for our people, the racism and the strong hold that the Department of Indian Affairs had on our lives.” From then on it is a recounting of hope and courage as the community begins to deal with the lack of education, drug abuse and other social problems, and finds the strength to defend and preserve its unique culture. Bridget Moran has received the Local History Award in Prince George as author of this book, as well as the Lieutenant- Governor’s Medal with the support of the B.C. History Federation. Moran and John recently toured Van- couver Island for autographing sessions, and were hosted at the Chief's Mask Book- store in Vancouver on April 1. — Jonnie Rankin i