An ageing Swedish farmhand and his young son Pelle emigrate to Denmark in the late 19th century, hoping for a better life, only to find themselves at the very bottom of a brutal rural social order. August's sweeping adaptation of Martin Andersen Nexø's novel follows the boy's coming of age through hardship, beauty, and hard-won hope, carried by a career-defining performance from Max von Sydow as the weary, tender-hearted father.
