Pelle the Conqueror (1987)

The poor immigrant's plight has made for rousing fiction and film and is a staple of American legend whether speaking of the Kennedys or the Cosa Nostra. Pelle the Conqueror (1987) puts an unexpected twist on the standard tale of new arrivals in a new world by focusing its lens on a father and son who have fled the hardships of mother country Sweden for the brighter prospects of far and foreign (irony intended) Denmark. On visual or auditory evidence alone, the average native of Columbus, Ohio, or Los Angeles, California, would be hard-pressed to differentiate a Swede from a Dane. But mix those Scandinavian neighbors together with no supervising international coalition, and conflicts, suspicions, intolerance, and bull-headed intransigence combine to create a heartfelt, human drama as universal as a parent's desire to pass a better life on to future generations.