Anita Ekström Movies

In this compelling Swedish documentary, director-editor Jan Troell traces the efforts of three Scandinavian balloonists to reach the North Pole in 1897. The 60-minute film is based on authentic diaries, photos, and letters of the disaster, including materials recovered in 1930 when the remains of the expedition were discovered preserved in ice on a remote Polar Sea island. Norwegian Knut Fraenkel and two Swedes, Nils Strindberg and August Andrie, departed in 1897 in their balloon called Ornen (The Eagle), but little was known of their fate until the items found on White Island in 1930 were taken back to Sweden. Decades later, author Olof Sundblom used the diaries as the basis for his novel The Flight of the Eagle (1967). Jan Troell, known for such award-winning films as Here's Your Life (1968), The Emigrants (1972) and Hamsun (1996), did much additional research before he filmed his Oscar-nominated adaptation of Sundblom's novel, Flight of the Eagle (1983). Starring Max von Sydow, Goran Stangertz, and Sverre Anker Ousdal, the 1983 drama won various awards and competed at the Venice Film Festival. For this memorable and moving 1998 documentary, Troell drew on his experiences making the feature, adding short clips from that film to archival materials (deteriorating still photos found in the ice). New color footage was shot at both the expedition's starting point and its frozen finale. The tragedy is heard from the expedition's participants, brought to life through diary extracts read by von Sydow, Samuel Froler, and Rolf Lassgard. Anita Ekstrom provides the voice of Strindberg's fiancee. Seen in both Swedish theaters and TV, it was also shown at the 1998 Gothenburg Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

Walter (Kent Andersson) is a retired sailor and former boxer who meets a 13-year-old prostitute and drug addict (Ulrika Hansson) in this symbolic action drama. Moved by her plight, he complains to the local police about the problem of child prostitution and drug dealing in the area. When they do nothing to stop the problem, Walter recruits Carina (Eva Britt Strandberg), a veteran hooker with a heart of gold (or course) to track down the gangleaders who force the young girls into sexual slavery and drug addiction. Carina's presence keeps Walter from being killed as she accompanies him through the seamier side of the Stockholm underworld. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

A young boy named Reine (Tomas Fryk) employs a simple subterfuge to escape going to Children's Island, a nearby summer vacation spot, and instead sneaks off alone to the streets of Stockholm to find answers to the larger questions on life and death. His single mother (Anita Ekstroem) is unaware of her son's truancy and leaves for an extended tryst with her lover (Ingvar Hirdvall), thinking that the 11-year old is safe and taken care of at the island. Reine stays for awhile with two lonely spinsters and once with some street actors, but generally he wanders from one situation to the next, and with his tape recorder he recounts his feelings and the things he has seen. Throughout his experiences, he consistently discovers that adults employ subterfuge just as he has -- only the adults he finds often have either frankly or subliminally sexual encounters in mind. Reine also tests the waters literally, flirting with death by seeing how long he can remain under. As a result of his exploration of the world, he is loathe to grow up and be like all the adults who have tried to take advantage of him. As his innocence fades, Reine's journey ends, leaving many adult viewers to wonder if childhood may not be the better part of life. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

This Swedish film takes place in a wealthy household and unveils the erotic rivalry between an aristocratic but sterile wife (Ingrid Thulin) and her feisty and prolific maid-servant (Anita Ekstroem) as they compete over the affections of the husband (Ernst-Hugo Jaeregaard). Set in 1909, it also explores the frustrations the servant experiences in her attempts to get her real boyfriend to abandon his socialist principles and marry her. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide