Roland Hedlund Movies
- 1996
Taut, moody and intensely violent (by Swedish standards) this action-packed Swedish thriller was filmed in a snowy northern village and centers on a cop's attempts to stop the slaughter of Laplanders' reindeer by greedy locals. Erik is that policeman. After working many years for the Stockholm police, he returns to his home village to live with his younger brother Leif and work in the local police department. Erik is angered to hear that the Laplander reindeer are being killed by a gang and that the town cops are ignoring the problem. He decides to single-handedly bring the killers to justice. Things get complicated when he learns that Leif is their ring leader. As Erik works to stop them, real violence erupts in the village until the exciting climax when Erik and Leif engage in a final face-off. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1995
The friendship between three Swedish aficionados of American jazz provides the basis of this bluesy Swedish drama set during the '30s. The three pals, Folke, Gosta and Karl-Otto just love listening to jazz and surreptitiously try to play it whenever Folke's dour father, a minister, is not around to reprove them. Though the stern patriarch does all he can to keep his curious young son in the home village, the three pals beginning planning a trip to New York City. Thanks to a sudden influx of cash from the recently deceased Mrs. Alm, the kids set sail. Unfortunately, one of them doesn't survive the journey and the other two never leave their boat once they arrive in America. Upon their return to Stockholm, the survivors decide to become jazz players themselves. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1993
- R
Roland (Jesper Salen) is a boy growing up in Stockholm. It is the middle of the 1920s, and he suffers from the twin handicaps of being Jewish and the son of a socialist. However, despite the taunts and bullying he endures, he gets in a few licks of his own, and manages to have some fun (and get some revenge on his tormentors). One particularly successful ploy of his is to take some of the illegal condoms his mother is selling in her tobacco store and use them to power some slingshots he has made, sellling them to neighborhood boys. This affectionate, richly detailed portrait of a man's early adolescence in pre-war Stockholm is based on an autobiographical novel by Roland Schutt) ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Stellan Skarsgård
- 1992
Scripted (but not directed) by Ingmar Bergman, Best Intentions is a multilayered backwards glance at the courtship of Bergman's own parents. Henrik Bergman (Samuel Froler) is a struggling theology student in the year 1909. His intended, Anna Aakerbloom (Pernilla August, who married director Bille August while the film was in progress) is from a well-to-do family. Despite the expected class differences and personality clashes, love-or at least mutual understanding-prevails. But after a harsh, spare few years as the wife of a clergyman, Anna yearns for the more bountiful pleasures of her family home. Bergman writes himself into the proceedings as a mewling infant. The current three-hour theatrical version of Best Intentions (original title: Den Goda Viljan) was simultaneously prepared as a six-hour TV miniseries, which ran in Europe, Scandanavia, and Japan. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Samuel Fröler, Pernilla August, (more)
- 1989
This international thriller is allegedly based on a true incident in which Israeli secret agents bearing Lebanese passports killed a Moroccan guest worker living in Sweden because they believed he was a Palestinian terrorist. In the story, Hamilton (Stellan Skarsgard), a Swedish naval officer, is recruited by his country's secret service to investigate the suspicious killing of an expert on Middle Eastern affairs. When he discovers that the killer was probably Israeli, he is officially taken off the case. Being a persistent fellow, he refuses to take the hint, and travels to Lebanon to follow up on his leads. This stirs up a real hornets nest, leading to his having a climactic confrontation with Israeli assasins when he gets back home in Sweden. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Stellan Skarsgård, Lennart Hjulström, (more)
- 1986
Gunilla Nyroos plays celebrated Swedish author and heroine Moa Martinson in this historical film biography. She marries a hard-drinking miner and the union produces five children. Two of the children die, and her husband commits suicide by blowing himself up with dynamite. But Moa finds solace and a kindred spirit in writer Harry Martinson (Reine Brynolfsson) after her unhappy first marriage. Moa and Harry both becomes famous authors, with Harry winning the Nobel Prize for literature. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gunilla Nyroos, Reine Brynolfsson, (more)
- 1969
Flushed with the success of his Elvira Madigan, Swedish director Bo Widerberg concocted another story of teenaged love juxtaposed with social upheaval in Adalen 31. The title refers to the 1931 worker's strike against the Adalen paper mill in Northern Sweden. As the strikers debate whether or not to use violence in pressing their complaint, the daughter of the factory owner (Marie De Geer) is impregnated by the son of a worker (Peter Schildt). The strike is "resolved" in a bloody confrontation between the laborers and government troops, resulting in the death of the boy--and, on a greater scale, the collapse of Sweden's Conservative Government. The girl ultimately opts for an abortion, which partially explains why Adalen 31 was originally given an "X" rating by the then-conservative Motion Picture Association of America. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Schildt, Kerstin Tidelius, (more)
- 1968
In this Swedish feature, the bright and colorful carnival atmosphere of Rio is contrasted by life in the neighboring town of Niteroi. The poor town festers with poverty, prostitution and hopelessness and serves as a gathering place for derelict alcoholics who jump ship from many countries. The characters are plagued by tremors, illness and personal and moral degradation as they live out the rest of their miserable lives waiting for their inevitable demise at the hands of demon alcohol. Pappila (Bibi Andersson) tries to collect a $3,000 reward from the Swedish consulate for the safe return of one of the poor unfortunates who is near death in this depressing film. Max von Sydow also stars in this feature. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bibi Andersson, Tommy Berggren, (more)
