Published: April 24, 2008 11:23 am            

Land Minds: Experience the ‘Sweet Land’

Originally published in the April 18, 2008, print edition.

I have always been a fan of movies made in Minnesota. There’s something so surreal about seeing a place you know well on the big screen. Some of my favorite movies of all-time were filmed in the land of 10,000 lakes.

I’m a big fan of the dark comedies “Fargo” and “Drop Dead Gorgeous.” While “Fargo” has the name of the largest city in the northern state to our west, most of the movie was filmed right here, don’t cha know? “Drop Dead Gorgeous” is a lesser-known film, but a great one nonetheless. It’s about a pageant in the fictional small town of Mount Rose. There are so many familiar sights in the movie, like the funeral home sign and apple orchard right outside of Jordan on U.S. Highway 169.

There seems to have been an extended period of time when no movies were being filmed here. Even the Oscar-nominated “Juno,” which supposedly takes place in Minnesota, was filmed in Canada, and the new George Clooney film “Leatherheads,” about professional football in 1920s Duluth, was filmed on the East Coast.

There is one movie out there that depicts rural Minnesota living in 1920 that was filmed right here in Minnesota: “Sweet Land.”

The movie was filmed in four weeks in and around Montevideo. The townsfolk helped give the film the authentic feel of old-time rural Minnesota. Many of the props used in the movie came from Montevideo residents. Their pride and dedication to the making of this movie comes through in this beautiful film.

The movie is about a German woman name Inge who arrives in Minnesota to marry Olaf, a Norwegian farmer. In 1920, Germans in this fictional town were not a welcomed sight, and with no immigration papers Inge and Olaf faced an uphill climb together. The movie is artistically shot and shows the vast openness of this state during that time. They show how corn was harvested by hand, and all the literal blood, sweat and tears that went into it.

At the end of the movie Inge and Olaf’s grandson must decide whether to sell the farm that has been in the family since 1920. Having to make such a decision resonates with many rural Minnesotans today. If you haven’t seen “Sweet Land” I would highly recommend it. It shows the love of two people and the love they have for their land.

I hope film-making keeps growing here, especially when they illustrate Minnesotans’ hardiness and the pioneering spirit that lives on today.

Of course, movies that gently poke fun at us are pretty entertaining, too.

        

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