Hamsun . The Boston Phoenix . 12-29-97

Hamsun

DIRECTED BY: Jan Troell

REVIEWED: 12-29-97

Author of Hunger, Pan, and The Growth of the Soil, revered by his native Norway, and winner of the 1920 Nobel Prize, Kurt Hamsun opted in old age for ignominy by siding with Quisling and the occupying German army during World War II. He always claimed his support for Hitler was due to his hatred of British Imperial "arrogance" and his desire to see Norway take its place as a first-rate nation in the "German Empire." In his searing bio-pic, Jan Troell makes the excruciatingly convincing case that Hamsun's decision derived rather from a bad marriage and a twisted home life. In the title role, Max von Sydow has the blithest and lushest of frameworks for his consummate performance. And Troell sustains the story's passions through the film's continually absorbing 160-minute length.

--Peter Keough

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