Sweet Land

Aroview: Beautifully framed romantic saga about a German mail-order bride and her would-be husband's struggle to overcome the propaganda-led prejudice of a post-WWI Minnesotan farming community who don't take kindly to her sore thumb presence.

Breathes the same sensually pastoral air as DAYS OF HEAVEN, and touches similarly nostalgic nerve endings, too, as it organically and unhurriedly relates the tentative love story of two immigrants circumscribed by rural religious-conservative morality. Subtly universal and sweetly poetic, with a lovely score and modestly affecting performances all around.