A self-proclaimed “happy and mystic film” from Sweden with a highly eccentric critique of imperialism (of the cultural and environmental variety). Those who remember the furor that surrounded the early 1990s opening of Euro Disney—later Disneyland Paris—in which farmers blockaded construction of the park and the phrase “cultural Chernobyl” was echoed in the media, will find it anticipated in THE APPLE WAR (ÄPPELKRIGET; 1971), in which supernatural means are used to fight back against the construction of an amusement park.
I should add that the film, headlined by a number of top Swedish actors (Max von Sydow, Hans Alfredson, THE EMIGRANTS’ Monica Zetterlund), made something of a splash on the 1970s American midnight movie circuit alongside EL TOPO, THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW and ERASERHEAD, in whose company THE APPLE WAR fits quite well. It wasn’t nearly as well regarded in the years since, but hasn’t been forgotten.
It opens with German developers, led by the slimy businessman Gastafson, looking to defile an enchanted Swedish forest in order to create a consumerist monstrosity called Deutschnyland. Among those opposed to the project are the hippy Hans and his supernaturally endowed better half Anna, who organize a petition among the community’s many eccentric citizens. Their opposition does no good, as Gustafson has convinced the Swedish government and the EPA to let the project go through.
It’s up to the supernatural to make things right. Anna uses her powers to increase the mass of a businessman’s hat substantially, and she’s joined in her efforts by a man-eating giant named Gustav and trio of wood nymphs who can communicate with birds and mice. Also thrust into the melee are a fire-breathing serpent and the land itself, in the form of sentient vines and rocks that become quite fed up with the developers’ intrusions.
All this is pulled off with a gentle, lightly comedic tone and an unaffected sense of surrealism. The talented director Tage Danielsson (of THE ADVENTURES OF PICASSO) takes into account old legends in addition to modern day business practices, resulting in a most interesting clash of the old and new that isn’t without some annoyances.
The film, pleasing though it is, tends to ramble. A great deal of screen time is lavished on the townspeople’s various insane quirks, which are celebrated in a quintessentially late sixties manner (see also KING OF HEARTS and MORGAN!). How modern viewers might respond to such dated quirkiness is strictly a matter of individual taste; as for myself, I found it tiresome.
Vital Statistics
THE APPLE WAR (ÄPPELKRIGET)
Svensk Filmindustri/Svenska Ord
Director: Tage Danielsson
Screenplay: Hans Alfredson, Tage Danielsson
Cinematography: Lars Swanberg
Editing: Mikael Holweam Wic Kjellin
Cast: Per Grundén, Gösta Ekman, Sture Ericson, Ingvar Ottoson, Per Waldvik, Yvonne Lombard, Sten Kärrby, Monica Zetterlund, Håkan Serner, Hans Alfredson, Birgitta Andersson, Anne-Marie Nyman, Nils Ahlroth, Nils Nittel, Mariette Fransson, Martin Ljung, Max von Sydow