LA GRANDE AVENTURE

By : Arne Sucksdorff

Suède, 1953, PAL, 1.66 - 76 mn
zone 2, N&B, mono
10.00 €


English title : THE GREAT ADVENTURE
Original title: DET STORA ÄVENTYRET

Directed by : Arne Sucksdorff

Sweden, 1953, PAL, 1.66 - 76 mn
zone 2, black and white, mono

In original Swedish version with French subtitles

A vixen mother invades a chicken coop to provide food for her cubs. She continues to raid the coop until she is shot by a farmer. The cubs are attacked by the farmer and only one survives. An otter trapped in a burrow is rescued by 10-year-old Anders and his six-year-old brother, Kjell. In secret, the boys cage the animal and attempt to tame it. When spring comes, the children realize without remorse that the otter will be happier roaming free in the wilderness.

Cited by many as the most "personal" effort of Swedish filmmaker Arne Sucksdorff, THE GREAT ADVENTURE is also one of his few films to tie together its magnificent images with a dramatic narrative. "Adventure" means "life" to Sucksdorff, and that life is experienced by a group of Swedish farm children, two of whom are played by the director's own sons. That is all there is to THE GREAT ADVENTURE, but it was so gorgeously photographed and sublimely assembled that it earned the "superior technique" award at the 1954 Cannes Film Festival.

The film won a prize at Cannes Film Festival 1954, and the Big Silver Medal (Documentaries and Culture Films) at the 4th Berlin International Film Festival.


Watch a video excerpt :
Extrait "La Grande Aventure"