Growth of the Soil

Press Quotes

"A richly textured, absorbing portrait of love, sacrifice and survival. Deliberate and meticulous. Finely balanced, truly engrossing performances give the film substantial emotional heft. Hans Petter Moland's adaptation of Knut Hamsun's 1917 Nobel Prize-winning novel is an exercise in traditional, deliberate filmmaking."
SCREEN DAILY

"A handsome, robustly classic, weatherbeaten, rural epic. ‚Growth of the Soil' plays to the strengths of Moland. It's stately but engrossing, enlivened by the detailed, slow-burning interior transformations unfolding in both lead performances."
VARIETY

"Asta Kamma August is a star on the rise in Hans Petter Moland's epic. Thoughtfully constructed, Moland approaches the material as if it were a biblical text. Isak and Inger – perhaps like Adam and Eve – are both in wonder and awe at the untamed world. Moland makes us feel every tree chopped down, and every boulder leveraged, as the pair wrestle the land around them into something habitable. Nordrum sets the stage for a breakout turn by August, and the actress owns it, giving Inger an unforgettably formidable presence, anchored by a head that refuses to be bowed, and an intelligence whose depths are yet to be reach."
THE FILM VERDICT

"Hans Petter Moland's new feature is a rural wilderness-set epic on the lives of a couple marked by deep personal and societal changes. Moland expertly brings the primitivist core of Hamsun's book to a cinematic audience without ever resorting to ham-fisted narrative techniques or visual over-romanticism – a special thanks to the film's tight 4:3 aspect ratio."
CINEUROPA

"Growth of the Soil is, at least for me, the most ambitious and well-rounded film of his career. One of those works that, on its own, justifies an entire filmography.It's a film with a very solid foundation, spectacular visuals, and an ambition evident in every shot.The spectacular cinematography perfectly blends the intimacy of its protagonists with the immensity of the surrounding landscape. There are shots where the characters appear tiny against the backdrop of the mountains, and others where the camera zooms in so close that you can practically read their thoughts through a single glance. It's a film that uses few words, but it's never empty."
CINEOL

"Gorgeous. Nordrum and August are outstanding. Kaspar Kaae's minimalistic music score also deserves a mention, with sharp strings and sparse notes punctuating the film with precision. Represents another significant achievement of Norwegian cinema."
DMOVIES