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

“Hans Petter Moland presented what might well be considered his finest film. Based on Knut Hamsun's novel 'Growth of the Soil', the story follows a couple determined to do something as fundamental as simply living, come what may. The result is undoubtedly stirring and spellbinding. What Hans Petter Moland's film reflects is an entire universe where, once again, there is room for us all.”
EL MUNDO

“Hans Petter Moland's epic film adaptation of Knut Hamsun's novel is an imposing monument to humanity's struggle against a nature that is at once sublime and merciless. A magnificently acted saga of love and time. A visually intoxicating work that captures the rugged beauty of the Norwegian landscape in majestic cinematography.”
MOVIEBREAK

“'Growth of the Soil' belongs to a Scandinavian tradition of rural epics, but its most persuasive history is told at the scale of a task that has to be done again tomorrow. Nuanced lead performances, rich, physical sound design and a thoughtful challenge to the lone settler myth make for a 8 out of 10 rating.”
GAZETTELY

“This year's favorite was definitely the Norwegian film 'Growth of the Soil'. The performances of the two lead actors, Herbert Nordrum and Asta Kamma August, are admirable, and the two have excellent chemistry as a pair. In addition to being a good adaptation, the film is also a very good drama. 'Growth of the Soil' illustrates this in a very compelling way.”
ARAKAT MAGAZINE

“A magnificent adaptation of the novel. The landscape becomes another living character that also doesn't need to speak, though it knows how to express countless states of being. 'Growth of the Soil' is a beautiful story of survival in a hostile environment. In short: an ode to the simple, primitive life, to the very origins of the world and civilization.”
CINEMAGAVIA

“A fascinating naturalist epic that captures the history of humanity in the Norwegian mountains. This magnificent naturalist epic deserves a major opportunity both with audiences and during awards season. 'Growth of the Soil' maintains the pulse of an astonishing epic about the corruption of human beings and their environment, framed within a breathtaking visual style.”
MUNDOCINE

“Norway's submission for this year's Oscars turned out to be a masterpiece. 'Growth of the Soil', the filmmaker's most ambitious work to date, is the film adaptation of a great novel. A work of such grand vision that it seems to attempt to tell everything. You can feel this in every scene of this colossal film.”
THE SPOT MEDIA & FILM