Sweet Land (12a)

It would seem churlish to be critical of Sweet Land, especially since no Hollywood studios would touch it, forcing writer-director Ali Salim to seek support from private producers.

Why? Well it could be something to do with the fact that his film doesn't exactly accord with the apple pie image of the US that's propagated by the cowboys on Capitol Hill.

It pictures something rotten in the American Dream by fingering the fundamentalist flaw in the faith of the founding fathers that contradicts their cherished constitution.

Apart from overlooking the hopes and aspirations of native Americans and slaves, it continues to foster racism and capitalism's hatred of trade unions and socialism.

It takes as its theme the US national anthem Sweet Land Of Liberty and turns it upside down, to illustrate the poor, starving and huddled masses that didn't exactly get the promise of Ellis Island.

Based upon Will Weaver's short story A Gravestone Made Of Wheat, it's a simple enough tale about a German woman who arrives in Minnesota for her arranged marriage only to discover that she's not eligible.

After all, this is after the first world war, when the US was still in the throes of anti-German hysteria and banning the language because "they're all Bolsheviks."

Having said this, I have to stress that this is not exactly The Grapes Of Wrath. Rather, it deliberately recalls the disturbing reality in Andrew Wyeth's Christina's World, with its iconic white weatherboard house.

Opening with a gathering for a funeral, it carries references to Vietnam on the radio before flashing back to 1916, when the beautiful Inge (Elizabeth Reaser) is being accosted because she speaks German.

It gives Salim the opportunity to mention the activities of the Farmworkers Union and the Socialist Party, despite the fact that they appear largely ineffective.

These issues play second fiddle to what is an essentially sweet love story, with Inge slowly falling in love with Olaf (Tim Guinee) as they're forced to cohabit.

With the local pastor (John Heard) scandalised and the banker (Ned Beatty) ready to move in when they can't pay the mortgage, this is no pastoral paradise.

However, the scenes of hardship are about as believable as her attire and everybody driving round in brand new Fords before they take to work in the picturesque wheat fields.

Almost every character is patronisingly pretty. The only time it turns grubby is when our two lovebirds try to bring in the harvest and the neighbours (Alan Cumming, Lois Smith) are threatened with eviction.

It's like a scene from Millet rather than Courbet. This is possibly because Salim started out making commercials before deciding to take on a film that has obviously upset those with a Republican sensibility.

Worthy of an extended run, if only as it has an introduction to the issues of the current election.