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Sweet Times

This Week

T

he new movie drama Sweet Land, a post-World War I
and the community unites around the young couple, finally
celebration of land, love and the American immigrant
accepting Inge.
experience, stars Elizabeth Reaser. Her mother and step-
Reaser learned her German lines phonetically with a dialect
father are Karen and William Davidson of Bloomfield Hills. The
coach. "She came in to an open casting and stumbled through
film is the first independently produced carbon-neutral motion
the Norwegian with the German accent, and I was charmed and
picture, which means it sig-
committed;' the director said.
nificantly reduced carbon
Reviews describe the gorgeous
emissions during filming.
cinematography, shot on location in
Reaser, 31, now lives in Los
southern Minnesota, as a metaphor for
Angeles, but she grew up in
memory, family and history.
Bloomfield Hills and attend-
"The movie has so many parallels to
ed Birmingham Seaholm and
the world today — prejudice, greed,
Auburn Hills Avondale high
intolerance and misunderstanding:'
schools. The Juilliard School
said mother Karen Davidson a few
graduate is hailed as one of
days before Sweet Land's local release
Hollywood's rising young
on Feb. 2.
actors. The Thursday after
Encouraged by Selim, who sought to
Super Bowl Sunday, Feb. 8,
lessen greenhouse gases, the London-
she begins a nine-week run
based CarbonNeutral Company
as a patient on the ABC-TV
developed some simple CO2-saving
hit Grey's Anatomy.
measures like using sunlight instead
In Sweet Land, written
of just generators and film lights; car-
and directed by All Selim,
pooling to the set; buying fewer airline
Reaser plays Inge Altenberg.
tickets by not flying people home on
The story begins with a flash-
weekends; and being efficient with the
back after Inge dies in 2004.
schedule by shooting-out a location
Elizabeth Reaser as Inge Altenberg
Her grandson, Lars Torvik,
before moving the cast and crew to the
is faced with a decision — sell the family farm on which she
next location. Selim figures he cut CO2 use by a third. He later
lived since 1920 or cling to the legacy of the land. Seeking advice, invested in Jamaican windmills and German reforestation to neu-
he turns to Inge's photographs and letters. The stories she had
tralize the CO2 effects of making the film.
passed on to him also have an impact.
Reaser's TV credits include Law and Order: Criminal
Inge arrives in a small Minnesota farming community in 1920
Intent, The Sopranos and TNT's Saved. Her feature films
to marry a young Norwegian farmer named Olaf. Her German
include The Family Stone, Thirteen Conversations About
heritage and lack of official immigration papers make her an
One Thing, The Believer and Stay. She stars in Maria
object of suspicion in the small town — and she and Olaf are for- Maggenti's new comedy Puccini For Beginners, a 2006
bidden to marry. Alone and adrift, Inge goes to live with the fam-
Sundance Film Festival favorite that opens locally in March.
ily of Olaf's friend and neighbor, Frandsen and his wife, Brownie.
The 2007 Independent Spirit Awards nominations include
She learns the English language, American ways and a hard-won
Elizabeth Reaser for Best Female Lead and Sweet Land for Best
independence.
First Feature.
Inge and Olaf slowly come to know each other and fall in love.
— Robert A. Sklar, editor
Still unable to marry, they live together openly despite the scorn
of neighbors and the disapproval of the local minister. But when
"Sweet Land" is showing at the AMC Forum 30, 44681 Mound Road at
Frandsen's farm is threatened by foreclosure, Olaf takes a stand
M-59, Sterling Heights. Call the theater for show times: (586) 254-1381.

Sharp Arrows

Cub Scout Pack 364, chartered by the Adat Shalom Synagogue
Men's Club in Farmington Hills, last month awarded two of
its Webelo Scouts the Arrow of Light, Cub Scouting's highest
achievement. Adam Gould and Ethan Perlman were the first
Scouts in the pack's 3 1/2-year history to complete all of the
requirements for the Arrow of Light, which include citizenship,
camping, hiking, safety, fitness and Scouting knowledge.
Adam is a fifth-grader at Hillel Day School of Metropolitan
Detroit and a member of Congregation Shaarey Zedek. Ethan
is a fifth-grader at Stepping Stone School and a member of
Temple Israel. Both boys have been members of Pack 364 since
its inception.

Den leader Eric Gould with Arrow of Light honorees Ethan

Perlman and Adam Gould.

February 8 • 2007

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8

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