It has nothing to do with weed and everything to do with farming and a whole lot more in the 1978 Earth Cracking historical romance Northern Lights, written and directed by John Hanson and Rob Nilsson. Restored with stunning clarity of the film’s breathtaking monochrome imagery, this winner of the Cannes Film Festival’s Camera d’Or award for best film debut is set in 1915 on the plains of North Dakota. Northern Lights tells the story of what Hanson’s grandfather, Ray Halsne, lived through back then as a wheat farmer. The farms were hurting due to unregulated exploitation by the powers that be back east, so organizers of the Nonpartisan League started to visit the farmers. The goal was to have the farmers band together to replace the beholden politicians with farmers in the 2016 state elections. Ray Sorenson (Robert Behling) is skeptical of the movement, as he hears them talking a lot about politics but doubts it will change anything. Ray is also keen on getting married to his sweetheart, Inga Olsness (Susan Lynch), so he has little time for rabble rousing. However, Ray’s brother John (Joe Spano) is getting frustrated with working all the time for nothing. Pressure builds on all three as wheat prices plummet and the banks start grabbing farms…
This got off to a bumpy start, due to an entirely unnecessary framing device of an old farmer in modern times sitting down to type out the story we are about to see. It’s the most amateur-looking part of what is a very impressive indie production, just dragging feet until you cut to the main narrative. There are also ungodly amounts of exposition through overlay titles, enough to make the title opening of Star Wars Episode IV look succinct. However, there is some music that crops up immediately that is so achingly beautiful you stay put just to hear it again, like you did while watching Beverly Hills Cop.
“…organizers of the Nonpartisan League started to visit the farmers.”
The farm romance when introduced is quaint as s**t and a little corny in the way only the 70s can be. The use of non-professionals in some of the roles sparks some interest, but it is only another indie box that is being checked off, along with the black and white footage and awkward narrative unfolding. It had me wondering what set the beaches of Cannes on fire over Northern Lights right in the twilight of the most radical decade of film yet.
It is at the half-hour mark that everything becomes astounding with an optical event that is truly unforgettable. Shot out in the elements by cinematographer Judy Irola, Northern Lights has one of the greatest cinematic sequences ever caught on camera: threshing wheat with a full team in a blizzard. Rarely has the raw intensity of an act been so well captured, with editing that only increases the majesty of what we are witnessing.
The power of the images even outstrips the agricultural epics of early Soviet era cinema, where the previous high water mark was. Northern Lights could even give the salt of the earth master, Russian director Dovzhenko, a run for his rubles. Like landing in Oz, this sequence opens the curtains wide to enjoy everything this indie wonder accomplishes.
We get more and more stupendous visual compositions from Irola, all of which look phenomenal in the restoration. The romance gets real gritty in a way that still resonates today, as daily life is designed to tear us all to pieces. Even the quirky narrative suddenly makes sense, as the audience is being drawn emotionally into the League movement at the same pace as the stubborn farmers are. YES, you will fall in love with a wheat field. You will fall in love with a barn. There is much to delight in Northern Lights, down here on the farm. You have to wait out the 30-minute fuse, but once the film starts exploding, it doesn’t stop.
"…has one of the greatest cinematic sequences ever caught on camera..."
