In pastoral Normandy the peaceful harvest is broken by the call to colors in 1914, and Mona, a peasant girl, is left to take care of the farm for her father and brother. When the farm is confiscated by French authorities for a prison camp, Mona and her father are forced to assume a mortgage to buy additional stock. Although she despises the Germans, Mona becomes attracted to Oskar, a young prisoner who works at the farm. A French sergeant attempts to force his way into Mona’s house, and Oskar, in coming to her aid, is charged with assault; at his trial, however, Mona defends the young German though she is branded as a traitor. After the Armistice, the camp is ordered cleared, but the villagers refuse to harbor the boy; then Mona’s blinded brother returns from the war and shames the people with an impassioned plea for love and forgiveness. —TCM
Born Moshe Stiller in Helsinki, his family was of Ashkenazi Jewish heritage, having lived in Russia and Poland before settling in Finland. At age four, Stiller’s mother committed suicide, after which he was raised by family friends. From early on, Stiller was interested in acting. His talents did not go unnoticed, and soon Stiller was offered the opportunity to practice and display his acting skills in the theaters of Helsinki and Turku in Finland.
Drafted into the army of Czar Nicholas II — Finland was at the time an autonomous Grand Duchy of Russia—rather than report for duty he fled the country for exile, and settled in Sweden.
By 1912 Stiller had become involved with Sweden’s rapidly developing silent film industry. He began by writing scripts, in addition to acting and directing in short films but within a few years gave up on acting to devote his time to writing and directing. He was soon directing feature-length productions and his 1918 effort Thomas Graals bästa… read more
