Markens grøde / Growth of the Soil / Segen der Erde

Isak and Inger’s life in the Norwegian wilderness is one of work and privation. As they begin to achieve a modicum of prosperity, Inger gives birth to her third child, born with a cleft palate. Fearing the social ostracism that she herself suffered from the same condition, the mother kills her baby. When she is released from prison years later, modernisation has begun its inexorable forward march in the far north ... Knut Hamsun’s novel was published in 1917 and awarded the Nobel Prize in 1920. When Thomas Mann read it in 1919 before resuming work on $The Magic Mountain%, he called it a $glorious work% and it might be considered an inspiration for his finished book. – We are showing the visually powerful, colour restoration of the silent film with modern music provided by students of the Lübeck Academy of Music led by professor Franz Danksagmüller, as well as the original music by Leif Halvorsen (1887–1959) played by the Norwegian Radio Orchestra under the baton of Frank Strobel.