Swedes in America

Irving Lerner's Oscar-nominated "Swedes in America" looks partially at US citizens of Swedish descent, but in the grand scheme of things it reminds us that the US is a mix of peoples. Ingrid Bergman - then the most famous Swede - hosts the documentary. Traveling throughout the Midwest, she notes that there are people of almost every ethnicity working together to contribute to the war effort. Sweden notably avoided Nazi occupation during World War II, but Stieg Larsson's Millennium Trilogy made clear that Sweden still dealt with the Nazis.

So, my interpretation of the documentary is the simple fact that the US is the most heterogeneous country in the world. Despite Ingrid Bergman's look at the Swedish-American community in Minnesota, the US is hardly a bastion of blue-eyed, blonde-haired people. It's not a great documentary, but OK in a pinch.