Ditte is born out of wedlock and lives as a young girl with her old beloved grandmother. As an illegitimate child she is teased in school and more than anything in the world she wants a father. When steady - utterly reliable - herring dealer Lars Petter shows up and tells her that he is marrying Ditte's mother, the little girl is very happy.
Now Ditte must take care of three new sisters and brothers but gets nothing but complaints from her ungrateful, selfish mother. But the little girl finds consolation and support in both her sisters and brothers and Lars Petter. Also when she gets work from the tyrannical mistress of Hill Farm, whose spineless son Karl gets her pregnant.
Everyday life heroine
As is the case with Pelle the Conqueror (Pelle Erobreren) - directed by Bille August - Ditte, Child of Man is based on the first part of a novel by Martin Andersen Nexoe. But Bjarne Henning Jensen - who directed the film along with his wife Astrid - is more true to the socialist author's intentions than August, who chose to make a film about a father and his son.
Ditte, Child of Man is about courage in facing life and the desire to survive - manifested in a girl with a big heart. Ditte is one of the heroines of everyday life and is played with both sensitivity and drive by actress Tove Maës who emanates total honesty in the part.
Unsophisticated and unvarnished
The black and white film depicts life in the countryside about 100 years ago in an unvarnished and evocative manner. It was shown at film festivals and praised as a work in tune with the Italian neo-realism that revolutionised the cinematic art by telling everyday stories about ordinary people.
Ditte, Child of Man, ran at cinemas in many parts of the world. But a scene where Ditte bathes nude in a lake, quite a daring thing to show in a film at that time, was cut by the Americans.
Christian Monggaard is a film reviewer and critic for the daily newspaper Information.
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Ditte, Child of Man. Photo: Verner Jensen.