A movie loosely based on a strike in the community of Sauda, Norway 2. June 1970. The strike lasted for five weeks, and was on the news almost every day.
" Broder Gabrielsen " in its time awoke a major debate , and already during the shooting of the film went high waves in the press . The film points a strong warning against religious fanaticism and against contemporary preachers, and it met then also strong opposition from some of these . In the film we meet the piecemeal lay preacher , Brother Gabrielsen ( ALF MALLAND ) , who discovers how modern music , rhythms and ecstasy gives great success when it comes to getting listeners to his preaching . He will soon get his big break , and keeps ecstatic revival meetings with tongues and " healings " through prayer . It ends in discouragement and defeat then wonders absent for Gabrielsen , and personal tragedies for those who were misguided .
The film takes place in the idyllic town of Solsund. Per Haug, a temporary worker, bachelor, amateur painter and leader of the political opposition in the city council, lives there. One day he rushes home from a turbulent city council meeting and angrily paints a portrait of Mayor Abrahamsen.
General director Strøm will create a large Norwegian industrial company to tame waterfalls and put them in pipes. But also his wife Sylvia, the gifted pianist, must be tamed. However, Strøm discovers that human material is considerably more difficult to process than the forces of nature.
A young speech therapist is asked to come to a farm to make a girl speak after several years in silence. A strange family makes out for a strange summer.
Imber has a child with the dubious fiancé Erland. He is destructive and his unhealthy lifestyle subjects his family to starvation and the death of their child. Imber falls in love with Arne and a settlement between Arne and Erland unfolds.
An orphan, Josefa, runs away from her threatening uncle with whom she is living, and stows away on traveller Fændrik's boat. She is no better off with him, however, as he forces himself on her and makes her steal and beg for a living. Meanwhile Fændrik's sister, who has been left penniless on shore by her deceitful brother, joins forces with Josefa's fiancé, Oscar, in a search for the missing pair.
The Market of the Unknowns is a burlesque and socially critical tale of a flea market in Oslo, which is organized for the benefit of slum dwellers in Lima. Based a on novel by Åge Rønning.