Lars Lambert and Olle Sjögren’s Deserter USA
Tuesday, May 26, 2026 at 7pm
Light Industry, 361 Stagg Street, Suite 407, Brooklyn
Deserter USA, Lars Lambert & Olle Sjögren, 1969, 16mm, 104 mins
During the height of the war in Vietnam, hundreds of young American men sought political asylum in Sweden, which, alone among Western nations, offered safe harbor to draft dodgers and AWOL conscripts, much to the displeasure of the US government. Virtually unseen for decades, Deserter USA centers around a small, scruffy group of erstwhile soldiers as they acclimate themselves to their new Scandinavian home, settle in with welcoming local girlfriends, endure harassment from American intelligence, and defy the wary Swedish establishment by continuing their anti-war activism. Real-life radicals Bill Jones, John Ashley, and Mark Shapiro—formative members of the American Deserters Committee in Stockholm—play lightly fictionalized versions of themselves in a scripted narrative, shot in actual locations, that teeters on the edge of documentary. Their portrayal is that of idealistic young strangers set adrift in a strange land; through their eyes, we visit an idyllic country home, a groovy nightclub, the welfare office, and an underground printing press, all the while following their struggle against a low-key counterinsurgency from both local and American authorities.
Though the movie was backed by a major Swedish studio, Lambert and Sjögren display no interest in producing pro-Swedish propaganda. The directors touted their film as “the most radically left-wing movie produced commercially in this country,” and only twelve days after the film’s Stockholm premiere Lambert was sentenced to prison for defying his own country’s military obligations. The result of this unlikely pairing, between the Scandinavian film industry and the movement against US imperialism, is at once slick and shabby, rich in atmosphere if occasionally awkward in execution.
When Deserter USA’s American distributor held a screening for potential theaters, according to reports from the radical press, they were met with “the unexpected appearance of some representatives of the Defense Department who sat through the showing in stony-faced fashion. None of the theater people present were anxious to obtain bookings.” One representative of a large urban chain denounced the film’s protagonists as nothing but “half-baked punks.”
We cannot agree with our 20th-century predecessors in the exhibition trade: the film fascinates, whatever its imperfections. Here is an image from the past—a rare portrait of American leftists living in political exile abroad—that suggests a possible future.
Print courtesy of Jake Perlin.
Tickets - Pay what you can ($10 suggested donation), available at door.
Please note: seating is limited. First-come, first-served, except for members subscribed at $8/month or more, who may reserve a seat by emailing information@lightindustry.org at least two hours prior to showtime. Box office opens at 6:30pm. No entry 10 minutes after start of show.