Fergie the little gray tractor and the dancing goat – Gråtass – Gøy på landet (2016)

Directed by: Peder Hamdahl Nass | 71 minutes | family | Actors: Elias Søvold-Simonsen, Stein Winge, Jeppe Beck Laursen, Dagny Backer Johnsen, Hugh Gormley, Kari Ann Grønsund, Miriam Keegan, Hege Schøyen

Television series, films, CDs, books, theater shows, all kinds of merchandise and even its own amusement park in Stavanger; in Norway the little gray tractor Fergie – or ‘Den lille tractors Gråtass’, as he is called there – is a true hero. In 1995 Fantasi-Fabrikken A/S, producer of television series, comics and children’s books, launched a series around a small gray tractor that comes to life. The figure was modeled after the Ferguson TE20 type, which was designed by Harry Ferguson, rolled off the production line between 1946 and 1956 and is still used in agriculture today. The tractor’s nickname is ‘Little Gray Fergie’, and so is its cinematic counterpart. The adventures that Fergie experiences take place on and around the farm of grandfather, who has taken care of the animals together with a sympathetic but rather clumsy Govert and farmhand Inge. Since the first episode aired on Norwegian television in 1998, Fergie’s popularity has risen to great heights and the little gray tractor is also making progress in countries outside Norway.

The first feature film ‘Gråtass – Hemmeligheten på gården’ was released in 2004; we have now arrived at the fourth film ‘Gråtass Gøy på landet’ (2016), which will be released in the Netherlands under the title ‘Fergie, the little gray tractor and the dancing goat’. City boy Gustav (Elias Søvold-Simonsen) goes on holiday to the countryside with his family. He soon meets Inge (Dagny Backer-Johnsen) and experiences a summer he will never forget (miraculously we don’t see his family again after the first few minutes…). Inge takes him to the farm of grandfather (Stein Winge) and Govert (Jesper Beck Laursen), who is once again inventing the craziest things. Gavin also meets Fergie, the friendly tractor with glowing eyes. Together they take care of a mischievous kid, whom they call Houdini because he keeps escaping. Grandfather is busy preparing for the annual fair. He wants to beat the cunning neighbor Hildegard (Kari Ann Grønsund) in the vegetable growing competition. But Houdini is hungry and after Grandpa’s championship cucumber. It’s up to Gustav and the others to help Grandpa win the match after all.

In ‘Fergie’ the protagonists experience very innocent adventures, which makes the film very suitable for the youngest viewers. It is not for nothing that the makers won the Cinekid Audience Award in 2016. The film is full of gimmicks that make the very youngest laugh: Govert who is constantly eating, the village hairdresser who claims to keep secrets but immediately tells the first customer, the older lady who just doesn’t want to be satisfied with her newly fitted haircut. The nod to the western genre is also funny, with the best example being the ‘Mexican standoff’ between grandfather and the neighbor, complete with matching music and camera angles. But above all, ‘Fergie’ is a modest romantic glorification of farm life, reduced to proportions that children can easily handle. Nothing complicated, no heavy themes and with little subtle acting, but that’s not what this type of film is about. ‘Fergie’ is cuddly and sweet, a tad nostalgic and entertaining, especially for the little ones.