Das weiße Ren

The Finnish film 'White Reindeer' is marketed in the USA and Britain as a horror movie, but that's not precisely accurate. This is a stark, moody film but not a scary one. It purports to be an authentic Lapp folktale about a woman named Pirita who turns into a white reindeer in order to feed upon men.

This story has elements of both the vampire and the werewolf legend, as well as the succubus. Apart from reindeer being native to Lapland, I can't imagine why the reindeer was chosen as the species for this folktale's version of the shape-changer legend. Bats and wolves are predators, and therefore scary. The reindeer is a domesticated herbivore that serves humans ... not very spooky, is it? In one sequence, the were-reindeer woman sprouts fangs. Actual reindeer don't have fangs, so why should these be part of her transformation? Female reindeer have antlers, so why doesn't Pirita sprout antlers?

Speaking of superstitions and myths: early in this film, a black cat scurries across the path of an approaching sledge, but the director gives this so little emphasis that it appears to have no significance. In Cornwall, it's considered *good* luck to have a black cat cross one's path, and this same thing is considered *bad* luck in America. Do Lapps have any superstitions concerning black cats?

Mirjami Kuosmanen, the actress who plays the central role in this film, is quite pretty ... but her performance as a native of northern Lapland is weakened by the fact that she is clearly wearing makeup. Due to the low production budget, we never actually see Pirita changing into the reindeer ... but the director cleverly gets round this by having his leading lady lunge towards the camera, then cutting to a shot of a reindeer in the same position. Still, I was hoping we would see a shot of a woman's shadow changing shape ... or a series of human footprints in the snow abruptly becoming hoof-marks.

The Lapp landscape in this movie is starkly beautiful and awesome but never frightening. The photography is excellent. There are two impressive dissolve shots involving flames, and a splendid montage sequence. I was extremely impressed by a night sequence over a bonfire. During the Midnight Sun sequences, there are two shots featuring a weird colonnade of white pillars: these appear to be artefacts of the Lapp culture, but we never learn what they are. A sequence in which a carved vertrebra dances magically across a shaman's drum has an eerie pagan power that made me think of Nijinsky's staging of 'The Rites of Spring'.

My one complaint about this film -- a minor grievance -- is that we never learn the time period in which the main action occurs. These Laplanders possess milled coins, a rifle, and loomed curtains. One sequence takes place at a prayer service that is clearly Christian, featuring a minister in Geneva bands. Are we watching scenes in the twentieth century, or some earlier time? I'll rate this moody, compelling (but not frightening) film 8 out of 10. Oh, my deer! I Lapped this up!

I recently got a chance to see this on the big screen and it is definitely a special film. Filmed in Lapland, nearly everyone moves about in this film on skis or reindeer-drawn toboggan. The lonely snow-covered landscapes lightly dotted with trees, humans, and curving herds of reindeer look beautiful in black and white. The film capitalizes on the mythic and mystic nature of the landscape and the land--The Land of the Midnight Sun. What a perfect setting for a film about love, loneliness, fears of abandonment, and, of course, vampires. The horror is a subtle one and even now barely verges on the campy (thanks to the uniqueness of its setting). The strange shots of the sun hovering on the horizon and of reindeer stampeding across the snow only enhance this bizarre tale. The main actress is quite stunning and plays the balance of her role well. A definite treat for fans of foreign or horror films.

This is a movie that I heard about through podcasts originally. The idea sounded interesting so it went on a list to check out. For December on Journey with a Cinephile: A Horror Movie Podcast, I like to do winter-based movies. This one also doubled as a Trek through the Twos as well as being from 1952.

Synopsis: a newlywed woman goes to the local shaman to get help with her love life, but instead she gets turned into a white reindeer vampire.

We start this off with a song while seeing a barren, snowy landscape. The song is telling the story that we are going to see. Part of it that I wanted to point out is that it says about a girl born a witch. We then see a woman traversing the land, Pirita (Mirjami Kuosmanen). It then shifts over to a community of people. There looks to be a race where reindeer are pulling people in sleds. We see that she is vibing one of the men, Aslak (Kalvero Nissilä). The two soon marry.

Things don't go as she planned. Aslak is a reindeer herder and he's gone for long stretches. She is lonely. She decides to seek the aid of a shaman. He goes by Tsalkku-Nilla (Arvo Lehesmaa). Something goes awry during their meeting and in the end, he tells her to seek out the stone god and pray to him for help. She does, but it doesn't necessarily give her the results that she wants. It makes her irresistible to men. It also makes her into a shapeshifter. She then starts to take on the form of a white reindeer. The curse that comes with this is to feed on the men who come after her.

There are mysterious deaths that put the community into fear. The men know that the victims were going after this rare, white reindeer and that it is cursed. They also believe that a witch is behind it. To save their people, they decide it needs to be killed. What they don't realize is that it is one in their community.

That is where I'm going to leave my recap as this doesn't have the deepest story. It is interesting that I saw this played at Cannes Film Festival during its release. It also won best Fairy Tale feature as well. That is the best way to describe this. The song in the beginning sets that tone and with how things play out, there is a cautionary tale this is trying to relay.

I think that is also where I'll start then with delving into this movie. We see this couple meet and then fall in love. They get married and things should be perfect from there. Aslak is gone for long stretches. There were scenes that I saw where I thought due to this, Pirita cheats on him. Looking at a recap of the movie, I think that scene shows Pirita's mother of Maarita. They're played by the same person. It makes me wonder the purpose of that scene now. Regardless, I like this idea of being thankful for what you have and not meddling. By doing so, Pirita makes things much worse for herself.

Going along with this, I want to go over to the fairy tale aspects. This is supernatural, of course. Pirita goes to see the shaman. He knows there is something different with her. I thought that was a good scene. It is interesting as well that the 'stone god' gives her the power that she wants. It comes at a price that she now must live off the blood men that come after her. It also forces her to change into a white reindeer. What is interesting here is that I've never seen a 'were-reindeer' film before so that was different. This is like vampire lore in that at first, she loves it. That goes away though which I thought adds a layer here as she fears being killed. There is also a bit of 'Jekyll and Hyde', that she can no longer control it either.

Where I'll go then would be acting. I thought that Kuosmanen was good as our lead. First, I think she is attractive. I think that is needed for this role. What I like is that she seems like a good person until she is 'tainted' with this curse. That is where I think the best part of the performance comes out. She is embracing the evil until it becomes too much. That worked for me. I'd then say that Nissilä was solid as her husband. I liked Lehesmaa as the shaman. The rest of the cast also rounded this out for what was needed as well.

Then the last things to go into would be with the filmmaking. I love the cinematography here. The landscape just feels cold and barren. You can see that life is hard here. The shots look good. They don't anything that is too different, but I think they capture good things. There aren't a lot in the way of effects. It doesn't necessarily need them. Everything they do are in camera. Other than that, I'd say the soundtrack worked for what was needed. Something creepy this does is with the design. Hearing Pirita's laughter when it is disembodied is great. I was a fan there. I did want to say that this is a slow burn. I think part of that is the time it was made. I did find the pacing to help make this feel eerie in an effective way.

In conclusion, this is an interesting movie. I knew just a bit coming in and wasn't disappointed. This has a fairy tale feel to it that I enjoyed. There is a bit of a cautionary story as well that I'm a fan of. I thought that acting was good. This looks great and they do good things for the atmosphere with the sound design. I could have done with a bit more, but we are still early in cinema. I can see how this influenced things that came after it for sure. Worth a viewing if you are into foreign cinema and want to see a bit more of the history.

My Rating: 7.5 out of 10.

Be careful what you wish for is the moral of this captivating 1952 fantasy horror (a rare genre movie from Finland), and perhaps the world's only example of Sami gothic cinema. A newly-married young woman, Pirita (Mirjami Kuosmanen), desperate for affection, visits a shaman who offers a potion that makes her an irresistible object of desire, but there is a terrible cost. Pirita becomes a bloodthirsty shapeshifter who lures men out into the barren wilderness where she kills them. It was the directorial debut of Finnish cinematographer Erik Blomberg, and was filmed amongst the starkly beautiful fells of Finnish Lapland. Blomberg combines an almost documentary filming style with avant-garde experimentation to produce a dreamy art-house horror film without compare, and it remains one of world cinema's criminally under-seen masterpieces. The film was entered in competition at the 1953 Cannes Film Festival and earned the Jean Cocteau-led jury special award for Best Fairy Tale Film. After its limited release five years later in the United States, it was one of five films to win the 1956 Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Film.

Mirjami Kuosmanen (Pirita) is a witch who marries reindeer-herder Kalervo Nissila (Aslak) in a Sami community in Lapland. Nissila is often absent and Kuosmanen gets lonely. After visiting a shaman, she goes through a ritual that will make her more attractive to her husband as well as to every other herdsman. However, she is already a witch and the combination of these events allows her to shapeshift into a white reindeer every night, where she lures men to follow her. Not a good move for any herdsmen who take up the chase....

This film has an interesting setting in the bleak snow forest in Finland amongst an indigenous community. We get a cool genre of film following the story of a vampire shapeshifting witch who wants love but is also deadly. Kuosmanen is good in the lead role and has the perfect look for the witch, especially when she is being evil.

If you come across a white reindeer, do not follow it!

In fact, there are loads of bad white things. If you come across white chocolate, do not eat it as it contains zero chocolate. The Ku Klux Clan dressed in white and Essex girls wear white stilletos.