Pathfinder - Die Rache des Fährtensuchers

This is the best film ever to come out of Norway. Mythical realism on its best. I've seen it several times and it only gets better. The unpolished brutality and savage behavior in this film can only be matched by Fargo (96). Beautifully set on Finnmarksvidda, the northern most part of Norway -Way north of the arctic circle, it shows the way of the life a thousand years ago. The silent winter morning is of course interrupted. Savages from an eastern land comes to plunder and rape the same people. Less than ten minutes into the film the heros family has been brutally slayed and are being deposed of as he returns home from hunting. The Washington Post calls it Die Hard on snow, without a barefoot Bruce Willis as the american stereotyped hero, instead it's realistic - I agree.

This beatiful movie is the first motion picture that has been shot with the Sami language as the main language. It has been shot on location here in northern Norway, and the storyline is an old tale that has been passed on by generations by the Sami people. Worth noting is also that both the crew and the cast are mainly Sami people.

In this movie, people don't talk so much as ordinary movies, however their faces, eyes, gestures express very strongly their feelings, coming danger, hard condition living in the nature.

Very beautiful movie with beautiful views and pure people.

Every once in a while, a true gem pops up unexpectedly. This story based on a legend from the Lapps, or Saami, is just such a case in point. Everything in it works. The elements of folklore and the mythic journey come together in an amazing tale of a young man's journey to manhood and redemption. The most amazing thing about this film, however, is its realization in the cultural context from which it belongs. This is a Saami legend, told in the Saami language and Saami actors giving us a deep drink of their rich culture. The scenery is breathtaking in its stark, snow-white beauty. The tale is brutal but life in the circumpolar region we knew as Lappland was often brutal and unforgiving. This is a hearty tale of a hardy people and while it focuses on the journey and heroic adventure of a young man, it is also very much a tale of the Saami people, many of whom still follow their reindeer herds across that barren, frozen landscape today. The film is wonderful in its simplicity and honesty. There are no high dramatic moments, no cars flying across the screen, no explosions with smoke and fire billowing into the air and no open-mouth noisy smooching. As one reviewer noted, Disney, Lucas and Spielberg could well take lessons from this film. It is simply excellent and merely greatly wonderful. My only regret as an anthropologist who specialized in working with pastoral nomads, was that I never worked with the Saami or the Tibetans [viewers who liked this film should also check out Himalaya, for a similar way of life on the other side of the world from the Saami]

Anyone in the business of storytelling should begin with a good story, which is precisely what Norwegian director Nils Gaup did for his Oscar nominated debut feature, adapting a thousand year old Scandinavian legend about a young boy who rescues a small community of fellow Laplanders from a horde of ruthless invaders. The setting may be exotic (the film was shot almost entirely above the Arctic Circle) but the basic mythic outline can be (and likely has been) translated anywhere, from the American West to "…a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away". Certain elements are by now so familiar they might almost be clichés: the young hero, orphaned by an evil enemy (the Tchudes, dressed all in black and speaking a harsh, guttural language); his refuge with a likewise threatened nearby tribe, who see him as their savior; the medicine man who will guide him to wisdom; and so forth. Gaup knows enough not to embellish an already proved formula, and as a result his film offers brisk, uncomplicated entertainment, with action scenes as thrilling as anything coming out of Hollywood these days. But now that the legend is on film, will future generations of Lapp children learn it from their elders by simply renting a DVD?