Ellos eatnu - La elva leve

As a coastal Sami this movie totally hit me in the gut. I have never been so provoked, angry and sad watching a movie or a TV series in my more than 50 year on this planet. From family members prejudice to other family members shame of their background was on spot with how many people in the coastal communities was and many still are thinking. How bullies treated sami youngsters, the racism amongst her co worker(s), I saw that growing up in the 80s. A highly provocative movie, a must see for all, especially those who does not understand the sami assimilation and shame. The sami activism was not the main point of the movie, it was the emotions that made it this good.

This movie doesnt really seem to know what it wants to be. Half of the time it is about the actual Alta case, and the protest against it. But the other half it is about some random character that was made up for the movie and her life. And it is like, really boring. This movie is nearly 2 hours long, but it could easily be cut down to oen and a half by just removing all the pointless scenes about her life. Yes, we need to know something about our main character, but no one came to watch the movie to watch her, but to watch the story of the Alta case. So half the movie is something that we dont want to see.

The movie doesnt even have a real conclusion. It kind of just ends without coming to a conclusion. Which is weird, considering that there this is a standalone movie, so leaving it on an open ending is such a weird creative choice.

The rest of the movie is fine, I guess. The acting is ok, the cinematography si nothing special and the script and dialogue is pretty ok. In all, a bit of a let down.

This movie is as painful as it is beautiful, in equal measures. However, knowing some of the context of the Alta-struggle and its importance in defining new terms for the larger conflict between sami and the norwegian state (it stirred an awakening in sami pride and will to resist), brings a welcome light into the sad atmosphere that the movie conveys.

It is beautiful also in character portrayal, in the subtlety of some of the story being conveyed through details. An important such is the run down shed that one reviewer is confused about. It is the fishing shed where she talks to her father in the beginning, minutes before he hangs himself. He is never shown, we just get to hear his voice and then he dies, his death never mentioned explicitly, but through the silence that he leaves behond. A very fine move by the movie makers to portray him as one in a people made silent and invisible by racist policies. One of so many male sami suicides. Yet his absence fills the rest of the movie, reflecting in all of his daughters actions. From her shame, to her rediscovered identity and pride.

It is also visiually beutiful, with the era being sooo spot on, in clothing, gadgets, furniture and so on. A feast for an eye who loves the 70s style!

For anyone who wonders; they lost the struggle against the hydroplant. It was finished in 1987.

Many viewers might go into the movie thinking it is about saving a river - but really , it is about giving an impactful insight into what it feels like being robbed of your cultural identity, what assimilation feels like.

The acting, directing, cinematography and music really comes together to give gravity to the scenes.

Having the main character work in school as a teacher, works well to highlight the big role the public school system played in the assimilation policies that were in place.

I am unsure in what ways this movie communicates to audiences that does not know the backdrop of Norwegian-Sami relations, and if foreign viewers might find certain elements under-communicated, but for me, this movie was, like the best movies, a teacher of empathy for other people's struggles.

The movie is more about the main characters personal journey, with the river protests as a catalyst for change, than the actual river protests.

A must see, especially for Norwegians, Swedish, Finnish and Sami people.

This film is about the struggle that we, the Sami people, have had to fight both as a people and as individuals and continue to fight to this day against the state and the racism we often encounter from the Norwegians, even though the film takes place between 1979 and 1982, many of the attitudes still exist in our time. There are some who think that this film is about the Alta River and the building of the Alta Dam, but this is not the case, it is about the Sami's fight for their own rights and the right to exist as a people. The Alta Dam is simply a blanket on which the film is built. Long live the Sami people.