Le renne blanc

Christmas is approaching fast, so I thought it would be fit to watch a movie like "The White Reindeer". Admittedly, it doesn't have anything to do with Christmas, but hey, at least it's filmed in the far North of Finland - home of Santa Clause - and features a lot of reindeers. Primarily, though, "The White Reindeer" is a minimalistic but beautiful and stylish tale of Sámi folklore. Difficult to watch, often, because it's very slow-paced, atmospheric instead of spectacular, and (on my copy, at least) there were subtitles in English that are as unreliable as some of my ex-girlfriends. Sometimes there wasn't a word being said and subtitles randomly appeared, whereas during long conversations and voiceovers there wasn't anything to read.

The tale of Pirita, a young woman who transforms into the white reindeer she sacrificed during a ritual with a Shaman that went very wrong, is haunting and absorbing. All she wanted was for her husband to remain at home with her more often, but she ends up cursed and accused of witchcraft. There are beautiful landscapes, petrified superstitious villagers, full moons, and captivating hunts. The folklore tale is like a werewolf-saga, but more tragic and saddening. Highly recommended film from one of - hands down - THE most fascinating countries in the world. I love Finland. Love all the Scandinavian countries, in fact, but Finland the most.