STOLEN/  STOLD

Sweden, 2024, 105 minutes, Colour.

Elin Oskal, Martin Wahlstrom, Pavva Pittja, Lars- Ante Wasar.

Directed by Elle Marja Eira.

Audiences outside Scandinavia may not be familiar with the Sunny people, those traditionally living in the Arctic area of Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia. For centuries, they have experienced prejudice, the kind of racism and xenophobia against indigenous people. They have their own language, customs, dress, celebrations and, especially, the tradition of the reindeer herding.

This film is based on a 2021 novel focusing on these issues in the contemporary setting. It is a story but it is also a hard hitting defence of an affirmation of the Sami people.

The central character is Elsa, initially seen as a young girl, played by Elin Oskai herself Sami and experiencing isolation during her school days. She brings conviction to her role. The scene is set with her father inviting her to choose a calf from the herd, cut it and mark it as her own, not owning it, but on loan as her responsibility. But, she sees one of the locals, hostile to the Sami slaughtering her calf. She remains hidden, a secret between Robert, the killer, and herself.

The main part of the action takes place when Elsa is a young adult, continuing to work with the reindeer but also teaching in the town. The drama highlights the antipathy between the Scandinavian population and the Sami, the killing of the deer, sabotage, fires, and hostility in action. And there is controversy about the development of mines, climate change, the role of the reindeer in such a context.

One of the great advantages of this film, and well worth seeing, is the extraordinary beautiful photography, its clarity, the vastness of the landscapes, skies, plains, majesty of the mountains, the snow, and so many sequences, rather mesmerising, of the huge herd of reindeer, their corralling, their roaming free, their thundering presence over the landscapes.

There are scenes of ordinary life but there is also a sense of depression amongst the Sami, Elsa’s great friend, Lasse, skilful herdsman, taking his own life, Elsa talking to the press incurring hostility but also disapproval from her own people, the young woman speaking out.

There is final drama, confrontation between Robert and Elsa, a speeding snowmobile chase, and some hope for the future.

For audiences interested in films about Sami people, there is the Finnish drama, based on actual events in the 1970s, Let The River Flow.

1. A Swedish film, a Sami Film, a Social Justice Drama?
2. Audience knowledge of the Sami people, their customs and language reindeer herding, xenophobia, persecution, social discrimination…? Across the north of Norway, Sweden, Finland, Russia?
3. The contemporary setting? Rehabilitation of the Sami People, the portrayal of their way of life, the tradition of the reindeer herding, the past, contemporary snowmobiles?
4. The contemporary Arctic towns, transport, shops, buildings and schools, police precincts? The musical score?
5. The beauty of the photography, the vast landscapes, the clarity, skies, plains, the vast reindeer herds, in motion?
6. Elsa and her story, a Sami girl, with her father, mother, growing up with her brother, the old grandmother? Dementia, getting lost, speaking out in the church, the family taking her to care? Elsa choosing the deer, the ritual of the cutting, not owning it but having it on loan, the ethos of herding the reindeer? Her enthusiasm, her skills of the work, with the other workers? Her seeing Robert and his slaughtering her reindeer? Hiding, the secrecy, this haunting her throughout her life, interactions with Robert? Leading to the ultimate confrontation?
7. The years passing, Elsa, becoming a teacher, in the classroom, continuing her skills with the herd, her relationship with her brother, his anger, being morose, their discussions together, her friendship with Lasse, his love of the herds, becoming morose, interactions with people, killing himself? The funeral?
8. Elsa, giving the interviews, denouncing the persecution of the Sami, attacking the prejudice, the raids on the deer, the covert market? The reaction of her friends, the Mayor, her father, that she should be quiet? Traditions about women in speaking out? Her continuing?
9. Her own life, her boyfriend, talking with her brother, the boy at school hostile?
10. Her brother, confrontation with the locals, the rifle, their overcoming him? His anger, depression, intending to hang himself?
11. The buildup to the confrontation between Elsa and Robert, his coming to the house, her ringing the police, the menace, leaving, the police interrogating him, his covering himself? Elsa deciding to get the evidence, going to his house, the storage with the deer, her taking the photos, being called, the pursuit, the snowmobile, her brother and his arriving, Robert in the ice, trying to save him, his drowning? Her interview with the police?
12. The media, the story of the expose, the police justifying themselves?
13. Mattias, his father, sending him to a psychologist?
14. An attempt at peace, trying to overcome the bigotry and persecution, the dignity and identity of the Sami people?