Stolen

I worked for Scandinavian Design for 10 years. During that time I never knew anything about the Sami people that populate this corner of the world. We call it Lapland, but the indigenous people who inhabit it call their homeland, "Sápmi" . Parts of northern Sweden, Norway, and Finland, are inhabited by a rich culture that's hundreds of years old, that still rely on herding reindeer. "Stolen" is about the Sami living in today's world.

This movie may not have a unique plot, but it doesn't lack in cinematography, realistic characters, and authentic wardrobe. The plight of the reindeer herders depicted in this film will open your eyes to a life that's full of hard work, struggles with racist neighbors, and dealing with climate change. It also shows how well they have adapted to the modern world of cellphones, snowmobiles, and social media. I enjoyed the little details, like the beautiful Solje jewelry, and colorful costumes. This movie will immerse you in a story that covers about 20 years of a young girl's life. She becomes an outspoken activist against the people who are killing reindeer to punish the herders. Mining also threatens them, even though many herders have turned to working for the mining company, just to survive. There is a rift amongst family members and townspeople who don't want to rock the boat. "Stolen" will leave a thought provoking impression on you. Maybe make you want to travel to "Sápmi". It looks gorgeous both in winter or summer.

I'm so sick of the standard formula for American films that involves nothing but violence and evil, and the worst qualities of human beings. This film has touches of that, because that is part of humanity, but I also appreciate that it was based on a true story and it is, in the end, a triumph for a woman protagonist who has dealt with a lot of adversity. I hope we can see more films like this. The characters are realistic. Hopefully the story is closely aligned with the true story. It's also eye-opening to an American like me who was not aware of this part of the Swedish population. Again, great movie.

I do not understand the low rating this movie has at the moment. I found it a gripping tale that had me genuinely feeling for the characters and their struggles.

The movie is fine. Editing and scenography and all is good. It's not an American blockbuster. But as a European I am glad about that (and maybe used to Scandinavian pacing in films, but even so).

The new light cast on a culture that's often overlooked and treated as a "perfect little touristic outing", with its own struggles in our modern world, is a welcome one in my opinion. The story is built up well, and so are the characters. Give it a shot. I watched it in the original language as well. I feel like it does a lot more service to the movie and culture.

I genuinely believe people that have issues with the story or characters are as prejudiced as some characters in the movie itself.

A very beautiful and well told drama from the north. This is truly something unique, that you havent seen before. A very important film.

It's extremely well directed, with many beautiful shots over the Nordic parts of Sweden. Its very well put together!

The acting dosent fail at all and stays a very high level throughout all of the movie.

The manuscript fails sometimes with some abit unrealistic parts, but other then that its something the makes the film very good.

The soundtrack is very good.

A very well told story, with excellent performances of drama. Something really good and unique that i totally recommend!

As a thriller this film is barely adequate BUT I still enjoyed watching it, basically for the Sami culture. I had never even heard of them before and was surprised to find out there was a group of white indigenous reindeer herders with their own language who suffered bigotry from descendants of migrants. Seems to be a global theme, huh? I even did some reading about The Sami after the show. It's a very interesting story which I will be studying more. Back to the film itself: to be fair it is well filmed, the characters are well developed and the performances are good. And beautiful landscapes. It does get a bit repetitious with certain character conflicts and snowmobile chases. But it is a directorial debut and, like I said, I kinda liked it. 7 stars.