User reviews

Violent motion picture about a brutal army of warriors invading Scandinavia . This is the first and classic version well directed by Nils Gaup in 1988, winning several prizes. Circa the year 1000 AD warlike people, the so-called "tjudes," roam in a strange land , in northern Scandinavia . There a boy , Aigin : Mikkel Gaup , living with his native family , is hunting . But merciless, ambitious and cruel barbarians suddenly appear and they are cruelly murdered . The starring observes the massacre from a distance and he manages to flee these murderers and reaches a village with other Natives whose inhabitants are worried if he has been able to hide his leads. Afraid of the violent savage warriors , they decide to flee to the coast . Meanwhile , the protagonist falls in love with a charming Native. The young stays alone to revenge his families killers but he gets captured by the invading people . Unfortunately , they get him before he can do anything and force him to lead them to the other natives , threatening to kill a friend , when Aigin sees this he dashes forward, and says he will guide them . He guides them and agrees to lead to the hiding place of his fellow villagers but he has a scheme to destroy the cutthroats barbarians before reach the camp.

It's the first version based on ancient folk-tale from Lapland, this classy adaptation is an exciting picture plenty of action, thrills, chills, roller-coaster ride, violence and breathtaking fights . The plot is plain and simple , some violent stranger warriors capture a young man and they want him to guide them to the coast, and start torturing him , then , things go wrong . As the intelligent starring , Mikkel Gaup , will fight for his freedom and his people as well as he'll take off a nasty villain , performed by Helgi Skúlason who doesn't say a word the entire film . The brutal invaders dresssed in black pelts deliver the goods, their appearance is spectacular and creepy . Furthermore , the astonishing killings are gruesome executed and grisly graphic. The atmospheric photography by Erling Andersen with a sort of never-ending dawn is truly awesome. It's a kind of light mingled in a moody and foggy atmosphere. Stirring and evocative musical score by three Scandinavian composers . Stunning and gripping realization by Nils Gaup . He was born in 1955 in Kautokeino, Norway. Gaup is a director and actor, who has made a few but acceptable films , being especially known for Pathfinder (1987), , Misery harbour (1989) , Above Water (1993) , North star (1996) , Journey to the Christmas Star (2012) and The last King (2017) . Gaup turned down offers to direct No without my daughter (1991) with Sally Field, RoboCop (1987) and many others. He began to direct Waterworld (1995), but he thought the budget was blown up and the project too difficult to handle.

It had a remake titled ¨Pathfinder¨ in 2007 by Marcus Nispel. It stars Karl Urban, Clancy Brown, and special mention to Russell Means , he was born Lakota Sioux, a good actor Native American, he along with Graham Greene, Rodney A Grant, Tantoo cardinal, Eric Schweitz and Wes Studi appear in all movies about Indian themes and it deals with a viking child raised by Native Americans, to take on the invaders Vikings .

Pure brilliance this is!

Living very close to the land and culture that's described in the film I really enjoyed this film. The way everything's been explained and displayed in the film is very satisfying. And I might add that it's not required to have an interest in the culture to watch this movie. That is to say that the movie works on every level! Gaup delivers a very strong and entertaining movie. I only wish it can have a broader audience, because it deserves it. I have no problem recommending this film to anyone with a slight interest in movies!

Nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film at the Oscars, this film is interesting to watch. Especially the beauty of snow and the landscape. The story is set a long time ago based on myths. Worth watching on a very cold day.

A magical movie in that it connects the viewer to two world at once--the here-and-now world and the mystical world which connects all people to creation. This is hinted at in the double meaning of "pathfinder", as Rasti points out to "the lad" when he explains the difference between them and the bandits. The bandits, Rasti says, have lost their way, in a spiritual as well as literal way. So the Pathfinder is guide for both this and the spirit world. In leading the bandits to their death, the lad becomes their Pathfinder in the spiritual sense as well--leading them further along the path of spiritual self-destruction that they have set out on. Having followed this path to the end, he is able to return to his people and become their new Pathfinder. The spiritual symbolism of the story also resonates with Christian symbolism--the hero who offers his life so others may live, who is cast down into the abyss only to rise out of it to bring the good news of salvation and life to his people. But it's also a wonderful tale that takes the viewer to a different time, place, and culture. A tale made even more remarkable by how familiar it seems in its otherness. It's also a wonderful piece of movie-making. Cinemagraphically it must look magnificent on the big screen--the sense of isolation would only be magnified. In a way it's almost a silent movie--the dialogue is eloquently sparse and one could probably follow the story without subtitles. A very rewarding and satisfying movie.

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?

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]

„Pathfinder" has a highly original setting: Scandinavia around the year 1000 (okay, I took that from the IMDb plot summary). Most actors are butt ugly, got snow in their mustaches and speak very little. The movie is actually pretty timeless. You almost can't tell that it was made in the 80's as there are absolutely no fashion clues or outdated special effects in the movie.

So, this movie is definitely something you don't see every day. Unfortunately, it's also incredibly slow. This whole world of these ancient people seems alien, which is appropriate, of course. This is an alien time after all. The problem is that the viewer is never really that caught up in the story. We cannot really identify with the characters and there isn't exactly a lot of suspense.

All this makes "Pathfinder" a movie that is worth checking out, if you get the chance. However, it's not the hidden gem that many reviewers make it out to be, but rather something for a rainy Sunday afternoon.

The villains were looking for nothing other than some prime sami villages to plunder. However, they didn't take into account the Steven Segal of the North. He managed to out run them on one ski, and this made the maniac leader of the tsjude bad men really annoyed. I think his face would scare anyone half to death.

So in between this and the end, we see that the samis are a spiritual folk, with great respect for nature. They are starved, and have to kill a bear to get through winter. The man who killed him, gets a magical aura around himself, and his tribe mates can look at him only through a metal ring.

By now, the villains, are interested in getting to the large sami sijdda (village) by the coast. However, they have no GPS system, so the steven segal-sami-man offers to show them the way. His girlfriend waits for him at the coast, but she does not believe that he is a traitor. But can she know for sure? The climax scene involves no violence, in stead we get a huge avalanche killing all the raiders, leaving them buried under tons of ice, snow and rock. And Steven Segal was the man who led them into it. He sacrificed his life so that the other samis could live.

In the dying moments of the film, as the samis ponder the great sacrifice a creature moves outside the lavvo, and the young, handsome ofelas (pathfinder) enters. The girl smiles.

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.

Since there's a remake of this film coming soon (from what I've read, it's no good), I thought I'd write a comment on the original.

I am part Saami, and I've lived in the Saami capital, Guovdageaidnu, all my life. This means that I know more about this film than any of you, so listen up! I have watched this film many times, not because it's good, but because I had to since it's a part of school education here.

Knowing the language, I must say the dialog is pretty bad. But that shouldn't bother you guys, since all that needs to sound/ look good to you, is the translation.

The acting is mediocre, but that doesn't necessarily ruin a film.

This film is too close to me, for me to be able to say it's good. But for foreigners this film is all but bad, rather exotic. So I guess there's a good chance you'll like it if you're foreign... so see it!

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.

'Pathfinder' tells the story of Aigin, who witnesses his family being massacred by the Tshudes. He flees, but is pursued by the Tshudes.

Meanwhile in another village, Raste becomes the local hero when he kills a dreaded bear for food after wolves took their catch from traps. When Aigin reaches their village, he warns of the impending danger. Raste and a handful of men stay behind to fight the Tshudes, while the rest of the villagers move to the coast, where they should be safe.

But the relentless Tshudes - lead by an antagonist who never speaks - are determined to find Aigin, and the villagers. When they manage to capture Aigin, he leads them through treacherous country while devising a plan to outwit the Tshudes, and save the villagers. Good climax.

Way before CGI most films were shot on location (I miss that!!). 'Pathfinder' is a Sami film and was shot in Norway - apparently in temperatures of -47 °C (-53 °F)! The snow and beautiful landscapes allow for great cinematography!

One of the many beauties of this film is the exquisite simplicity. Filming, acting, directing, costuming - all have been distilled to their essence so that the viewer is never distracted from the superb story. I watch this film several times a year (and have given it as gifts to friends) and no longer bother to read the sub-titles, so clear has the story become to me. We lost a great deal when we stopped sitting around fires telling stories to one another; this film can give some of that back to us.

A family is murdered during a heist by several depredators. While one the member, the elder son survived only because of his absence at the time of killing his family. Thus, the boy is on the run to take revenge while the killers are also after him.

One of the slowest, slow west movies I have ever seen.

The environment is full of snow everywhere. Thus, one of the coldest movies. Recommended 40%.

The photography is beautiful. The story hooks you very quickly. The movie has something for everyone: action, romance, nature, mysticism. I saw it 20 years ago and forgot the name. I posted on IMDb and another viewer knew the movie based on my description. It takes place in prehistoric time, but the characters are very human: you feel as if they are family. While there are subtitles, there is not much dialog: you can follow the movie very well without even looking at them. The photography is stunning. Not only is the scenery gorgeous, but the camera angles and the scene composition is wonderful. This is a movie which will bless you with its memory for the rest of your life.

Strongest parts of Ofelas aka Pathfinder are the cinematography, the landscape and that never getting old story about a crime committed and revenge on the horizon. Well produced, with solid acting, this one beats easy many of today's big budget productions made in clone city Hollywood. Good One.

Amazing isn't it? It takes a 1000 year-old Lapp legend to put Lucas and "Steven" Schpeilberg in their place. It doesn't cost multi millions of dollar$ to make a brilliant action film. It takes an intelligble script,sensitive acting and spot on directing (oh, and lots of snow). What's happened to the people who made this (including the producers)? Someday studios will realise that a good script and story will go a long way above a load of bangs and unrealistic computer graphics. Ah well! What the hey!

This is one of the truly great Norwegian movies, and those are sort of far between. The thing is, there's not a single word of Norwegian spoken either. It's all in an ancient dialect of the Sami language. This movie is made by Sami filmmakers based on their history. All in all that's some feat in a country where their people were systematically oppressed by the government. The attempts to wipe out their culture and assimilate them into the Norwegian one is only outevilized by the American hunt for the Indians.

The scenery and the light in this movie is truly awesome. It's the kind of light you only get in the dark period in the arctic. The sort of neverending dusk/dawn time. For most of the year, the sun doesn't rise in this part of the world, and this results in the spooky, troll-like feeling of this film.

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.

I'll say right off the bat that I can't imagine why this rates only 7.3 stars. Perhaps it's too highbrow for most audiences. Frankly, if you don't have either the curiosity or the brains to try to understand all the profound anthropological underpinnings, or you know zero about shamanism or primitive magic or Lapps (I believe they now style themselves Saami), this isn't for you. Too bad, because it's extremely exciting, absorbingly plotted, and beautifully filmed.

I literally had to fight to track down and watch this movie but it worth all the trouble for it. "Ofelas" ("Pathfinder") is one of those pictures that doesn't have the attention it deserves, neither a wider distribution that should have and it will stay in this underrated category for a long time. Even with an American remake made in 2007 (I don't think I'll ever watch for countless reasons, to be exposed later on this review) I don't know if people still talk about this precious gem. But all in all, thank you AMPAS for giving a nomination for this as Best Foreign Film, otherwise it'll probably been overlooked under my radar.

"Ofelas" works almost like "True Grit" in the sense of the audience seeing a teenager who wants to avenge the murder of his family. But instead of the Old West scenario and someone paying for an old Sheriff to do the job, we have the Scandinavian wilderness of many centuries ago, and this time a boy named Aigin (Mikkel Gaup) joins another tribe to help with his plan but they're not so willing since they're not trained warriors like the Tchudes (the brutal tribe that killed the boy's family) and they're in an astonishing disadvantage with plenty of women and children with them. So, the boy decides to go on his own, improvising an intriguing scheme against those murderers, things to make us gripped through the whole time.

It's not about just butchery and vengeance, there's plenty of deep mind-blowing things that rare similar projects can deal with. Transcendental like very few pictures can be, I mean really, you can watch this without the captions on and you'll still have a clue of what the movie is about, "Ofelas" surprised me for its poetic presentation of themes like faith, companion, the power of love and also the power of hate and destruction, translated all that through expressions, actions, very few words and when they're used they're magnificent. The dialog in the tent between Aigin and the tribe "pathfinder" Raste (Nils Utsi) is the high point of the film, when the old man teaches the young man what faith is about. "You still can't see it? But now you can feel that something is there. You can't see it in the air, but your very existence is tied to it. In this way all things are bound together, intertwined. No man can ever tear himself apart from the whole."

He goes on. "But it can happen that he loses sight of the whole. When he does, he is like the Tchudes. Men who lost the path. They stumble blindly towards self-destruction." This quote also says everything about the villains of whom we're never able to see them talking. They simply show up on the screen and kill everybody. Why? It's all they have. The actor who plays their leader doesn't say a word, not just because the script says so but also because he's the only member of the cast who isn't from Norway. Yet, even if he had lines he would be the perfect choice for the role thanks to his powerful expressions, frightening and controlling, menacing from the first minute his presence is noted.

It's a small film but of a great effect. Perfect in every sense, from the acting, the beautiful cinematography, the scary yet majestuous scenaries of mountains and trees. The action sequences has to be one of the greatest ever filmed, including the fight with a bear; the tragic opening scenes with Aigin running away from the Tchudes; the spectacularly thrilling final moments, very nerve-wracking. With all that in mind, why would anyone bother to see the millionaire budget remake? I don't think all the money in the world could represent everything this movie had: heart, soul and a great meaningful story to present. Do whatever you can to watch it. 10/10

(Preliminary remark: I saw this movie dubbed in german language)

This is a great piece of work: I like the story, actors, scapes, the whole movie. In my opinion it is not a typical "Big Cinema"-style movie: it is straight forwarded, fresh and clear.

The Pathfinder is a superious movie done with skill and heart for a ancient story told in a way only the Norwegian could do it. I enjoyed the time watching it.

It´s rich in view and sound, recites a hero story so straight, it´s unbelieveable. I wish more of this to come.

(Final remark: I hope sometime to view - experience - this movie in its original language.)

Pathfinder is an Oscar nominated Norwegian film which takes place at around 1000 AD. It begins with the murders of a family, slaughtered by a tribe of nomads, called Chudes. The one survivor, Aigin, who finds the bodies of his kin and is chased by the killers, barely escaping to other relatives. He makes to his fellow Sami's and the try to fight, but are overwhelmed by their enemy.

Aigin agrees to be a pathfinder and guide the Chudes to his tribe through a treacherous mountain journey. He leads them in temperatures well below zero with a plan to save his people from the vicious gang of killers. The scenery is spectacular and stunts breath taking. At only 86 minutes, The Pathfinder flies by quickly without a wasted moment.