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.

While this movie is far from perfect it tells a thrilling story about the racism and prejudice that the Sámi face in their everyday lives. The cinematography is beautiful and the acting is stellar, especially by the protagonist. Since it is based on a book, it can perhaps be forgiven about falling into the same tropes about the Sámi being so close connected to their reindeer (it feels as if every movie makes sure to point out how important the reindeer herding is to the population even though far from every Sámi does this for a living).

The plot was decent and I can understand the frustration that the Sámi must feel since acts of violence towards them and their livestock is far from fictional. A few characters were underdeveloped and didn't add all that much to the story, which made the movie feel disjointed at times.

Overall it is worth the watch and tells an important story.

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!

The movie is severly misscategorised and this seems to be the main issue with bad reviews, that it is a lame thriller...

This is a great movie about the struggle of indigenous people trying to protect themselves and their traditional lifestyle in the face of predjudice, discriminaton, hatred, misogyny and violence.

It feels very real and unsettling at times, because it is something you can imagine all over the world. They might not kill the *Reindeers* of the Navajo, Rohingya or Koorie peoples, but besides that they often face the same hardships and fights as the Sámi in this movie.

I'm going to check out the book by sámi author Ann-Helén Laestadius this movie is based on.

Its shelved mostly as contemporary fiction btw and does not try to be a thriller....