Sami Blood

I really do like Scandinavian movies and as far as I can remember, there was never a movie from Scandinavia that ever disappointed me. But this movie took me by surprise... It has been 4 days since I've seen this movie at local art-club cinema and yet I still can't stop to think about it. Something changed in my heart and even I'm a very rationale human being, it is difficult to explain why did this movie affect me so deeply. Was it the perfect written story, a subtle story that grabbed me by the soul as how real was it portrayed ? Was it the amazing cinematography of the mysterious and tranquil landscape of Lapland ? Was it the well-balanced camera shots coupled with modest yet powerful and deep soundtrack ? Was it the perfect acting of those young and innocent Saami sisters and the strong bond between them ? Whatever it was, it left me with a powerful and profound feeling inside. And if a movie is capable of achieving exactly this, then it is definitely worth watching.

Background: The Sámi (often called Lapps by outsiders) peoples have occupied the northern regions of the three Nordic countries, and an adjacent part of Russia for at least the past 10,000 years. Totally around 100,000 peoples in the above mentioned geography (another 30,000 in N. America) most today live in urban settings, but traditionally and to a rural extent today they are/were either fishermen or hunter-gathers & herders (especially reindeer). They have historically undergone cultural dissolution, with Norway perhaps the most egregious, surprisingly similar to what Native North Americans underwent. Story: We encounter an older Elle-Marja (but for sometime re-naming herself Christina) at the funeral of her deceased sister, Njenna, we then go into a flashback of her life starting as a young women who leaves her reindeer herding life to pursue a different education, and a life fraught w/danger as she tries to assimilate into a xenophobic/racist Swedish life.

Elle Marja, a native of Lapland, faces xenophobia, while suffering a social and cultural wash imposed by Sweden.

I believe that one of the factors that makes this film interesting is the way it explores the subject, in this case, xenophobia and racism, in a country considered by many to be an almost perfect example of modern societies, Sweden.

The story begins with Elle Marja, as a retired teacher, at her sister's funeral, and then takes us into a flashback, where both are young and start attending school.

The process of abandoning culture, the dialect and the mannerisms and gestures themselves is explored in a good way, it fits the time when the individual shapes his personality (adolescence), which allows us to perceive the attitudes that the character adopts throughout the story development.

The photography is very interesting, with that atmosphere of melancholy and loneliness typical of northern European films.

Unique little film with some truly great performances by first-time sami actors. Going from beautiful to sad to infuriating to inspiring, this one really does it all. Can't recommend it enough.

Sami Blood was so much different than a typical movie about prejudice and culture. Maj-Doris Rimp (Elle Marja) and all the people portraying Sami People were real Laplanders. Obviously, Elle Marja, the lead actor as characterized in the movie came from being raised as a Laplander and that is where she got her education in life because" there is no university like adversity"("the School of Hard Knocks").

What is striking is that unlike typical Swedes or Sami People, Elle Marja understands this desire and social need that all people should acculturate themselves to the cultures of other people who have different values than you--but on your own terms! Why?:Because: "If you see in any given situation only what everybody else can see, you can be said to be so much a representative of your culture that you are a victim of it." ~S. I. Hayakawa

As i watched the people in this movie talking about "Yoiking" (Sami music) I went to YouTube and listened to "Yoik of the Wind." If you were way up in the mountains in the wilderness this is the feeling you would express. The ending of this movie really floored me too and wrapped up the whole picture expressing the character and moral of the story through this woman's finale. By The Way, I'm a 71 year old Irish-American avid movie watcher and found this movie to be well worth watching for anybody. I have never reviewed any movie but couldn't understand why I have never seen SAMI BLOOD" listed on top foreign genre movie lists.