An excellent film based on a thousand year old legend,"Pathfinder" was nominated for an Oscar for best foreign film. Directed by Miles Gaup, his first film, Pathfinder is from a tale he heard from his grandfather. The film is in the Lapp language and reflects the customs and costumes of ancient northern Norway in the deep of winter.
The legend is of a Lapp boy, Aigin, played by Mikkel Gaup. Aigin's family is murdered by a barbarian group, the Tchudes, who are invading and killing along the way. Aigin is wounded but escapes and finds his way across waist deep snow to collapse once he reaches the nearest village. The villagers are terrified of the Tchudes, and mad at Aigin for leaving a blood trail for the murderous band to follow. Rasti-the Noidi (a sort of shaman), played by Nils Utsi, tells a frightened Aigin about visions of the great reindeer. Rasti also tells the boy about how the brotherhood of mankind is connected to everything: to be out of touch was to be a Tchude.
Most of the townspeople flee to the safety of the village on the seashore, having strength in numbers, and in the fact that it (the village) lies at the base of an extremely treacherous mountain.
A few of the original villagers stay with Aigin to fight the Tchudes: even reducing the barbarians' numbers before being captured. Rasti-the-Noidi is killed and Aigin is used as a pathfinder to locate the people who live by the sea. Aigin tricks the Tchudes on the side of the mountain and they are killed in an avalanche.
The sea-villagers see the snow engulfing the Tchudes. They go back inside their thick animal-hide tents and build their fires high, composing a story of the great boy Aigin who saves his people. Aigin shows up at their door, bloodied once again. This time, the villagers are not mad - they hand him Rasti's little skin drum. He is now Aigin-the-Noidi.
The use of subtitles is something which American viewers have a hard time accepting. American audiences have a sort of arrogance about a film that is not spoken in English. The subtitles in Pathfinder; however, are not a hindrance. Action and vocal inflection carry the storyline well enough that a viewer could probably understand what's going on without the subtitles even being there.
Besides the universal good versus evil theme, the viewers are treated to a view of a boy growing up: the way Aigin looks at the girl from the village when he's hurt versus the way he looks at her once he is the Noidi. Keeping in touch with human kind and with nature are also themes stated in this movie.
Director Nils Gaup gives the audience a bit of foreshadowing with a flying crow: to symbolize impending death. The way he films the journey shots in letterbox style is nice because the viewer can always tell when the Tchudes are traveling. The sound is interesting in that every time the Tchudes come into a scene, there is a sound like a cross between a car door slamming and a slab of foot-thick ice cracking underfoot; which is a little disconcerting, just like the Tchudes themselves.
Pathfinder has a great deal of violence in it. The body count is high enough to compare it to a Rambo, or Dirty Harry movie in the sheer amount of killing. However, in Pathfinder, the camera does not relish the gore, only uses it to convey the atrocities carried out on those peaceful Lapplanders.
Overall, Pathfinder is a wonderful movie that really has not received the attention that it rightfully deserves. It has good style, interesting culture, and a storyline that has been worked for a thousand years.
The legend is of a Lapp boy, Aigin, played by Mikkel Gaup. Aigin's family is murdered by a barbarian group, the Tchudes, who are invading and killing along the way. Aigin is wounded but escapes and finds his way across waist deep snow to collapse once he reaches the nearest village. The villagers are terrified of the Tchudes, and mad at Aigin for leaving a blood trail for the murderous band to follow. Rasti-the Noidi (a sort of shaman), played by Nils Utsi, tells a frightened Aigin about visions of the great reindeer. Rasti also tells the boy about how the brotherhood of mankind is connected to everything: to be out of touch was to be a Tchude.
Most of the townspeople flee to the safety of the village on the seashore, having strength in numbers, and in the fact that it (the village) lies at the base of an extremely treacherous mountain.
A few of the original villagers stay with Aigin to fight the Tchudes: even reducing the barbarians' numbers before being captured. Rasti-the-Noidi is killed and Aigin is used as a pathfinder to locate the people who live by the sea. Aigin tricks the Tchudes on the side of the mountain and they are killed in an avalanche.
The sea-villagers see the snow engulfing the Tchudes. They go back inside their thick animal-hide tents and build their fires high, composing a story of the great boy Aigin who saves his people. Aigin shows up at their door, bloodied once again. This time, the villagers are not mad - they hand him Rasti's little skin drum. He is now Aigin-the-Noidi.
The use of subtitles is something which American viewers have a hard time accepting. American audiences have a sort of arrogance about a film that is not spoken in English. The subtitles in Pathfinder; however, are not a hindrance. Action and vocal inflection carry the storyline well enough that a viewer could probably understand what's going on without the subtitles even being there.
Besides the universal good versus evil theme, the viewers are treated to a view of a boy growing up: the way Aigin looks at the girl from the village when he's hurt versus the way he looks at her once he is the Noidi. Keeping in touch with human kind and with nature are also themes stated in this movie.
Director Nils Gaup gives the audience a bit of foreshadowing with a flying crow: to symbolize impending death. The way he films the journey shots in letterbox style is nice because the viewer can always tell when the Tchudes are traveling. The sound is interesting in that every time the Tchudes come into a scene, there is a sound like a cross between a car door slamming and a slab of foot-thick ice cracking underfoot; which is a little disconcerting, just like the Tchudes themselves.
Pathfinder has a great deal of violence in it. The body count is high enough to compare it to a Rambo, or Dirty Harry movie in the sheer amount of killing. However, in Pathfinder, the camera does not relish the gore, only uses it to convey the atrocities carried out on those peaceful Lapplanders.
Overall, Pathfinder is a wonderful movie that really has not received the attention that it rightfully deserves. It has good style, interesting culture, and a storyline that has been worked for a thousand years.