Pathfinder

source: Pathfinder

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.

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 a beautiful movie about men and spiritually and what it means to be a spiritual man. The idea of a higher good; universal truths and the role of man on Earth. Man has always been the protector and warrior and this movie portrays that duty in its purest form. This is masculinity distilled and captured sublimely on film. Every male should watch this movie, particularly young American men who are told how horrible they are and how wrong it is to act as their nature dictates by the media and academia. I plead every father in this country to watch this with their sons. This is one of those movies that is great because it transcends simple entertainment and increases the amount of good in the world every time it is watched.

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 amazing Norwegian movie named "Veiviseren" from the north of Norway was Oscar nominated in 1987-88. New released in Norway, April-May 2005, in a deluxe DVD version (2 DVDs). The movie is totally digitally remastered with amazing picture and sound quality for the DVD movie fans. Also very much extra bonus material included. One of the best Norwegian DVD releases ever. The movie is now out for sale all over the Scandinavian DVD market with subtitles included, but an international DVD version is coming soon with subtitles in many different languages for both DVD region 1 and region 2. The DVD can be ordered from Norwegian and Scandinavian net shops of DVDs and many other shops in Norway and Scandinavia that selling DVD movies.

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.

„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.

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.

One of the ten best movies ever made! Brilliant! Soars high above the usual Hollywood pedophilia!!!! Timeless! This is what movie making is ALL ABOUT! (Really dig the reindeer.)