Tonight my mother and I will watch the film The Kautokeino Rebellion 1852, a film by Nils Gaup.
A short summary from the film's website :
For centuries the northern Scandinavia has been inhabited by the native sami population and their reindeers. Set in 1852, modernisation is about to enter the desolate village of Kautokeino where authority is held by the ruthless and prosperous liquor dealer Ruth. One of the native tribes, led by young woman Elen, refuses to pay their unjust debt to Ruth, leading to one of the most dramatic episodes in northern Scandinavian history.
http://www.nfi.no/english/norwegianfilms/show.html?id=699
Try watching the trailer for the film, just to get an impression of the visual parts, if you do not know Norwegian
http://www.filmweb.no/trailere/article154359.ece
Some thoughts after watching the film.
If you have the opportunity to watch this film, do so.
Because the historical events are so sad and so violent, it felt like a victory when I read the names of the Sami actors. Nils Gaup the filmmaker is a decendant of several of the main characters, so I must assume that the many others with the family name Gaup on the role list are his relatives.
So these people were reenacting what happened to their forefathers a little more than 150 years ago, telling that story for those who knew and for all of us who did not know.
The photography is as spectacular as the nature and the reindeers up in Northern Norway.
The different languages in the film - Norwegian with the distinct sound of those living in Northern Norway, the Sami language, Swedish and even a little Danish - will of course be lost for foreign viewers.
Two Sami , Aslak Hætta and Mons Somby, were decapitated a few days after the rebellion in 1852 and their heads were sent to Oslo "for scientic studies". Only in 1997, after 145 years, could the families bury them in a proper way up where they live in Northern Norway.
A short summary from the film's website :
For centuries the northern Scandinavia has been inhabited by the native sami population and their reindeers. Set in 1852, modernisation is about to enter the desolate village of Kautokeino where authority is held by the ruthless and prosperous liquor dealer Ruth. One of the native tribes, led by young woman Elen, refuses to pay their unjust debt to Ruth, leading to one of the most dramatic episodes in northern Scandinavian history.
http://www.nfi.no/english/norwegianfilms/show.html?id=699
Try watching the trailer for the film, just to get an impression of the visual parts, if you do not know Norwegian
http://www.filmweb.no/trailere/article154359.ece
Some thoughts after watching the film.
If you have the opportunity to watch this film, do so.
Because the historical events are so sad and so violent, it felt like a victory when I read the names of the Sami actors. Nils Gaup the filmmaker is a decendant of several of the main characters, so I must assume that the many others with the family name Gaup on the role list are his relatives.
So these people were reenacting what happened to their forefathers a little more than 150 years ago, telling that story for those who knew and for all of us who did not know.
The photography is as spectacular as the nature and the reindeers up in Northern Norway.
The different languages in the film - Norwegian with the distinct sound of those living in Northern Norway, the Sami language, Swedish and even a little Danish - will of course be lost for foreign viewers.
Two Sami , Aslak Hætta and Mons Somby, were decapitated a few days after the rebellion in 1852 and their heads were sent to Oslo "for scientic studies". Only in 1997, after 145 years, could the families bury them in a proper way up where they live in Northern Norway.
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