Pathfinder, A Review

Speaking about Lappland, today we watched a great movie called Ofelas/Pathfinder from 1987.

Ofelas is a Norwegian adventure story about the conflict between Sami people and Chudes. Chudes in the film are depicted as a band of merciless robbers which kill anyone who comes into their path, man, woman or child. The main character is a young man called Aigin who comes home from the day hunting only to find his family slaughtered by them.

Though wounded, Aigin manages to escape on one ski and is later rescued by another group of Sami, led by a wise shaman/pathfinder in whose village he meets his love interest, the girl who takes care of him while he is recovering from his injuries. Aigin is determined to avenge his family and tries to encourage the men to stay and fight, but they think differently. Chudes are trained killers, with better skills and weapons, and a group of hunters is hardly a match for them...

What you will see in this movie is very beautiful Nordic nature in winter, with lots of snow and ice, some of the old traditions of Sami tribes, bear hunting, skiing, scenes of daily life in a tribal village, and in general, quite realistic portrayal of how cruel men can be to each other when it comes to it.

What you won't see in this movie will be unrealistic fighting scenes lasting 20 minutes, warrior females in fur bikinis besting men twice their size, and anything overtly sexualised.

Here is the link to YouTube trailer. The movie can be watched whole on YouTube in Norwegian (called Veiviseren), and there is Part 1 available currently with English subtitles.