Review of The Kautokeino Rebellion (2008) by Antti K — 13 Sep 2008

A rare and interesting look into the lives of the Sami people in the 19th century. The villagers try to stop alcohol sales in the local store with the help of Laestadian religion. The shopkeeper arranges for an aggressive priest to come to rescue. Some villagers are imprisoned and the situation draws to an inevitable conflict.

Great performance by Anni-Kristiina Juuso and a nice one by Mikael Persbrandt. Nils Gaup obviously cast himself as one of the leads because of his Sami looks :).

Cinematography works well with the beautiful Lappi landscapes and even better in absolutely beautifully lit indoor scenes - this is the best piece of Scandinavian "Nordic light" I have seen on film in many years.

The "black and white" type story works quite well for the 97 minutes of the film, it is just about the right length with this depth of storytelling. Had the film been any longer the story would have needed some heavy tooling as now it expects the viewer to have some knowledge of the events beforehand.

Kudos to the filmmakers for telling this important story and for telling it in under two hours.