Powerful

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

The acting in this movie is really good.

Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

Pathfinder is an Oscar nominated Norwegian film which takes place at around 1000 AD. It begins with the murders of a family, slaughtered by a tribe of nomads, called Chudes. The one survivor, Aigin, who finds the bodies of his kin and is chased by the killers, barely escaping to other relatives. He makes to his fellow Sami's and the try to fight, but are overwhelmed by their enemy.Aigin agrees to be a pathfinder and guide the Chudes to his tribe through a treacherous mountain journey. He leads them in temperatures well below zero with a plan to save his people from the vicious gang of killers. The scenery is spectacular and stunts breath taking. At only 86 minutes, The Pathfinder flies by quickly without a wasted moment.

Anyone in the business of storytelling should begin with a good story, which is precisely what Norwegian director Nils Gaup did for his Oscar nominated debut feature, adapting a thousand year old Scandinavian legend about a young boy who rescues a small community of fellow Laplanders from a horde of ruthless invaders. The setting may be exotic (the film was shot almost entirely above the Arctic Circle) but the basic mythic outline can be (and likely has been) translated anywhere, from the American West to "…a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away". Certain elements are by now so familiar they might almost be clichés: the young hero, orphaned by an evil enemy (the Tchudes, dressed all in black and speaking a harsh, guttural language); his refuge with a likewise threatened nearby tribe, who see him as their savior; the medicine man who will guide him to wisdom; and so forth. Gaup knows enough not to embellish an already proved formula, and as a result his film offers brisk, uncomplicated entertainment, with action scenes as thrilling as anything coming out of Hollywood these days. But now that the legend is on film, will future generations of Lapp children learn it from their elders by simply renting a DVD?

Many foreigners might be put off by the idea of watching a movie with subtitles, especially in countries like Spain, France, Italy and Germany where movies usually are dubbed into the native language (which is not the case in Norway). Even though the movie is produced in Norway, the cast is Sami and the Sami language is used throughout the entire film. Therefore most Norwegians find themselves watching this movie with subtitles anyway, which makes the plot in itself more believable.Who else is better to tell a story from a Sami legend than a Sami writer/director? For its time the movie was, and still is, outstanding, only to be matched by "Orions Belt".Personally I think the acting could have been better, but the plot was great, and so was the directing as well."Ofelas"/"Veiviseren" is truly a Sami/Norwegian treasure of culture! 9 out of 10 ~

„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.