Pathfinder

The Brief

The action-packed Norwegian film sensation and classic The Pathfinder, presented in glorious 70mm. Finnmark in the 11th century. Sixteen-year-old Aigin witnesses black-clad men murdering his parents and younger sister. The attackers turn out to be the Chudes, a roaming band of raiders from Karelia who plunder and kill everyone in their path. Discovered and struck in the arm by an arrow, Aigin manages to escape to a nearby camp to warn his friends of the Chudes. His arrival sparks conflict: some accuse him of endangering their lives by leaving tracks in the snow, while others recognize that he had no choice. The Pathfinder is based on two nearly thousand-year-old Sami legends. Like the old Norse heroic poems and fairy tales, the film tells a raw, brutal, and gripping story. The film was a sensation at its premiere. Making a film in the Sami language was long considered unrealistic, but after years of setbacks, Nils Gaup finally succeeded — and the result became the most significant international success in Norwegian cinema to that point, including the country’s first Oscar nomination since Nine Lives (1957). Not only did the film deliver tight, nerve-racking action sequences that rivaled the best of Hollywood, but it also told a story of morality and courage while putting a spotlight on a minority culture. Some have called the film a “northern,” a label that seems fitting when one notices the nod to John Ford’s classic The Searchers in the opening sequence. Good to know: * Cinematographer: Erling Thurmann-Andersen * Language: Sami * Subtitles: Swedish