Kautokeino-opprøret (2008)

Cast includes:
CHARACTER	ACTOR/ACTRESS	RATING
Carl Johan Ruth	Mikael Persbrandt	½
Lars Levi Læstadius	Michael Nyqvist	½
Mons Somby	Mikkel Gaup	½
Aslak Hætta	Nils Gaup
Ellen Andersdatter Spein	Anni-Kristiina Juuso
Stockfleth	Bjørn Sundquist
Lars Johan Bucht	Peter Andersson
?	Jørgen Langhelle
Anne Elise Blix	Silje Holtet
Mathis Hætta	Aslat Mahtte Gaup

Review

Nils Gaup returns to the territory that gave him a handful of awards and nominations twenty years prior with Ofelas. This time, we find ourselves in the mid 19th century in the midst of a conflict between obviously nature-loving Lapps and exploitive Norwegians in a dispute that Gaup looks to set up as something like a reversed western. Unfortunately, the conflict is not particularly well motivated from neither party's point of view, and the film's premise seems forced and plotted from the get go. The background for the rebellion is argued by most historians as being diverse, but in this film, there is a recurring and not too subtle amplification of the two most visible elements: the church and the alcohol.

What should have been a potent film, is only so in segments. Most of the blame must go to Gaup's at times lacklustre craftsmanship (the sets and camera angles does little to enhance the spatial feel) and one-note acting (Sundquist is completely ill-placed and Persbrandt's acting is mostly showing off). Kautokeino-oppgjøret doesn't come alive until the very end, but by then there has been too many large words and pompous explanations. Compared to Ofelas, this film doesn't give a very nuanced portrait of the life of the Lapps. Only the flocks of reindeer seem to be up for the task Gaup had in mind.