Pathfinder

Pathfinder (1987)

Ofelas

When the invader comes...the hardest path to find is survival.

Around the year 1000 AD warlike people, the so-called "tjuder", roam in northern Scandinavia. As they brutally kill a family in a remote area, including the parents and their little daughter, the family's teenage son, Aigin, observes the slaughter. He manages to flee from these killers and reaches a camp with other Sámi whose inhabitants are worried if he has been able to hide his track. Afraid of the murderous people, they decide to flee to the coast. The boy stays alone to avenge his family's murder. Unfortunately, they get him before he can do anything and force him to lead them to the other Sámi. He guides them but has a plan to destroy the barbarous people before reaching the camp.

Date of release
1987-09-03
TMDB
6.9 / 10 (90)
Runtime
1h 26m
Genres
Adventure
Director
Nils Gaup

Casting

Interesting facts

  • Filmed in: Finnmarksvidda
  • Awards: 2 · Nominations: 4. Including: Amanda Award for Best Film; Silver nugget for the best Norwegian film

Pathfinder is a 1987 Norwegian action-adventure film written and directed by Nils Gaup. It is based on an old Sámi legend.

Production

The film was written and directed by Nils Gaup, who based the story on a Sámi legend with variants in a number of Scandinavian folklores. Gaup said he heard the story from his grandfather, who was in turn told the story by a traditional storyteller. Gaup wove the story around the core of the legend, and introduced details such as the shamanic initiation rite and a romantic element with the character Sahve.

The film was shot in Kautokeino Municipality on the Finnmarksvidda plateau during the winter of 1987, where temperatures were as low as −47 °C (−53 °F). This presented unique difficulties with the cast, crew, and camera equipment in the harsh cold.

The original title was Ofelaš, which is a Sámi word that translates to "pathfinder". The film is in the Sámi language, and a Chude language created by Esben Kr. Aamot. The director, however, chose not to subtitle the Chude language. The film is considered to be the first Sámi feature-length film. The film went over the budget by 2.5 million, eventually costing 17 million krone, and became what was then Norway's most expensive film.

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

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