There may have been a shorter version of Sara Margrethe Oskal’s Eallogierdu: The Tundra Within Me. But the one most viewers will watch is the full length premiering at TIFF. Lena (Risten Anine Kvernmo Gaup) returns from Oslo to her home in Samiland. For one of her research projects, she reaches out to Sami women to talk about the difficulties of herding. She listens to a recording, a woman telling a story that’s so much like hers that it might as well be her own experiences before leaving the industry. In her eyes, herding life seems easier for a man she meets. That man is Matthe (Nils Ailu Kemi). He’s a man who starts making overtures to her, and they date, despite everyone’s disapproval.
Relationships are all about give and take, but Lena, being of our generation, isn’t best at that. She’s thinking about going back to Oslo which, like, why hook up with a guy and not set terms? Films, understandably, have tropes, and Tundra has its share of bad and good ones. Under the bad is Lena and Matthe building a relationship and then sabotaging it. Part of that sabotage is in the dialogue, which goes from A to Z without stopping by to B. Under the good and enjoyable trope is Lena’s mother Marja (Anitta Suikkari). Indigenous people and POC settlers have their differences. But I love a film with an Indigenous/ POC settler parent who disapproves of a career in the arts. Bless her.
- Genre: Drama
- Release Date: 9/8/2023
- Directed by: Sara Margrethe Oskal
- Starring: Anitta Suikkari, Nils Ailu Kemi, Risten Anine Kvernmo Gaup
- Produced by: Mona J. Hoel
- Written by: Sara Margrethe Oskal
- Studio: Freedom from Fear
