Sami Blood – Sameblod (2016)

Directed by: Amanda Kernell | 110 minutes | drama | Actors: Lene Cecilia Sparrok, Mia Erika Sparrok, Maj-Doris Rimpi, Julius Fleischanderl, Olle Sarri, Hanna Alström, Malin Crépin, Andreas Kundler, Ylva Gustafsson

The Sami, a reindeer herder people in Lapland, are the only original indigenous people in Europe. There are currently about 78,000 Sami living scattered in the northern parts of Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia. In 2017, only a small part of that total population still lives a traditional nomadic existence, often only for part of the year; the others have established themselves permanently as fishermen, farmers or independent entrepreneurs. Their lives don’t differ much from those of other Scandinavians nowadays. That used to be different. In the Netherlands we are perhaps barely aware of it, but the Sami have not had an easy time and were regularly the target of ridicule and discrimination. They were considered inferior by the Scandinavians – the name ‘Lapps’, which many will be familiar with, is considered very offensive by the Sami. For her debut, the half-Swedish, half-Sami filmmaker Amanda Kernell wanted to address this part of Swedish history, a chapter that the current generation of Swedes is absolutely not proud of. ‘Sami Blood’ (2016) is an intimate and gripping coming-of-age story of a Sami girl trying to tear herself away from her people. The film is carried by the strong lead actress, debutante Lene Cecilia Sparrok, herself a full-blooded Sami, who knows how to convey the search for her identity in a convincing and captivating way.

At the beginning of the film, we are introduced to Christina (Maj-Doris Rimpi), an elderly woman living in southern Sweden. Her son Olle and granddaughter are at her door and ask if she wants to hurry up, because they really have to leave now. With fresh reluctance Christina gets into the car anyway. Her son has bought a CD with joik songs, the traditional Sami music, especially for this occasion. Christina doesn’t want to know about it. The further north they go, the more she feels that she wants to leave again. But the funeral of your only sister, you should not miss it, according to her son. And while Olle and his daughter mingle with the locals and their culture, Christina retreats to reminisce about her childhood. In the 1930s she was still called Elle Marja and she lived a nomadic existence with her mother, grandparents and sister Njenna (Mia Erika Sparrok). The intelligent Elle Marja is getting tired of chasing reindeer. Fortunately, she and Njenna are allowed to go to the boarding school, together with the other Sami children. At their new school they are required to speak Swedish; every word in their own language is punished with a firm tap on the hands. Elle Marja soon proves to be smarter than the other children and dreams of studying in Uppsala. The strict teacher (Hanna Allström) is impressed by her efforts and grants Elle Marja a special honor; when high visitors come from the south, she may welcome them.

That high-profile visit turns out to be a doctor who subjects the Sami children – in one of the film’s strongest scenes – to a humiliating physical examination. Elle Marja’s skull is measured, it is checked how close her eyes are to each other and how big her nose is. To top it off, she has to undress so that pictures can be taken of her body, while the guys who bully her every day secretly watch through the window. This confrontational event is the last straw for Elle Marja; she decides to leave the Sami community. She picks up a dress from the teacher’s clothesline (she ritually burns her Sami clothes), takes on the name Christina and hangs out at a dance party nearby with a Swedish boy (Julius Fleischanderl). Although she is initially still caught after her sister rings the bell, she perseveres. However, it is not easy to gain a foothold with the Swedes; the prejudices attached to her Sami blood continue to haunt her.

‘Sami Blood’ is a sober but effective portrait of a girl in search of her identity. But who you are exactly is often nuanced. Filmmaker Amanda Kernell knows how to add that nuance by presenting things not in black and white, but in a broad spectrum of shades of gray. Elle Marja/Christina may very well want to run away from her native soil, her people and her family, but you don’t deny your origin. In her heart she will always be a Sami, whether she likes it or not. The despair about the direction she wants to take in her life is made tangible by the talented Lene Cecilia Sparrok in a subtle but striking way. Subtlety is definitely a strong point of ‘Sami Blood’; for example, the blossoming romance between Elle Marja and her Swedish sweetheart Niklas is captured very tenderly and intimately, with small gestures and sincere glances. On the other hand, Kernell is also not averse to the necessary symbolism – Elle Marja literally trying to wash off her roots, killing a reindeer as a metaphor for dealing with her past – but that doesn’t bother for a moment. Of course we cannot leave the beautiful nature in the north of Sweden unnamed, but it is Sparrok who attracts the most attention with her captivating performance. In the most confrontational scenes – in addition to the derogatory medical examination mentioned above, there is also a scene in which Elle Marja lets herself be forced by Niklas’ anthropology-studying friends to sing a joik against her will – she manages to make it clear in few words how uncomfortable and she feels embarrassed.

‘Sami Blood’ discusses a theme that we know little about in the Netherlands and does this with verve, based on the personal story of a fourteen-year-old girl. That she returns decades later to the place of her childhood is to put things in perspective, but without that artifice the film would probably have been just as convincing. Thanks to the eye for detail and nuance of debuting director Kernell, the unknown but therefore intriguing setting and the wonderful Lene Cecilia Sparrok.