Showing @ Glasgow Film Theatre, Glasgow, Fri 21 & Sat 22 Feb
Jessica Oreck / USA/Finland / 2013 / 85 mins
A love of old western movies drove director Jessica Oreck to seek out the modern day equivalents of those taciturn cowpokes and, following several false starts and some help from her mother, she found what she was looking for in the Finnish arctic. Following the Aatsinki family of reindeer herders over the course of the year, this beautiful and unflinching documentary is an intimate portrait of a world in danger of dying out.
From astonishing scenes of vast herds of deer being rounded up by quad bike and helicopter, to butchery and tanning as well as tourist sleigh rides, the film shows reindeer as central to this family’s existence. A sense of balance is achieved by matching the blood, sweat and snow of the Aatsinki’s working life with touching scenes of domesticity which makes this sometimes grim existence worthwhile.
Eschewing narration, music or interviews, Orek leaves it to the audience to interpret the images, and so closely and sympathetically does she observe her subjects that explanations seem superfluous to understanding. Like the cowboys of old the herders might soon be a thing of the past, but hopefully this film will prove to be a snapshot of a little known culture rather than its elegy.