The Tundra Within Me: Romancing Culture

It would cheapen The Tundra Within Me (Eallogierdu) to call it Nordic Hallmark, although it does have some similarities to Hallmark romances. A young woman returns home from her life in the city, not planning on staying, finds love (not without complications), and is restored. This film however, digs a bit deeper into the value of both the life she left so long ago, and her growth while away.

Lena (Risten Anine Gaup) has been in Oslo for the last few years. She abandoned the family reindeer herding business to pursue a life in the arts. She has returned with her young son to work on a project about women reindeer herders. Lena is now something of an outsider. Local women herders aren’t interested in her project and are offended by the art she exhibits. Even her own mother is vocally antagonistic toward her art.

A chance encounter with Máhtte (Nils Ailu Kemi), who herds his mother’s reindeer, begins a flirtation, that grows into more over time. His mother, however, seems to have his future all lined up—including marriage to a local girl and merging their herds. She has a low opinion of Lena because she left—not only the business but the indigenous Sami culture. She is afraid, not without reason, that Lena will lure Máhtte away to the city. The romance between Lena and Máhtte serves as a metaphor for the clash of tradition and modernity, of community and individual life.

One of the aspects of the film I hound interesting was the artwork that Lena was creating. (The art was made by Máret Ánne Sara.) It is designed to be a controversial depiction of women. I think the bits of the art we see (I’d have liked to have seen more of it) reflect Lena’s own struggle to understand her place as a woman in the Sami culture she left.

Like Lena in the film, writer/director Sara Marghrethe Oskal left reindeer herding to follow a life in the arts. She understands the difficulties of reindeer husbandry that faces the Sami communities. She also understands the value that is found in those traditional communities. I think this film is in part a way of her combining her insights as both an insider and an outsider. She never looks down on the Sami culture—rather, she obviously values the ways that the culture continues to survive, even if that survival is a struggle. It is the way Oskal navigates her relationship to the culture that makes this more than just a simple romance.