With superb editing and acting, this aesthetically beautiful film will entertain and edify discerning Christians. The result is that the sweeping imagery of the original legend is captured breathtakingly, producing a captivating quality.
Technically speaking, the film was shot with the most modern Panavision equipment available. In this regard, European intellectuals have matured far beyond their adolescent brethren in the intellectual enclaves in the United States. Thus, the Jewish and Christian intellectual communities in Europe are turning back to the Bible. An increasing number of European movies incorporate these biblical elements (BABETTE’S FEAST, REPENTANCE, MANON OF THE SPRING, and KAMILLA AND THE THIEF come quickly to mind) as a result of the intellectual bankruptcy of Marxist humanism and the revived search in the intellectual community in Europe for objective values. In fact, the story no doubt reflects the spread of Christianity into northern Europe and the consequent transformation of the barbaric tribalism into a somewhat civilized society governed by Judeo-Christian principles around 1,000 A.D. Moreover, if viewed allegorically, Algin serves as a type of Christ-figure who, as one Lapp says, “gave his life that we might live.” Furthermore, when Algin emerges alive from an avalanche at the film’s end, much to everyone’s surprise, one Lapp woman says, “We will always have a pathfinder” which is reminiscent of Psalm 48:14: “For this God is our God for ever and ever He will be our guide even to the end.” With a battle between good and evil and a choice between right and wrong, the film reflects basic Judeo-Christian principles, such as “Do not repay evil with evil.”
The film is based on a story, “The Pathfinder and the Torch”, that has been passed down in Lapp country from generation to generation for almost a thousand years. Seemingly, Algin is on his way to betraying his people, but the determined boy has devised a secret plan that may save them all… if it works. The fearsome Tchude chief accepts the offer, and the raiding party moves out. In order to save Raste, Algin comes forward and offers to be their pathfinder across the mountains to the main Lapp settlement. The Tchudes torture the old man to find out where the other Lapps are hiding. However, the holy man is overpowered before Algin can get away. Suddenly, Raste appears and instructs the boy to escape while he distracts the evil warriors. They are slaughtered, though, in a surprise attack, as Algin watches helplessly from a hiding place in a tent. The next morning, three Lapps arrive to join forces with Algin against the Tchudes. During the night, he is visited by Raste, the Lapp community’s “noaidi”, a sort of spiritual leader/medicine man, who tells the young boy that he must never let the craving for revenge take control of his soul. When the non-violent Lapps all agree to flee for their lives, Algin insists that they confront the vicious warriors, but no one listens.Īlgin stays behind to make a one-man stand and avenge his family. Some blame him for endangering their lives by leaving tracks in the snow others say he had no choice. His unexpected arrival creates conflict among the people. Algin watches from a hill above, but is soon discovered.
A thousand years ago on the frozen Lapland plain (today the northern most part of Norway, Sweden and the USSR), sixteen-year-old Algin returns from a hunting trip shocked to find that a raiding party of Tchude warriors have killed his family and are now tearing apart their settlement as they look for valuables and food.
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