Even as temperatures cool down in France, our compatriots who subscribe to Netflix are not afraid of extreme cold on the small screen: launched on April 12, the Swedish thriller “Stöld” quickly took first place among the most popular films. no longer seen from the platform. Very cold, even, because this feature film takes place in Sami country. First originality... Few films take place in the territories of this indigenous people, in the north of Sweden, Norway, Finland and Russia. This area is often called “Lapland”. A mistake. This qualifier only concerns the Russian zone: the Sami of Sweden, heroes of “Stöld”, for example hate being called “Sami”.
The plot is also authentic, set among reindeer herders. A mysterious evildoer regularly kills deer, and the herd owners suspect a neighboring Swede who does not hide his racism and his hatred of the Sami and their creatures. In particular a little girl, Elsa, whose baby white reindeer was massacred.
Ten years later, when she has become a teacher while continuing breeding with her family, the animal murders continue and are increasing. But the local police are losing interest in the matter. Elsa will therefore lead the investigation to unmask the man she has always suspected.
Sumptuous sequences, remarkably filmed
Signed by a director from the region who hired local actors or actors with Sami roots, “Stöld”, with its straight but gripping plot, is a pleasure to watch as it does not act clever. No earth-shattering “twist” here. Its interest lies elsewhere: telling the story of this region and its natives through a detective story directly linked to local specificities: endangered reindeer herds, icy expanses, snowmobile travel, a pretext for unique and spectacular chase scenes. This without ignoring the daily dramas of our modern era which affect the Sami: poverty, alcoholism, suicides...
But there is even better, and this is what undoubtedly explains the success of the film: everything concerning the landscapes and the reindeer gives rise to sumptuous, remarkably filmed sequences, on the level of the best animal documentaries such as those of Luc Jacquet, with incredible images of thousands of deer advancing across snow-covered territories of almost blinding whiteness.
To these scenes of infinite beauty, which place the thriller in a naturalistic approach, is added an authentic interpretation of the actors, who express themselves not in Swedish but in the Sami language, and a production which smacks of experience.
Editor's note:
4/5
"Stöld",
Swedish thriller by Elle Marja Eira, with Elin Kristina Oskal, Martin Wallström, Magnus Kuhmunen… 1h45.