1
00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:06,840
Speaker 1: Hey, you welcome to Weird House Cinema. Rewind This is

2
00:00:06,920 --> 00:00:09,680
Speaker 1: Rob Lamb. Today we are reairing an episode that came

3
00:00:09,720 --> 00:00:13,760
Speaker 1: out seven eleven, twenty twenty five. It is The White

4
00:00:13,920 --> 00:00:17,760
Speaker 1: Reindeer in nineteen fifty two finish folk horror film, and

5
00:00:17,800 --> 00:00:21,119
Speaker 1: it is it's an interesting one. So this is a

6
00:00:21,160 --> 00:00:23,640
Speaker 1: way of yours, particularly if it's a little hot outside.

7
00:00:24,400 --> 00:00:27,480
Speaker 1: This is a nice bit of winter escapism. Let's jump

8
00:00:27,520 --> 00:00:27,840
Speaker 1: right in.

9
00:00:31,160 --> 00:00:38,440
Speaker 2: Welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio.

10
00:00:41,640 --> 00:00:44,680
Speaker 1: Hey you welcome to Weird House Cinema. This is Rob Lamb.

11
00:00:44,560 --> 00:00:47,320
Speaker 3: And this is Joe McCormick. And today on Weird House

12
00:00:47,360 --> 00:00:50,720
Speaker 3: Cinema we're going to be talking about the nineteen fifty

13
00:00:50,760 --> 00:00:56,480
Speaker 3: two Finish folk horror film The White Reindeer, starring Miriami

14
00:00:56,560 --> 00:01:01,520
Speaker 3: Quosmanan and directed by Eric Blomberg. If I may say,

15
00:01:01,600 --> 00:01:04,920
Speaker 3: I think this is the finest where ungulate movie I

16
00:01:04,959 --> 00:01:05,640
Speaker 3: have ever seen.

17
00:01:06,880 --> 00:01:10,440
Speaker 1: It may be the finest where ungulate movie I can envision,

18
00:01:11,040 --> 00:01:14,959
Speaker 1: because the concept to many of you, I imagine where

19
00:01:15,040 --> 00:01:17,920
Speaker 1: wolf fans uh. To the last of you, I'm assuming

20
00:01:19,080 --> 00:01:22,319
Speaker 1: you might struggle to get excited for a where Reindeer

21
00:01:22,440 --> 00:01:26,560
Speaker 1: picture and yet this one is really good. It's it's classy,

22
00:01:26,600 --> 00:01:29,760
Speaker 1: it's it's basically art house and has some you know,

23
00:01:29,920 --> 00:01:33,600
Speaker 1: almost kind of documentary vibes to it at times. It's

24
00:01:33,760 --> 00:01:37,319
Speaker 1: very well done and ultimately makes you buy in completely

25
00:01:37,360 --> 00:01:39,160
Speaker 1: to this concept that I have to I have to

26
00:01:39,200 --> 00:01:42,360
Speaker 1: admit that on the surface to many of us might

27
00:01:42,480 --> 00:01:43,479
Speaker 1: seem a little silly.

28
00:01:43,760 --> 00:01:48,920
Speaker 3: Oh by the end, I was terrified of reindeers. That

29
00:01:49,040 --> 00:01:51,360
Speaker 3: is that a correct plural would not be reindeers. It's

30
00:01:51,360 --> 00:01:54,600
Speaker 3: still be reindeer. That's plural, just to say the dear Yeah, okay,

31
00:01:55,280 --> 00:01:58,120
Speaker 3: but yeah. So this movie is set in the culture

32
00:01:58,680 --> 00:02:03,920
Speaker 3: of pre Christian Lapland today the northernmost region of Finland,

33
00:02:04,240 --> 00:02:07,680
Speaker 3: and The White Reindeer tells a story of love and loneliness,

34
00:02:07,760 --> 00:02:14,919
Speaker 3: of women's dependence and independence in culture, of longing and desire,

35
00:02:15,520 --> 00:02:19,560
Speaker 3: of witchcraft, of transformation, and of murder. It's got all

36
00:02:19,639 --> 00:02:22,640
Speaker 3: kinds of stuff going on. So the basic premise of

37
00:02:22,680 --> 00:02:26,280
Speaker 3: the story is that Pirita, a woman of the north

38
00:02:26,440 --> 00:02:30,120
Speaker 3: married to a hard working reindeer herder in Lapland, finds

39
00:02:30,120 --> 00:02:34,000
Speaker 3: herself unhappy with life, and she seeks the help of

40
00:02:34,040 --> 00:02:37,839
Speaker 3: a wizard who prescribes for her a ritual that will

41
00:02:37,840 --> 00:02:42,600
Speaker 3: make her irresistible to men. But unfortunately, this magic spell

42
00:02:42,800 --> 00:02:46,880
Speaker 3: has a toxic interaction with the pre existing condition of

43
00:02:46,919 --> 00:02:50,680
Speaker 3: her being a genetic witch since birth, and instead of

44
00:02:50,800 --> 00:02:54,680
Speaker 3: merely becoming the bell of the Ball, Pirita is transformed

45
00:02:54,720 --> 00:03:00,120
Speaker 3: into a kind of seductive, somnambulist and reindeer version of

46
00:03:00,160 --> 00:03:03,760
Speaker 3: a werewolf, assuming fur and antlers by the light of

47
00:03:03,800 --> 00:03:09,440
Speaker 3: the moon and luring unsuspecting herdsmen to their deaths Now, Rob,

48
00:03:09,480 --> 00:03:12,080
Speaker 3: there's one little random claim I read on the internet

49
00:03:12,120 --> 00:03:14,320
Speaker 3: that made a lot more sense of the story to

50
00:03:14,400 --> 00:03:16,919
Speaker 3: me after I read it. I don't know this is true,

51
00:03:16,919 --> 00:03:20,560
Speaker 3: but it seems likely given the story here. It's not

52
00:03:20,600 --> 00:03:24,680
Speaker 3: explained in the story itself, but apparently the Sammi people,

53
00:03:24,720 --> 00:03:29,799
Speaker 3: whose culture is depicted in this story. Among the Sammi people,

54
00:03:30,440 --> 00:03:33,480
Speaker 3: it was a common folk belief that there was something

55
00:03:33,600 --> 00:03:37,920
Speaker 3: special about a white or albino reindeer, and if you

56
00:03:37,960 --> 00:03:40,920
Speaker 3: could catch a wild white reindeer, it would bring you

57
00:03:41,040 --> 00:03:41,880
Speaker 3: great fortune.

58
00:03:42,960 --> 00:03:45,000
Speaker 1: Yeah, that does help flash things out a little bit.

59
00:03:46,040 --> 00:03:49,480
Speaker 3: So the white reindeer has a kind of interesting release history.

60
00:03:49,520 --> 00:03:52,000
Speaker 3: I was reading a bit about it in a book

61
00:03:52,040 --> 00:03:56,000
Speaker 3: called one hundred European horror Films edited by Stephen J. Schneider,

62
00:03:56,440 --> 00:04:00,480
Speaker 3: and apparently it's nineteen fifty two debut in the Finnish

63
00:04:00,560 --> 00:04:05,839
Speaker 3: capital of Helsinki happened during the summer Olympics in Helsinki,

64
00:04:06,160 --> 00:04:09,960
Speaker 3: which resulted in what the author calls near vacant screenings.

65
00:04:10,080 --> 00:04:13,080
Speaker 3: Nobody was gone to see it, but so not a

66
00:04:13,080 --> 00:04:16,160
Speaker 3: good way to start. But it caught on domestically after

67
00:04:16,200 --> 00:04:19,200
Speaker 3: this in a second run later that summer or maybe

68
00:04:19,240 --> 00:04:22,960
Speaker 3: in the fall, and it started getting good press and

69
00:04:23,080 --> 00:04:27,839
Speaker 3: would eventually become something of an international hit, receiving a

70
00:04:28,120 --> 00:04:31,640
Speaker 3: number of awards, including at the con Film Festival. We'll

71
00:04:31,640 --> 00:04:34,880
Speaker 3: get into more on that later, but it's kind of

72
00:04:34,920 --> 00:04:39,119
Speaker 3: interesting that this was a sort of sensation at the time,

73
00:04:39,200 --> 00:04:41,320
Speaker 3: and I think for most of my life I'd never

74
00:04:41,360 --> 00:04:43,400
Speaker 3: even heard of it. I never became aware of it

75
00:04:43,520 --> 00:04:44,440
Speaker 3: until just recently.

76
00:04:44,720 --> 00:04:47,080
Speaker 1: I was not aware of it until you texted me

77
00:04:47,120 --> 00:04:49,640
Speaker 1: over the weekend and said, I have chosen for this

78
00:04:49,680 --> 00:04:54,720
Speaker 1: week it's the White Reindeer. And at the time I

79
00:04:54,760 --> 00:04:56,800
Speaker 1: was like, of course, you know. One percent. I'm like,

80
00:04:56,839 --> 00:04:58,839
Speaker 1: all right, let's do that, Let's do the White Reindeer.

81
00:04:58,839 --> 00:05:01,880
Speaker 1: But I was also thinking this is an interesting summer choice.

82
00:05:02,040 --> 00:05:03,360
Speaker 1: But of course we just did a core stuff to

83
00:05:03,360 --> 00:05:06,040
Speaker 1: Blowy Night episode on skiing, so it's not out out

84
00:05:06,080 --> 00:05:09,440
Speaker 1: of keeping with us to do something that seems seasonally opposite.

85
00:05:09,680 --> 00:05:12,880
Speaker 1: But oh, ice skating, Yeah, ice skating, Sorry, not skiing.

86
00:05:12,880 --> 00:05:15,880
Speaker 1: We haven't done skiing yet, but we should skiing.

87
00:05:16,120 --> 00:05:17,720
Speaker 3: There's a lot of skiing in the movie.

88
00:05:17,480 --> 00:05:21,760
Speaker 1: Seeing But now that you mentioned that this originally came

89
00:05:21,800 --> 00:05:24,520
Speaker 1: out in the summer, it is fitting that we're talking

90
00:05:24,520 --> 00:05:25,440
Speaker 1: about it in the summer.

91
00:05:25,680 --> 00:05:28,720
Speaker 3: I mean, I happen to personally love counter seasonal programming,

92
00:05:28,839 --> 00:05:32,120
Speaker 3: yet you know that's just me. Now, I think it

93
00:05:32,200 --> 00:05:36,240
Speaker 3: could be interesting to compare this film to other Rare

94
00:05:36,360 --> 00:05:38,600
Speaker 3: Beast movies we've covered on the show, But maybe we

95
00:05:38,640 --> 00:05:41,400
Speaker 3: should come back to that later or just as it

96
00:05:41,440 --> 00:05:44,120
Speaker 3: occurs to us throughout. One thing I do think we

97
00:05:44,160 --> 00:05:47,400
Speaker 3: should talk about briefly at the top is this movie's

98
00:05:47,800 --> 00:05:51,919
Speaker 3: visual stylistic virtue. As many reviewers mentioned this as a

99
00:05:51,960 --> 00:05:56,080
Speaker 3: real highlight of the film, the bold, stark way that

100
00:05:56,160 --> 00:05:59,719
Speaker 3: it looks. It was shot on location in real snowy

101
00:05:59,800 --> 00:06:03,560
Speaker 3: landscapes of northern Finland in Lapland, and so you get

102
00:06:03,600 --> 00:06:07,159
Speaker 3: these the fells, you know, these kind of like like

103
00:06:07,360 --> 00:06:11,839
Speaker 3: low sloping or rounded mountaintops or hilltops, many of which

104
00:06:11,839 --> 00:06:15,000
Speaker 3: are bear some of which have just kind of, I

105
00:06:15,000 --> 00:06:19,920
Speaker 3: don't know, sad looking like snow covered tree limbs poking out.

106
00:06:20,080 --> 00:06:23,120
Speaker 1: Like every portion of the tree, trees iced over in

107
00:06:23,160 --> 00:06:28,920
Speaker 1: ways that those of us in more southern climates scarcely

108
00:06:28,920 --> 00:06:31,240
Speaker 1: can imagine. Like it looks almost Sussian, you know, the

109
00:06:31,240 --> 00:06:32,599
Speaker 1: way these trees are iced over.

110
00:06:32,880 --> 00:06:35,080
Speaker 3: Yeah, true Arctic strangeness.

111
00:06:35,279 --> 00:06:37,560
Speaker 1: Yeah, Jack Frost hit this landscape hard.

112
00:06:37,760 --> 00:06:41,120
Speaker 3: But also like herds of reindeer stretching to the horizon

113
00:06:41,160 --> 00:06:44,080
Speaker 3: in some shots, those are quite striking. And then these

114
00:06:44,160 --> 00:06:47,280
Speaker 3: little and then the way that the movie deals with

115
00:06:47,400 --> 00:06:53,680
Speaker 3: both absolutely empty expanses and then these little closed boxes

116
00:06:53,880 --> 00:06:56,840
Speaker 3: in the homes. You know that. So you'll go out

117
00:06:56,880 --> 00:06:59,240
Speaker 3: in this field and it's just like seeing far to

118
00:06:59,279 --> 00:07:01,680
Speaker 3: the horizon and there's nothing there but a few like

119
00:07:01,960 --> 00:07:05,680
Speaker 3: you know, leafless shrubs or this, you know, this train

120
00:07:05,880 --> 00:07:09,120
Speaker 3: of animals just stretching over the horizon and there's like

121
00:07:09,200 --> 00:07:11,640
Speaker 3: nothing else to see. But then you arrive at the

122
00:07:11,640 --> 00:07:14,200
Speaker 3: Wizard Shack and you go inside and it looks like

123
00:07:14,240 --> 00:07:17,080
Speaker 3: it's about like eight feet by eight feet. Inside it's

124
00:07:17,160 --> 00:07:20,160
Speaker 3: like tiny but crammed with evil magic.

125
00:07:20,520 --> 00:07:22,200
Speaker 1: Yeah, now that you mentioned it that way, it reminds

126
00:07:22,200 --> 00:07:24,480
Speaker 1: me of some past discussions we had on the on

127
00:07:24,560 --> 00:07:26,960
Speaker 1: the Core and stuff to blow your mind episodes about

128
00:07:27,240 --> 00:07:29,920
Speaker 1: the art of Tibet and like interior spaces in Tibet,

129
00:07:30,760 --> 00:07:35,800
Speaker 1: interior sacred spaces versus the exterior world where you have

130
00:07:35,880 --> 00:07:38,480
Speaker 1: like huge sky and sweeping vistas. And we have a

131
00:07:38,520 --> 00:07:40,840
Speaker 1: similar vibe going on here, you know, with these these

132
00:07:40,840 --> 00:07:44,200
Speaker 1: little enclosed off in you know, very dark, cozy spaces,

133
00:07:44,200 --> 00:07:48,560
Speaker 1: and then outside it's just like a white wasteland, but

134
00:07:48,720 --> 00:07:50,000
Speaker 1: in the most beautiful sense.

135
00:07:50,400 --> 00:07:52,440
Speaker 3: Yeah, these things filmed in a way that is both

136
00:07:52,480 --> 00:07:53,800
Speaker 3: frightening and beautiful.

137
00:07:54,240 --> 00:07:56,120
Speaker 1: If we haven't mentioned it already, this is a black

138
00:07:56,160 --> 00:07:59,280
Speaker 1: and white film, which, especially in these shots of the

139
00:08:00,080 --> 00:08:04,080
Speaker 1: of the landscape, it seemed very fitting. You know, everything

140
00:08:04,360 --> 00:08:08,040
Speaker 1: is very very white, and the shadows have this depth

141
00:08:08,120 --> 00:08:11,480
Speaker 1: to them, and then the indoor scenes, especially at night,

142
00:08:11,560 --> 00:08:14,800
Speaker 1: also feel it feels appropriate. I will say there are

143
00:08:14,800 --> 00:08:18,760
Speaker 1: a few scenes of just sort of normal everyday life

144
00:08:18,840 --> 00:08:21,679
Speaker 1: or celebration within the community that I kind of wished

145
00:08:21,680 --> 00:08:23,440
Speaker 1: we could have seen in color because I feel like

146
00:08:23,480 --> 00:08:27,160
Speaker 1: those were Yeah, I just kind of wanted to see

147
00:08:27,160 --> 00:08:29,600
Speaker 1: the colors there, but on the whole, yeah, the black

148
00:08:29,640 --> 00:08:31,480
Speaker 1: and white, and this is absolutely beautiful.

149
00:08:31,880 --> 00:08:34,360
Speaker 3: I just realized there's really no way around it. But

150
00:08:34,400 --> 00:08:38,240
Speaker 3: we're gonna say the words reindeer and snow so many

151
00:08:38,320 --> 00:08:40,800
Speaker 3: times in this episode. I was just like going through

152
00:08:40,800 --> 00:08:43,360
Speaker 3: my notes trying to think of synonyms, so I wasn't

153
00:08:43,400 --> 00:08:46,760
Speaker 3: repeating myself so much. But in a way it's fitting

154
00:08:46,800 --> 00:08:50,080
Speaker 3: because this movie is just it's just plowing straight into

155
00:08:50,080 --> 00:08:53,320
Speaker 3: your brain with reindeer and snow. There's so much of both.

156
00:08:53,520 --> 00:08:56,719
Speaker 1: Most of the location is snow, and there are far

157
00:08:57,640 --> 00:09:00,600
Speaker 1: more reindeer in the picture than human beings. It's it's

158
00:09:00,640 --> 00:09:03,080
Speaker 1: just a fact. There's just so many reindeer on the

159
00:09:03,080 --> 00:09:06,120
Speaker 1: screen at different points. But in a way that is again,

160
00:09:06,280 --> 00:09:09,800
Speaker 1: it feels very when you see people interacting with the reindeer.

161
00:09:09,920 --> 00:09:13,280
Speaker 1: When you see it feels almost like a documentary, like

162
00:09:13,360 --> 00:09:16,280
Speaker 1: a snapshot of life. There's not a sense of like,

163
00:09:16,320 --> 00:09:18,680
Speaker 1: all right, let's get the reindeer wrangler out there so

164
00:09:18,720 --> 00:09:21,840
Speaker 1: it can get this shot like this, This film feels

165
00:09:21,920 --> 00:09:22,440
Speaker 1: very real.

166
00:09:23,040 --> 00:09:26,720
Speaker 3: I believe the director of it had made documentaries and

167
00:09:26,720 --> 00:09:29,440
Speaker 3: maybe even on this subject right correct.

168
00:09:30,040 --> 00:09:32,719
Speaker 1: His first short picture as well. We'll discuss here in

169
00:09:32,760 --> 00:09:38,080
Speaker 1: a minute, was about the Lapland reindeer herders, So it's yeah,

170
00:09:38,080 --> 00:09:41,480
Speaker 1: it's very fitting. I should also point out that this

171
00:09:41,520 --> 00:09:44,920
Speaker 1: film is in many spaces very light on dialogue. It

172
00:09:44,920 --> 00:09:47,840
Speaker 1: has almost a silent film sensibility.

173
00:09:47,440 --> 00:09:50,280
Speaker 3: That's notable in multiple ways. It does contribute to the

174
00:09:50,320 --> 00:09:52,960
Speaker 3: mood of the film, because there are long silent stretches

175
00:09:52,960 --> 00:09:57,480
Speaker 3: where there's just music, no talking in between the dialogue scenes,

176
00:09:57,480 --> 00:10:00,240
Speaker 3: and that I think that does contribute to the kind

177
00:10:00,280 --> 00:10:04,160
Speaker 3: of lonely, eerie feeling that they're attempting to conjure, especially

178
00:10:04,200 --> 00:10:08,360
Speaker 3: when we're just alone with Perita. Yeah. But in addition

179
00:10:08,400 --> 00:10:12,079
Speaker 3: to that the lack of dialogue, it shows a real

180
00:10:12,520 --> 00:10:15,480
Speaker 3: what seems to me to be a conscious choice of

181
00:10:15,760 --> 00:10:21,080
Speaker 3: narrative restraint that keeps many things about characters, motivations and

182
00:10:21,160 --> 00:10:24,680
Speaker 3: thoughts a mystery very different than I think most other

183
00:10:25,080 --> 00:10:26,400
Speaker 3: movies at this time would have done.

184
00:10:26,440 --> 00:10:26,520
Speaker 1: That.

185
00:10:26,559 --> 00:10:29,800
Speaker 3: I feel like if this same kind of subject had

186
00:10:29,800 --> 00:10:32,520
Speaker 3: been approached by an American filmmaker at this time, there

187
00:10:32,520 --> 00:10:37,199
Speaker 3: would have been a lot more voiceover explaining the interior

188
00:10:37,320 --> 00:10:41,640
Speaker 3: thoughts of characters of perioda and aslock. But we don't

189
00:10:41,679 --> 00:10:44,320
Speaker 3: get that so very often we're just sort of left

190
00:10:44,400 --> 00:10:46,840
Speaker 3: wondering what they're thinking about what's going on.

191
00:10:47,360 --> 00:10:50,000
Speaker 1: Yeah, it has a very European art house sensibility in

192
00:10:50,000 --> 00:10:54,560
Speaker 1: that respect. And yeah, and there will be no transformation

193
00:10:54,720 --> 00:10:56,560
Speaker 1: scenes in this in the way that you get them

194
00:10:56,600 --> 00:11:00,920
Speaker 1: in a certainly American and many your pen examples of

195
00:11:01,840 --> 00:11:05,320
Speaker 1: ladder monster movies and so specifically wear Wolf movies. But

196
00:11:05,360 --> 00:11:07,680
Speaker 1: then again, you don't need a transformation scene for a

197
00:11:07,720 --> 00:11:09,319
Speaker 1: great shape shifter.

198
00:11:09,120 --> 00:11:12,400
Speaker 3: Movie, that's right, I mean, And in fact, this movie

199
00:11:13,000 --> 00:11:14,880
Speaker 3: it doesn't really have a lot in the way of

200
00:11:14,960 --> 00:11:18,400
Speaker 3: special effects, but it doesn't really need them because the

201
00:11:18,440 --> 00:11:22,400
Speaker 3: way it handles its subject matter is just very natural

202
00:11:22,440 --> 00:11:23,160
Speaker 3: and graceful.

203
00:11:23,240 --> 00:11:23,360
Speaker 1: Like.

204
00:11:24,920 --> 00:11:28,480
Speaker 3: So, there's a character who transforms into a reindeer in

205
00:11:28,200 --> 00:11:31,360
Speaker 3: these in these murder scenes, and you'll see her just

206
00:11:31,400 --> 00:11:33,920
Speaker 3: sort of leap out of frame, and in the next frame,

207
00:11:34,000 --> 00:11:36,760
Speaker 3: the reindeer leaps into frame. It's a very simple way

208
00:11:36,800 --> 00:11:40,640
Speaker 3: to depict this kind of transformation without showing it in frame,

209
00:11:40,960 --> 00:11:42,439
Speaker 3: and it works just fine.

210
00:11:42,840 --> 00:11:44,880
Speaker 1: Yeah, this reminds me, I want to mention really quickly.

211
00:11:45,440 --> 00:11:48,200
Speaker 1: When I was looking up the reviews on letterbox for

212
00:11:48,240 --> 00:11:51,720
Speaker 1: this film, one of the people I followed, John from

213
00:11:51,920 --> 00:11:55,480
Speaker 1: Video Drum here in Atlanta made the comment, somehow this

214
00:11:55,600 --> 00:11:58,560
Speaker 1: is one of those low budget or enormous budget watching

215
00:11:58,600 --> 00:12:02,880
Speaker 1: experiences which I can totally I can totally feel, because again,

216
00:12:03,040 --> 00:12:04,160
Speaker 1: I think a lot of it has to do with

217
00:12:04,200 --> 00:12:08,240
Speaker 1: that naturalistic vibe, this kind of like documentary feel to it.

218
00:12:08,559 --> 00:12:10,120
Speaker 1: At times, you can feel like, well, all they did

219
00:12:10,160 --> 00:12:12,120
Speaker 1: was turn on the camera and this is just this

220
00:12:12,280 --> 00:12:14,800
Speaker 1: is just what it is there, this is life. But

221
00:12:14,840 --> 00:12:16,960
Speaker 1: then again, when you start thinking about, like you know,

222
00:12:17,240 --> 00:12:19,800
Speaker 1: any documentary about filmmaking you've seen, like, no, maybe this

223
00:12:20,000 --> 00:12:24,560
Speaker 1: was absolutely an enormously expensive picture. It's just hard to tell,

224
00:12:24,679 --> 00:12:27,960
Speaker 1: especially you know, being so far from this environment.

225
00:12:28,000 --> 00:12:30,400
Speaker 3: And from this time, I agree that it feels that way.

226
00:12:30,400 --> 00:12:33,240
Speaker 3: Though I guess we should just flag that I don't

227
00:12:33,280 --> 00:12:38,080
Speaker 3: necessarily want to vouch for this film's cultural authenticity and

228
00:12:38,120 --> 00:12:40,440
Speaker 3: how it depicts the Sami culture and all that, because

229
00:12:40,559 --> 00:12:42,720
Speaker 3: I don't really know how well it captures that. I

230
00:12:42,720 --> 00:12:47,360
Speaker 3: didn't find sources addressing this. It clearly is trying. It

231
00:12:47,400 --> 00:12:49,840
Speaker 3: seems to me to be trying to capture a kind

232
00:12:49,880 --> 00:12:52,800
Speaker 3: of cultural authenticity, but I don't know how well in

233
00:12:52,840 --> 00:12:54,360
Speaker 3: reality it actually did that.

234
00:12:54,679 --> 00:12:57,080
Speaker 1: Right, we can point to other examples from the nineteen

235
00:12:57,160 --> 00:13:00,680
Speaker 1: fifties and different cinema traditions where there's there's not a

236
00:13:00,679 --> 00:13:03,520
Speaker 1: lot of finesse shown in that sort of cultural depictions.

237
00:13:03,559 --> 00:13:06,679
Speaker 1: So yeah, we would. I think it's reasonable for us

238
00:13:06,760 --> 00:13:18,000
Speaker 1: to have a healthy amount of skepticism, all right. You know,

239
00:13:18,080 --> 00:13:22,440
Speaker 1: I don't know if this had a trailer, or if

240
00:13:22,520 --> 00:13:26,040
Speaker 1: whatever kind of trailer it originally had in Finland, if

241
00:13:26,040 --> 00:13:30,040
Speaker 1: it exists online anywhere, we may air just a little

242
00:13:30,080 --> 00:13:32,440
Speaker 1: bit of what I think is a modern trailer for

243
00:13:32,520 --> 00:13:36,480
Speaker 1: it that Eureka Entertainment put out. Eureka Entertainment is responsible

244
00:13:36,520 --> 00:13:38,920
Speaker 1: for what I believe is the main Blu Ray option

245
00:13:39,080 --> 00:13:41,680
Speaker 1: for this picture. I did not watch it on this

246
00:13:41,720 --> 00:13:44,800
Speaker 1: Blu Ray. I streamed it. It's widely available for streaming

247
00:13:45,040 --> 00:13:48,400
Speaker 1: wherever you get your streaming pictures. But it looks like

248
00:13:48,400 --> 00:13:50,199
Speaker 1: the Blu Ray is a really nice package with a

249
00:13:50,280 --> 00:13:51,520
Speaker 1: number of extras.

250
00:14:00,080 --> 00:14:11,199
Speaker 4: Oh tears in Sinu two level and many you are more.

251
00:14:13,720 --> 00:14:18,480
Speaker 5: Zero two level sil say the lench and line and

252
00:14:18,600 --> 00:14:21,800
Speaker 5: yellow and an old Toyo car too, lever star on

253
00:14:22,000 --> 00:14:31,640
Speaker 5: the Malayah.

254
00:14:30,680 --> 00:14:33,200
Speaker 3: You beca a boy?

255
00:14:57,360 --> 00:15:01,640
Speaker 1: All right, Well, let's let's get into the cast and

256
00:15:01,720 --> 00:15:06,480
Speaker 1: crew here a little bit, and I always want to

257
00:15:06,520 --> 00:15:11,280
Speaker 1: apologize for any pronunciation errors with names and such. We

258
00:15:11,520 --> 00:15:14,880
Speaker 1: haven't done really any finish films before. We've done some

259
00:15:15,000 --> 00:15:16,480
Speaker 1: Russo finish co productions.

260
00:15:16,800 --> 00:15:20,400
Speaker 3: Yeah, but this Rose is a Russo finished thing, right, Yeah.

261
00:15:20,400 --> 00:15:22,400
Speaker 1: Yeah, but this is I think this is our first

262
00:15:22,560 --> 00:15:26,400
Speaker 1: like purely finish film from the golden age of Finnish cinema.

263
00:15:26,480 --> 00:15:29,600
Speaker 1: I'm to understand, and I want to note I'm going

264
00:15:29,640 --> 00:15:35,000
Speaker 1: to refer several times to the Juicy Awards, JUSSI. There

265
00:15:35,040 --> 00:15:39,080
Speaker 1: may be more USY Awards. They're essentially like Finnish Academy Awards,

266
00:15:39,080 --> 00:15:42,000
Speaker 1: and I think maybe there's a little Emmy energy in there,

267
00:15:42,000 --> 00:15:44,840
Speaker 1: because I think they also recognized television projects or at

268
00:15:44,920 --> 00:15:47,280
Speaker 1: least came to at some point. They've been held since

269
00:15:47,400 --> 00:15:51,680
Speaker 1: nineteen forty four, and so I'm going to refer back

270
00:15:51,680 --> 00:15:55,680
Speaker 1: to them several different times here. Okay, So the key individuals,

271
00:15:55,720 --> 00:15:58,800
Speaker 1: as we've already noted, are going to be Eric Blomberg,

272
00:15:59,080 --> 00:16:02,400
Speaker 1: who is it did as the director, one of the writers,

273
00:16:02,640 --> 00:16:06,240
Speaker 1: certainly the cinematographer and also the editor, as well as

274
00:16:06,600 --> 00:16:12,400
Speaker 1: his wife mir Jammi Kuzmanin, and she is our star.

275
00:16:13,280 --> 00:16:16,240
Speaker 1: She is also credited as one of the writers. But

276
00:16:16,600 --> 00:16:20,720
Speaker 1: I was reading about her specifically on a website called

277
00:16:20,880 --> 00:16:24,200
Speaker 1: Nordic Women in Film dot com and in this this

278
00:16:24,320 --> 00:16:28,240
Speaker 1: write up they mentioned just how closely these two work

279
00:16:28,280 --> 00:16:31,280
Speaker 1: together on their projects. I think the quote is from

280
00:16:31,320 --> 00:16:33,400
Speaker 1: one of them, is that when it came to projects

281
00:16:33,480 --> 00:16:35,120
Speaker 1: they worked on, you would have to use a pair

282
00:16:35,160 --> 00:16:39,760
Speaker 1: of tweezers to separate what each one did. So this

283
00:16:39,960 --> 00:16:43,240
Speaker 1: division of labor here we get is in many ways

284
00:16:43,800 --> 00:16:46,240
Speaker 1: maybe just a reflection of what their backgrounds were. Her

285
00:16:46,280 --> 00:16:49,920
Speaker 1: background wasn't acting. His background was in cinematography and was

286
00:16:49,960 --> 00:16:52,880
Speaker 1: behind the camera, and therefore they're credited as such. And

287
00:16:53,520 --> 00:16:55,520
Speaker 1: it's also been pointed out that there were very few

288
00:16:55,960 --> 00:16:59,240
Speaker 1: female directors in Finnish cinema at the time, so maybe

289
00:16:59,280 --> 00:17:02,280
Speaker 1: that was another reason that her name wasn't at the top.

290
00:17:02,360 --> 00:17:06,280
Speaker 1: But like they work so closely together, just keep that

291
00:17:06,400 --> 00:17:08,399
Speaker 1: in mind as we're talking about these divisions, because it

292
00:17:08,440 --> 00:17:11,359
Speaker 1: seems like this whole project was a collaboration.

293
00:17:11,200 --> 00:17:12,639
Speaker 3: Right, so it should be kind of thought of as

294
00:17:12,720 --> 00:17:14,560
Speaker 3: that them as co filmmakers.

295
00:17:14,840 --> 00:17:18,119
Speaker 1: Yes, yeah, and they were very open yeah about this.

296
00:17:18,880 --> 00:17:22,320
Speaker 1: So let's start with Eric. Though he lived nineteen thirteen

297
00:17:22,400 --> 00:17:27,040
Speaker 1: through nineteen ninety six finish cinematographer, producer, screenwriter and director.

298
00:17:27,600 --> 00:17:29,720
Speaker 1: Not to be confused with a Swedish poet of the

299
00:17:29,840 --> 00:17:33,560
Speaker 1: same name. This Blomberg started off as a cinematographer with

300
00:17:33,640 --> 00:17:36,040
Speaker 1: credits going back to nineteen thirty six, and he was

301
00:17:36,119 --> 00:17:39,600
Speaker 1: a producer from nineteen thirty eight onward. His first directorial

302
00:17:39,680 --> 00:17:43,440
Speaker 1: credit was a nineteen forty seven documentary short titled with

303
00:17:43,600 --> 00:17:45,960
Speaker 1: the Reindeer, about the reindeer of Lapland.

304
00:17:46,480 --> 00:17:49,160
Speaker 3: Yeah, as we alluded to earlier, that is not surprising

305
00:17:49,240 --> 00:17:51,560
Speaker 3: if you've seen the film that he had shot documentary

306
00:17:51,600 --> 00:17:56,200
Speaker 3: footage about reindeer herding or about reindeer in general. There

307
00:17:56,400 --> 00:17:59,639
Speaker 3: is a I don't even know how to identify what

308
00:17:59,800 --> 00:18:02,400
Speaker 3: the the points leading to this impression are, but there's

309
00:18:02,480 --> 00:18:06,200
Speaker 3: just a feeling of familiarity with the subject, if that

310
00:18:06,280 --> 00:18:06,960
Speaker 3: makes any sense.

311
00:18:07,080 --> 00:18:11,240
Speaker 1: Absolutely, yeah, and it was well received. This documentary short

312
00:18:11,320 --> 00:18:13,879
Speaker 1: won a Ucy Award. I'm gonna go ahead just say

313
00:18:14,000 --> 00:18:16,680
Speaker 1: ucy instead of juicy, just because it sounds better to me.

314
00:18:16,760 --> 00:18:20,040
Speaker 1: But that may also be incorrect, Okay. He followed this

315
00:18:20,160 --> 00:18:22,960
Speaker 1: short up with a handful of additional shorts before tackling

316
00:18:23,080 --> 00:18:26,760
Speaker 1: this his first feature length film, again a collaboration with

317
00:18:26,880 --> 00:18:32,440
Speaker 1: his wife. She co wrote it, and again that you'd

318
00:18:32,480 --> 00:18:34,320
Speaker 1: have to use a tweezer to separate what they were

319
00:18:34,400 --> 00:18:38,160
Speaker 1: each working on in their own words. As you pointed out,

320
00:18:39,000 --> 00:18:40,880
Speaker 1: nobody seemed to go to see it at first because

321
00:18:40,920 --> 00:18:43,920
Speaker 1: they released it during the summer Olympics, but then it

322
00:18:44,000 --> 00:18:46,440
Speaker 1: began to pick up steam domestically and then ultimately was

323
00:18:47,040 --> 00:18:50,600
Speaker 1: very well received internationally. Not only did it earn them

324
00:18:50,720 --> 00:18:54,200
Speaker 1: a uc for cinematography, it was nominated for the Grand

325
00:18:54,280 --> 00:18:56,920
Speaker 1: Prize of the cons Film Festival in fifty three and

326
00:18:57,040 --> 00:19:01,840
Speaker 1: it won in its fairy tail film categor which excited

327
00:19:01,920 --> 00:19:03,760
Speaker 1: me and I had to research this. I'm like, what

328
00:19:03,880 --> 00:19:06,840
Speaker 1: else won? What else was nominated? I don't think this

329
00:19:07,040 --> 00:19:11,040
Speaker 1: category existed previously or afterwards, so I'm not sure what

330
00:19:11,119 --> 00:19:14,879
Speaker 1: the story is here. If they invented a category to

331
00:19:15,000 --> 00:19:17,920
Speaker 1: honor this film, which if that's the case, great, this

332
00:19:18,040 --> 00:19:21,520
Speaker 1: film totally earned it, or if they were like, yes,

333
00:19:21,760 --> 00:19:24,560
Speaker 1: fairy tale films, they need their own category, and then

334
00:19:24,840 --> 00:19:26,920
Speaker 1: it just they decided not to keep doing it. I'm

335
00:19:26,960 --> 00:19:27,280
Speaker 1: not sure.

336
00:19:27,680 --> 00:19:30,000
Speaker 3: I'm getting out of the pitchforks. Bring it back, Bring

337
00:19:30,080 --> 00:19:32,000
Speaker 3: it back to the con judges, we need a fairy

338
00:19:32,040 --> 00:19:33,960
Speaker 3: tale film category, do it?

339
00:19:34,119 --> 00:19:36,680
Speaker 1: Yeah, and maybe you'd encourage even more fairy tale films.

340
00:19:36,680 --> 00:19:38,760
Speaker 1: I don't think we have enough of them. So Blomberg

341
00:19:38,840 --> 00:19:41,200
Speaker 1: followed this up with a handful of feature link films,

342
00:19:41,560 --> 00:19:43,680
Speaker 1: some more short works, and finally a couple of TV

343
00:19:43,800 --> 00:19:46,960
Speaker 1: movies in sixty six and sixty eight. Of these, his

344
00:19:47,320 --> 00:19:52,320
Speaker 1: nineteen fifty five film Killouse also won a UCY for cinematography.

345
00:19:52,840 --> 00:19:55,160
Speaker 1: But The White Reindeer I believe, remains his most well

346
00:19:55,240 --> 00:19:59,080
Speaker 1: known film, certainly internationally, and continues to resonate not only

347
00:19:59,119 --> 00:20:02,120
Speaker 1: as an example of cinema during from the golden era

348
00:20:02,280 --> 00:20:05,320
Speaker 1: of Finnish cinema, but also as a rich entry in

349
00:20:05,400 --> 00:20:06,320
Speaker 1: Global full car.

350
00:20:06,840 --> 00:20:09,600
Speaker 3: I've read that Blomberg did not do a lot else

351
00:20:09,800 --> 00:20:12,280
Speaker 3: in this sort of magical category.

352
00:20:12,520 --> 00:20:14,760
Speaker 1: Right, that's I'm to understand that as well. Looking at

353
00:20:14,840 --> 00:20:19,000
Speaker 1: his other pictures, I don't think anything else could qualify

354
00:20:19,160 --> 00:20:21,879
Speaker 1: as you know, specula as having a speculative elopment.

355
00:20:22,119 --> 00:20:26,240
Speaker 3: Okay, but that was Eric Blomberg. Let's talk Miriami Kosmanan Yeah.

356
00:20:26,480 --> 00:20:30,920
Speaker 1: So. Kospannen lived nineteen fifteen through nineteen sixty three. She

357
00:20:31,040 --> 00:20:35,520
Speaker 1: plays our witch reindeer, Finnish actress, writer and longtime wife

358
00:20:35,720 --> 00:20:40,119
Speaker 1: of Eric Blomberg. I was reading her this profile of

359
00:20:40,480 --> 00:20:42,879
Speaker 1: her in her work on Nordic women in film. They

360
00:20:42,920 --> 00:20:44,560
Speaker 1: point out that she was like a real wild child

361
00:20:44,560 --> 00:20:46,960
Speaker 1: as a kid, like she played played sports with the boys,

362
00:20:47,040 --> 00:20:50,040
Speaker 1: she loved swimming and fishing. There's some story about her

363
00:20:50,080 --> 00:20:53,560
Speaker 1: putting out a fire in their house. So yeah, she

364
00:20:53,560 --> 00:20:55,879
Speaker 1: seemed to be a real spirited individual. And she was

365
00:20:55,960 --> 00:20:59,800
Speaker 1: active from thirty seven through fifty six, and they're a

366
00:20:59,880 --> 00:21:04,199
Speaker 1: good I think dozen collaborations between her and her husband.

367
00:21:04,760 --> 00:21:07,960
Speaker 1: She is often credited as a writer and sometimes she

368
00:21:08,200 --> 00:21:11,400
Speaker 1: is an actress. But this film, in particular, I'm to understand,

369
00:21:12,240 --> 00:21:14,800
Speaker 1: was a case where it was at least partially inspired

370
00:21:14,840 --> 00:21:17,800
Speaker 1: by a dream she had of a woman turning into

371
00:21:17,840 --> 00:21:20,439
Speaker 1: a reindeer. And I think it's also, you know, as

372
00:21:20,480 --> 00:21:24,680
Speaker 1: we'll discuss, based on some existing bits of folklore and

373
00:21:24,840 --> 00:21:27,440
Speaker 1: Bret and Sagas and so forth, but also there's a

374
00:21:27,520 --> 00:21:31,719
Speaker 1: dream element something that you know, that emerges personally from her.

375
00:21:32,720 --> 00:21:35,119
Speaker 1: There's also a quote in that article about how like

376
00:21:35,240 --> 00:21:37,840
Speaker 1: they had a unified vision for this picture and that

377
00:21:38,119 --> 00:21:42,040
Speaker 1: they each could see every scene before they shot it.

378
00:21:43,040 --> 00:21:45,320
Speaker 1: So she's a really beautiful thought, I.

379
00:21:45,359 --> 00:21:49,400
Speaker 3: Think, especially for a film that has deadly premonitions within it. Yeah.

380
00:21:49,640 --> 00:21:53,920
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah that they Yeah, they saw the vision together.

381
00:21:54,640 --> 00:21:57,119
Speaker 1: Other notable films of hers include nineteen thirty eight's The

382
00:21:57,240 --> 00:22:00,840
Speaker 1: Song of the Scarlet Flower, which, like much her filmography,

383
00:22:01,080 --> 00:22:03,320
Speaker 1: was a romance drama. Again, I don't think there are

384
00:22:03,400 --> 00:22:07,000
Speaker 1: any other films in her filmography that you could think

385
00:22:07,080 --> 00:22:10,000
Speaker 1: of as being horror, fantasy, or certainly sci fi. I

386
00:22:10,080 --> 00:22:13,400
Speaker 1: think The White Reindeer stands alone. She won a uc

387
00:22:13,600 --> 00:22:16,160
Speaker 1: for Best Leading Actress for her role in The White Reindeer.

388
00:22:16,440 --> 00:22:20,560
Speaker 1: And Yeah, she's amazing in this. It's a captivating performance.

389
00:22:21,680 --> 00:22:26,000
Speaker 1: You know, she's often silently channeling these intense feelings of loneliness,

390
00:22:27,200 --> 00:22:31,040
Speaker 1: of love and hope and eventually other worldly power.

391
00:22:31,400 --> 00:22:33,399
Speaker 3: She really carries the film. I mean, it is her

392
00:22:33,480 --> 00:22:36,160
Speaker 3: burden to carry, and she takes it up that snowy hill.

393
00:22:36,960 --> 00:22:40,320
Speaker 3: We spend huge amounts of the movie just alone with her,

394
00:22:40,600 --> 00:22:45,040
Speaker 3: with nobody else, and even in scenes where she's with

395
00:22:45,200 --> 00:22:48,359
Speaker 3: other people, often it's just sort of the audience in

396
00:22:48,480 --> 00:22:51,520
Speaker 3: her and the other people are kind of peripheral. Yeah,

397
00:22:52,400 --> 00:22:56,760
Speaker 3: and so we have and it's a really interesting way

398
00:22:56,960 --> 00:23:01,840
Speaker 3: to render a protagonist in this way because we our

399
00:23:01,960 --> 00:23:04,119
Speaker 3: main relationship is with her, and we spend all this

400
00:23:04,320 --> 00:23:08,160
Speaker 3: time with her. But also she remains so mysterious through

401
00:23:08,200 --> 00:23:10,680
Speaker 3: the entire film, and we even at the end of

402
00:23:10,720 --> 00:23:13,159
Speaker 3: the story, I think there are many questions we can

403
00:23:13,240 --> 00:23:15,640
Speaker 3: still have about her that aren't really answered directly.

404
00:23:16,240 --> 00:23:18,960
Speaker 1: Yeah, because you know, ultimately she gets some great Dracula

405
00:23:19,040 --> 00:23:23,600
Speaker 1: moments and in a sense it's going to follow some

406
00:23:24,160 --> 00:23:27,240
Speaker 1: the trajectory you might expect from a werewolf picture. But

407
00:23:27,400 --> 00:23:30,119
Speaker 1: yet at the end there's not this feeling of Welp,

408
00:23:30,200 --> 00:23:32,239
Speaker 1: she was a monster and thank goodness we killed her.

409
00:23:33,080 --> 00:23:36,560
Speaker 1: It feels a lot, a lot sadder than that. Yeah,

410
00:23:36,600 --> 00:23:39,399
Speaker 1: it's very it's tragic. Yeah, it's more. If I'm going

411
00:23:39,440 --> 00:23:42,960
Speaker 1: to compare it to just an easily referred to werewolf picture,

412
00:23:43,000 --> 00:23:45,960
Speaker 1: reminds me maybe a little bit of American Werewolf in London,

413
00:23:46,080 --> 00:23:48,280
Speaker 1: like that kind of vibe where it's it's yeah, the

414
00:23:48,359 --> 00:23:51,040
Speaker 1: monster's dad, but we don't feel great about it.

415
00:23:51,640 --> 00:23:53,800
Speaker 3: I would say, yes, but it's even more tragic than that,

416
00:23:53,880 --> 00:23:56,040
Speaker 3: because of course, you know, she has to be killed

417
00:23:56,080 --> 00:23:59,080
Speaker 3: by the man she loves, uh, and he doesn't even

418
00:23:59,160 --> 00:24:01,960
Speaker 3: know it's her. So it's just tragedy all around. And

419
00:24:02,040 --> 00:24:05,000
Speaker 3: then there's an even more kind of bleak layer, which

420
00:24:05,119 --> 00:24:07,640
Speaker 3: is that the guy an American werewolf in London. He's

421
00:24:07,680 --> 00:24:10,000
Speaker 3: just had bad luck, wrong place, wrong time. He was

422
00:24:10,040 --> 00:24:11,800
Speaker 3: out on the moor and he got scratched. He got

423
00:24:11,840 --> 00:24:16,560
Speaker 3: bitten by a werewolf. That's no good. She It seems

424
00:24:16,640 --> 00:24:20,679
Speaker 3: that our main character here is doomed from ages past.

425
00:24:20,960 --> 00:24:24,119
Speaker 3: She was like doomed before her birth to this life

426
00:24:24,200 --> 00:24:28,520
Speaker 3: of unnatural witchcraft. And it's like there is something that

427
00:24:28,600 --> 00:24:31,879
Speaker 3: the other characters recognize about her that is evil, but

428
00:24:32,000 --> 00:24:34,080
Speaker 3: it's almost like it's an evil that is not of

429
00:24:34,160 --> 00:24:34,800
Speaker 3: her choosing.

430
00:24:35,480 --> 00:24:39,600
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, it's an Yeah, it's fascinating. We'll have more

431
00:24:39,600 --> 00:24:42,399
Speaker 1: to say about this character and this performance as we proceed,

432
00:24:42,480 --> 00:24:47,160
Speaker 1: but let's move on to Aslek. This is Parita's young

433
00:24:47,240 --> 00:24:51,280
Speaker 1: reindeer herger husband, played by Finnish actor and TV director

434
00:24:51,920 --> 00:24:56,680
Speaker 1: Kalervo Neicilla, who lived nineteen thirteen through nineteen ninety seven.

435
00:24:57,680 --> 00:25:01,000
Speaker 1: I say young reindeer herder husband. The actor was I

436
00:25:01,080 --> 00:25:05,080
Speaker 1: believe like forty here, and you know, kind of looks

437
00:25:05,160 --> 00:25:08,040
Speaker 1: like a forty year old guy. But I have to

438
00:25:08,080 --> 00:25:11,240
Speaker 1: say he has a very sympathetic face. It's a good performance.

439
00:25:11,720 --> 00:25:14,879
Speaker 1: And while you could argue, well, he looks maybe a

440
00:25:14,920 --> 00:25:17,399
Speaker 1: little older than he should be, and this is not

441
00:25:17,560 --> 00:25:19,280
Speaker 1: unique to this film. We see this in all sorts

442
00:25:19,280 --> 00:25:24,160
Speaker 1: of pictures, just in every decade. But I ultimately kind

443
00:25:24,200 --> 00:25:27,000
Speaker 1: of liked the fact that he looked a little older. Yeah,

444
00:25:27,080 --> 00:25:29,679
Speaker 1: and she does two in certain scenes, because I kind

445
00:25:29,720 --> 00:25:32,640
Speaker 1: of got this perhaps accidental vibe of them both being

446
00:25:32,760 --> 00:25:35,280
Speaker 1: slightly older members of the community who just hadn't found

447
00:25:35,320 --> 00:25:37,440
Speaker 1: love yet until now for various reasons.

448
00:25:37,640 --> 00:25:39,840
Speaker 3: Oh, that's interesting. I didn't really think of it that way.

449
00:25:39,960 --> 00:25:44,320
Speaker 3: I guess I interpreted. I mean, he does look older

450
00:25:44,359 --> 00:25:46,159
Speaker 3: than I think he's supposed to be. Just based on

451
00:25:46,240 --> 00:25:48,280
Speaker 3: the narrative, I would have guessed these characters are both

452
00:25:48,280 --> 00:25:51,160
Speaker 3: supposed to be like twenty or something. Yeah, and they're

453
00:25:51,200 --> 00:25:54,200
Speaker 3: actually both I guess in their you know, thirties or forty.

454
00:25:55,880 --> 00:25:58,440
Speaker 3: But you could buy it, I think, especially with Aslac,

455
00:25:58,480 --> 00:26:00,640
Speaker 3: because he's like he's a reindeer her. I mean, he's

456
00:26:00,680 --> 00:26:03,159
Speaker 3: out there in the weather, like he's getting you know,

457
00:26:03,240 --> 00:26:06,720
Speaker 3: the snow's beaten on him every day. You can imagine, Yeah,

458
00:26:07,600 --> 00:26:11,120
Speaker 3: you'd imagine that he would look distinguished and mature even

459
00:26:11,160 --> 00:26:14,800
Speaker 3: at a younger age. And he does. And so he

460
00:26:15,840 --> 00:26:19,520
Speaker 3: has a kind of rugged handsomeness but also kind of

461
00:26:19,560 --> 00:26:21,200
Speaker 3: a baby face at the same time.

462
00:26:21,880 --> 00:26:23,359
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, yeah. Like I say, he has a very

463
00:26:23,359 --> 00:26:26,680
Speaker 1: sympathetic face. That works well here. Now, someone who does

464
00:26:26,800 --> 00:26:33,080
Speaker 1: not have a sympathetic face is the character Messena. I'm

465
00:26:33,200 --> 00:26:35,480
Speaker 1: probably not saying that correctly. This is a like a

466
00:26:35,640 --> 00:26:37,800
Speaker 1: forester who shows up the ranger.

467
00:26:37,960 --> 00:26:38,120
Speaker 5: Yeah.

468
00:26:38,200 --> 00:26:41,480
Speaker 1: Yeah, he has a real threatening air to him. I

469
00:26:41,560 --> 00:26:43,679
Speaker 1: was looking at him. He's an interesting character. Played by

470
00:26:43,760 --> 00:26:47,119
Speaker 1: Aki Lindman, who lived nineteen twenty eight through two thousand

471
00:26:47,160 --> 00:26:50,600
Speaker 1: and nine. He was a professional Finnish football player turned

472
00:26:50,680 --> 00:26:54,440
Speaker 1: actor and eventually writer and director. He started acting I

473
00:26:54,520 --> 00:26:57,680
Speaker 1: Believe in nineteen forty nine, started directing in sixty one,

474
00:26:57,880 --> 00:27:00,879
Speaker 1: and was active behind the camp until two thousand and

475
00:27:00,960 --> 00:27:02,920
Speaker 1: seven and in front of it till two thousand and three.

476
00:27:03,280 --> 00:27:05,520
Speaker 1: He won a Ussy for acting in fifty six for

477
00:27:05,600 --> 00:27:09,320
Speaker 1: The Unknown Soldier. He won one for directing in nineteen

478
00:27:09,359 --> 00:27:12,600
Speaker 1: eighty eight, and then he received a Lifetime Achievement Award

479
00:27:12,640 --> 00:27:15,520
Speaker 1: in two thousand and eight. His various credits include nineteen

480
00:27:15,560 --> 00:27:19,760
Speaker 1: fifty nine's Moonwolf, which is a rocket movie, a werewolf movie,

481
00:27:20,440 --> 00:27:25,640
Speaker 1: nineteen seventy seven's Telephone, nineteen eighty one's Reds that's directed

482
00:27:25,680 --> 00:27:28,520
Speaker 1: by and starring Warren Beatty. I haven't seen Reds, but

483
00:27:28,760 --> 00:27:31,440
Speaker 1: that one is filmed on location in Finland, so you

484
00:27:31,520 --> 00:27:34,960
Speaker 1: had some Finnish actors appearing in some smaller supporting roles.

485
00:27:35,320 --> 00:27:37,280
Speaker 1: And then he's also in a nineteen eighty eight film

486
00:27:37,359 --> 00:27:38,200
Speaker 1: called The Moon God.

487
00:27:38,480 --> 00:27:43,240
Speaker 3: Wait, he was in Moonwolf and Moon God. Yeah, unrelated films.

488
00:27:42,960 --> 00:27:46,400
Speaker 1: Though unrelated decades apart, different I can't remember. I think

489
00:27:46,440 --> 00:27:48,760
Speaker 1: The Moon God might have a speculative element to it,

490
00:27:48,840 --> 00:27:51,840
Speaker 1: but it's not a rocket movie. Moon Wolf is a

491
00:27:51,920 --> 00:27:53,240
Speaker 1: nineteen fifties rocket movie.

492
00:27:53,800 --> 00:27:55,960
Speaker 3: Does seem like a coincidence. How many movies are like

493
00:27:56,119 --> 00:27:58,560
Speaker 3: Moon now? And how many would there be?

494
00:27:59,320 --> 00:28:01,720
Speaker 1: Lots? Yeah, okay or something moon?

495
00:28:01,840 --> 00:28:05,399
Speaker 3: There are lots of like yeah, death moon, that's right,

496
00:28:05,440 --> 00:28:07,720
Speaker 3: We've covered some on the show. Yeah. I feel like

497
00:28:07,840 --> 00:28:10,560
Speaker 3: modifier moon is more common than moon noun.

498
00:28:10,920 --> 00:28:14,120
Speaker 1: Probably so in the long run, all right. We also

499
00:28:14,200 --> 00:28:17,480
Speaker 1: we mentioned that there's a wizard. May we'll get into this.

500
00:28:17,600 --> 00:28:21,320
Speaker 1: Maybe he's more of a shaman, but in the subtitles

501
00:28:21,400 --> 00:28:26,600
Speaker 1: he does call himself a wizard. This is the character Salkunila,

502
00:28:27,119 --> 00:28:31,240
Speaker 1: played by r Vo Alesma, who lived nineteen oh one

503
00:28:31,320 --> 00:28:34,440
Speaker 1: through nineteen seventy three, Finnish actor who seems to have

504
00:28:34,520 --> 00:28:37,000
Speaker 1: worked a lot in supporting roles. And he's really great

505
00:28:37,080 --> 00:28:44,840
Speaker 1: in this, playing this kind of kind of drunken wizard

506
00:28:44,960 --> 00:28:47,680
Speaker 1: or shaman that lives in a hut. I would say,

507
00:28:47,720 --> 00:28:49,000
Speaker 1: out at the edge of the town. But there's not

508
00:28:49,040 --> 00:28:50,960
Speaker 1: really a town so much, but he's kind of out

509
00:28:51,440 --> 00:28:53,120
Speaker 1: on the outskirts of the outskirts here.

510
00:28:53,440 --> 00:28:55,680
Speaker 3: The scene in his hut is really interesting. I'm excited

511
00:28:55,720 --> 00:28:59,120
Speaker 3: to talk about that later, especially for the way like

512
00:28:59,240 --> 00:29:03,120
Speaker 3: the tables get turned. Like in his scene, Parita arrives

513
00:29:03,400 --> 00:29:06,120
Speaker 3: and it's like he's the scary one, and she's kind

514
00:29:06,160 --> 00:29:08,240
Speaker 3: of supplicant and she's like, oh, what's it going to

515
00:29:08,320 --> 00:29:11,080
Speaker 3: be like here, you know, meeting the shaman. But then

516
00:29:11,200 --> 00:29:13,560
Speaker 3: by the end of the scene the tables are completely

517
00:29:14,000 --> 00:29:17,160
Speaker 3: turned and like she is scary and he is scared

518
00:29:17,160 --> 00:29:17,440
Speaker 3: of her.

519
00:29:17,880 --> 00:29:21,720
Speaker 1: Yeah. And finally, the composer for this was Einar England

520
00:29:22,080 --> 00:29:26,120
Speaker 1: who lived nineteen sixteen through nineteen ninety nine. A finished composer,

521
00:29:26,200 --> 00:29:29,080
Speaker 1: he won a NUSI Award in fifty two for this score,

522
00:29:29,960 --> 00:29:33,000
Speaker 1: which I think I'm on the whole feels very much

523
00:29:33,040 --> 00:29:36,760
Speaker 1: of its time, but I think it gets nicely dramatic

524
00:29:36,800 --> 00:29:37,840
Speaker 1: as the film progresses.

525
00:29:38,240 --> 00:29:40,760
Speaker 3: Oh, I think the music's wonderful. I think it really

526
00:29:40,920 --> 00:29:44,840
Speaker 3: underscores the drama very well. There's these certain themes that

527
00:29:45,000 --> 00:29:49,120
Speaker 3: recur when, like when Pirita is losing her mind or

528
00:29:49,160 --> 00:29:51,240
Speaker 3: when she's sort of going to another place, we get

529
00:29:51,280 --> 00:29:55,080
Speaker 3: this nice uneasy these chords come up. Yeah, and there's

530
00:29:55,120 --> 00:29:57,880
Speaker 3: some dissonance and there's sort of a theme of the

531
00:29:58,000 --> 00:30:01,040
Speaker 3: stone God. When we get to that, really good, I.

532
00:30:01,080 --> 00:30:03,520
Speaker 1: Think that's when it its best. There's some early parts

533
00:30:03,880 --> 00:30:06,680
Speaker 1: where it's there are a lot of horns and it

534
00:30:06,920 --> 00:30:10,400
Speaker 1: maybe feels a little fashion, you know, from a bag. Yeah,

535
00:30:10,520 --> 00:30:13,560
Speaker 1: But when it gets into the darker and more dramatic parts,

536
00:30:14,920 --> 00:30:17,680
Speaker 1: the composer totally brings it here. And I should also

537
00:30:17,720 --> 00:30:20,200
Speaker 1: add that the film also makes great use, particularly in

538
00:30:20,440 --> 00:30:23,320
Speaker 1: one segment early on, of what I take to be

539
00:30:23,400 --> 00:30:25,840
Speaker 1: authentic folk songs, which adds nice flavor.

540
00:30:34,960 --> 00:30:36,920
Speaker 3: All right, are you ready to talk about the plot.

541
00:30:37,120 --> 00:30:37,520
Speaker 1: Let's do it.

542
00:30:38,040 --> 00:30:38,080
Speaker 2: So.

543
00:30:38,200 --> 00:30:40,680
Speaker 3: We open on a shot of a winter landscape covered

544
00:30:40,760 --> 00:30:44,920
Speaker 3: in snow, striped with lines of bear trees and shrubs

545
00:30:45,360 --> 00:30:47,920
Speaker 3: stretching to the horizon, and then at the horizon we

546
00:30:48,000 --> 00:30:51,880
Speaker 3: see these fairly low, gently sloping mountains in the distance,

547
00:30:52,640 --> 00:30:55,680
Speaker 3: and in the foreground we see a pair of forked

548
00:30:55,840 --> 00:30:59,040
Speaker 3: reindeer antlers belonging to an animal whose head is below

549
00:30:59,120 --> 00:31:01,960
Speaker 3: the frame. And then standing next to the reindeer, there's

550
00:31:02,000 --> 00:31:05,840
Speaker 3: a person facing away, dressed in furs, and there's music.

551
00:31:06,000 --> 00:31:09,520
Speaker 3: The music is just a woman's voice singing an eerie,

552
00:31:09,720 --> 00:31:13,880
Speaker 3: high pitched melody that sounds cold. You know what I mean,

553
00:31:14,080 --> 00:31:17,560
Speaker 3: Like this music, like it makes you want a blanket.

554
00:31:18,280 --> 00:31:18,480
Speaker 1: Yes.

555
00:31:19,120 --> 00:31:21,800
Speaker 3: As we pan away from the reindeer and the person

556
00:31:22,320 --> 00:31:24,920
Speaker 3: over the landscape, a title comes in to tell us

557
00:31:25,000 --> 00:31:28,160
Speaker 3: that this is a story from Lapland, and we get

558
00:31:28,200 --> 00:31:32,760
Speaker 3: the title telling calling it the White Reindeer, Valcoyne and Peura.

559
00:31:33,680 --> 00:31:36,440
Speaker 3: After the credits, a new song begins, and this one

560
00:31:36,560 --> 00:31:39,719
Speaker 3: sounds like a folk song, also sung by a single

561
00:31:39,920 --> 00:31:45,280
Speaker 3: woman's voice, and the lyrics are little girl child of Lapland,

562
00:31:45,800 --> 00:31:50,360
Speaker 3: born in a snowdrift. And then here we see there's

563
00:31:50,440 --> 00:31:53,080
Speaker 3: like a shot of the sky and it's very strange

564
00:31:53,120 --> 00:31:56,360
Speaker 3: and beautiful. There are these gray clouds and there's like

565
00:31:56,520 --> 00:32:01,600
Speaker 3: a glare of the sun piercing through the cloud. Yeah,

566
00:32:02,200 --> 00:32:05,640
Speaker 3: and the song goes on saying grew to girlhood straw

567
00:32:05,760 --> 00:32:10,280
Speaker 3: stuffed shoes like a reindeer dough. And then we see

568
00:32:10,400 --> 00:32:13,360
Speaker 3: wind blowing over the top of a deep snowfield with

569
00:32:13,640 --> 00:32:16,600
Speaker 3: these black tree limbs barely peeking out of the drifts.

570
00:32:17,000 --> 00:32:20,240
Speaker 3: And this is something that the director they will the

571
00:32:20,320 --> 00:32:23,600
Speaker 3: directors will like to show you again and again is

572
00:32:23,720 --> 00:32:26,600
Speaker 3: shots of a snowy field with wind blowing and the

573
00:32:26,720 --> 00:32:30,800
Speaker 3: blowing snow like these sort of these sheets of snow

574
00:32:30,880 --> 00:32:32,880
Speaker 3: being picked up off the top of the field and

575
00:32:33,000 --> 00:32:36,480
Speaker 3: then blowing along. They look like curtains being dragged across

576
00:32:36,560 --> 00:32:37,320
Speaker 3: the land.

577
00:32:37,760 --> 00:32:40,400
Speaker 1: Yeah, there's a real visual poetry to these scenes.

578
00:32:40,640 --> 00:32:43,600
Speaker 3: Yeah. The lyrics to the song go on, she did

579
00:32:43,720 --> 00:32:46,360
Speaker 3: not know as a child, nor when she was married,

580
00:32:46,800 --> 00:32:49,680
Speaker 3: that she was born a witch, evil in her belly.

581
00:32:50,360 --> 00:32:52,960
Speaker 3: And then we see wolves running in the snowfields and

582
00:32:53,040 --> 00:32:55,520
Speaker 3: a woman on skis with a long stick as a

583
00:32:55,560 --> 00:32:59,480
Speaker 3: push pull. She's going alone over a hill, looking exhausted

584
00:32:59,600 --> 00:33:03,280
Speaker 3: and pain She's facing down the wolves that are running

585
00:33:03,280 --> 00:33:05,760
Speaker 3: from across the field. You don't know, are they threatening her,

586
00:33:05,840 --> 00:33:09,040
Speaker 3: are they running with her? What's going on, but then

587
00:33:09,080 --> 00:33:12,080
Speaker 3: the lyrics continue. They say, she offered to the stone

588
00:33:12,160 --> 00:33:16,200
Speaker 3: god to modern Aca, she gave a white fawn, then

589
00:33:16,400 --> 00:33:19,840
Speaker 3: ranged the fells as a deer till the appointed hour.

590
00:33:20,640 --> 00:33:24,040
Speaker 1: Yeah, I was reading that this modern Aca was like

591
00:33:24,120 --> 00:33:27,960
Speaker 1: a traditional goddess, that is, a goddess of the earth,

592
00:33:29,200 --> 00:33:32,080
Speaker 1: of goddess of the beginnings of life, a protector of

593
00:33:32,240 --> 00:33:33,120
Speaker 1: children as well.

594
00:33:33,960 --> 00:33:37,720
Speaker 3: And then eventually the woman approaches a conical structure in

595
00:33:37,840 --> 00:33:40,280
Speaker 3: the snow. I think this is supposed to be a

596
00:33:40,440 --> 00:33:43,880
Speaker 3: sami lavu, which is kind of similar to a North

597
00:33:43,920 --> 00:33:48,440
Speaker 3: American teepee. It's a conical shelter made with poles braced

598
00:33:48,480 --> 00:33:50,440
Speaker 3: against one another, and then it would be covered in

599
00:33:50,560 --> 00:33:55,120
Speaker 3: reindeer hides. Inside this structure, you've got people gathered together

600
00:33:55,240 --> 00:33:57,720
Speaker 3: cooking a meal, and one of them sees the woman

601
00:33:57,880 --> 00:34:00,600
Speaker 3: coming outside and pokes her head in to tell the others.

602
00:34:01,280 --> 00:34:04,520
Speaker 3: And then the woman comes inside the lavo and collapses,

603
00:34:05,160 --> 00:34:08,200
Speaker 3: and the lyrics go on to say iron pierced the

604
00:34:08,239 --> 00:34:12,239
Speaker 3: white dough. Then the lap girl slept chill shawl for

605
00:34:12,360 --> 00:34:17,080
Speaker 3: a coverlet snow drift for a pillow. And inside the

606
00:34:17,160 --> 00:34:20,120
Speaker 3: lavo we see a baby next to the woman, so

607
00:34:20,320 --> 00:34:23,560
Speaker 3: it seems she's given birth, and then an elder figure

608
00:34:23,760 --> 00:34:27,440
Speaker 3: in traditional Sami clothing holds the baby, and I think

609
00:34:27,440 --> 00:34:30,640
Speaker 3: it's implied that the mother dies here. It wasn't exactly

610
00:34:30,719 --> 00:34:32,719
Speaker 3: clear on that, but I think she's supposed to die.

611
00:34:33,719 --> 00:34:36,720
Speaker 3: And then afterwards we pull out to another landscape shot

612
00:34:36,800 --> 00:34:40,640
Speaker 3: of a massive, steep, lonely hillside covered in snow, and

613
00:34:40,719 --> 00:34:43,600
Speaker 3: again just the wind blowing sheets of frost over the

614
00:34:43,680 --> 00:34:46,719
Speaker 3: top of the pack. And then that's the end of

615
00:34:46,760 --> 00:34:49,840
Speaker 3: the opening montage. The whole thing is very I don't know,

616
00:34:51,280 --> 00:34:54,279
Speaker 3: it's got a light touch, but it's also a good

617
00:34:54,320 --> 00:34:58,120
Speaker 3: bit haunting. And so we cut ahead in time after

618
00:34:58,239 --> 00:35:01,760
Speaker 3: that to a very different Now the image is sharper

619
00:35:01,840 --> 00:35:04,560
Speaker 3: and the music is more lighthearted, and we see lots

620
00:35:04,600 --> 00:35:07,080
Speaker 3: of people gathered for what looks like some kind of

621
00:35:07,200 --> 00:35:12,359
Speaker 3: winter games or festival. Throughout this movie, you will see

622
00:35:12,600 --> 00:35:16,879
Speaker 3: a common form of individual transportation in this region, which

623
00:35:17,000 --> 00:35:20,000
Speaker 3: is a person riding in a kind of ground level

624
00:35:20,239 --> 00:35:24,240
Speaker 3: sled pulled by a single reindeer. So when we say sled,

625
00:35:24,360 --> 00:35:27,000
Speaker 3: don't imagine like a big, high up sleigh like often

626
00:35:27,000 --> 00:35:29,680
Speaker 3: people are just sort of lying back in this sled.

627
00:35:29,800 --> 00:35:31,879
Speaker 3: There's basically right there on the top of the snow

628
00:35:32,000 --> 00:35:35,200
Speaker 3: with a single reindeer pulling them. And in this scene

629
00:35:35,239 --> 00:35:37,960
Speaker 3: we see lots of happy people being pulled around, pulled

630
00:35:38,000 --> 00:35:41,759
Speaker 3: all around, and crowds gathered. These people are lying back

631
00:35:41,840 --> 00:35:44,520
Speaker 3: in their one seat reindeer sleds. You got dogs running

632
00:35:44,520 --> 00:35:47,840
Speaker 3: around barking, and we see reindeer herders in their traditional

633
00:35:47,920 --> 00:35:50,480
Speaker 3: clothes standing around, just cruising the vibes.

634
00:35:51,000 --> 00:35:54,480
Speaker 1: Now, did we mention this already? If not, I want

635
00:35:54,520 --> 00:35:56,720
Speaker 1: to drive home that I don't think this is supposed

636
00:35:56,719 --> 00:35:58,680
Speaker 1: to take place in the nineteen fifties, but I don't

637
00:35:58,719 --> 00:36:00,880
Speaker 1: know when exactly in the past.

638
00:36:01,239 --> 00:36:03,960
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's a good question. So I read online sources

639
00:36:04,000 --> 00:36:06,000
Speaker 3: saying this is supposed to take place in like pre

640
00:36:06,160 --> 00:36:10,560
Speaker 3: Christian times or that, you know, So this would make

641
00:36:10,640 --> 00:36:12,919
Speaker 3: me think, you know, at least hundreds of years ago.

642
00:36:13,640 --> 00:36:17,040
Speaker 3: But also, like the character one character has a fairly

643
00:36:17,280 --> 00:36:21,279
Speaker 3: modern looking rifle. And there's another scene where characters are

644
00:36:21,400 --> 00:36:23,600
Speaker 3: in a building that I don't know, looks to me

645
00:36:23,719 --> 00:36:27,040
Speaker 3: kind of like a Christian church, and they may seem

646
00:36:27,120 --> 00:36:30,160
Speaker 3: to be attending maybe church, or maybe I'm misunderstanding what's

647
00:36:30,200 --> 00:36:30,759
Speaker 3: happening there.

648
00:36:31,400 --> 00:36:31,600
Speaker 5: Yeah.

649
00:36:31,880 --> 00:36:36,120
Speaker 1: Likewise, like the shamanistic traditions and the old religion don't

650
00:36:36,200 --> 00:36:39,960
Speaker 1: feel as old and as removed from the people, which

651
00:36:40,040 --> 00:36:44,440
Speaker 1: doesn't necessarily bin in exactly when this would be. But yeah,

652
00:36:44,520 --> 00:36:45,799
Speaker 1: so it's hard to nail down.

653
00:36:46,040 --> 00:36:47,759
Speaker 3: I truly, yeah, I truly don't know when this is

654
00:36:47,760 --> 00:36:50,600
Speaker 3: supposed to be set. But certainly, like the characters don't

655
00:36:50,640 --> 00:36:54,319
Speaker 3: have TVs or anything, right, Yeah, anyway, so we've got

656
00:36:54,360 --> 00:36:58,480
Speaker 3: these these reindeer festival games going on, and in this sequence,

657
00:36:58,480 --> 00:36:59,839
Speaker 3: we're going to meet a couple of our main care

658
00:37:00,480 --> 00:37:03,600
Speaker 3: We meet a beautiful young woman, Parita and a handsome

659
00:37:03,680 --> 00:37:07,160
Speaker 3: young man Aslock. And then Rob I pulled in a

660
00:37:07,200 --> 00:37:09,520
Speaker 3: screenshot of Parita and the first time we really see

661
00:37:09,560 --> 00:37:12,719
Speaker 3: her face here. She is the grown up version of

662
00:37:12,840 --> 00:37:15,399
Speaker 3: the baby we saw featured in the opening folk song,

663
00:37:15,920 --> 00:37:20,160
Speaker 3: and Oslock is a local reindeer herder and an eligible bachelor.

664
00:37:20,840 --> 00:37:24,680
Speaker 3: And when we first see Pirita's face, she is angelic

665
00:37:24,920 --> 00:37:28,799
Speaker 3: with a big, wide grin, and her eyes are sparkling

666
00:37:28,920 --> 00:37:30,640
Speaker 3: in the sun. You can see they really set it

667
00:37:30,760 --> 00:37:33,120
Speaker 3: up to like so that her eyes capture the light

668
00:37:33,280 --> 00:37:36,080
Speaker 3: and it glints on her. You know, they look like wet.

669
00:37:36,560 --> 00:37:38,680
Speaker 3: I don't know, it's a good. Gross, But like she's sparkling.

670
00:37:38,760 --> 00:37:41,760
Speaker 3: She's sparkling, and you can even see a little sparkle

671
00:37:41,840 --> 00:37:44,360
Speaker 3: on her cheeks. I think there's like snow melted catching

672
00:37:44,440 --> 00:37:48,040
Speaker 3: the light there. Yeah, and Parita is taking part in

673
00:37:48,200 --> 00:37:50,680
Speaker 3: the reindeer sled race here. She's having a great time.

674
00:37:50,760 --> 00:37:54,440
Speaker 3: She's happy, Yeah, just beaming with life. But also credit

675
00:37:54,560 --> 00:37:59,840
Speaker 3: to Miriami Kosmanan's performance here, because she always manages to

676
00:38:00,080 --> 00:38:05,080
Speaker 3: make Perita seem a little bit strange and mysterious even

677
00:38:05,200 --> 00:38:07,600
Speaker 3: when she's happy and when times are good.

678
00:38:08,320 --> 00:38:10,560
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's a great point. Yeah, even early on, there's

679
00:38:10,600 --> 00:38:12,320
Speaker 1: something else there. I don't eve know. Is it a

680
00:38:12,400 --> 00:38:16,560
Speaker 1: deep loneliness? Is it something else? We'll have to think

681
00:38:16,560 --> 00:38:17,520
Speaker 1: about it as we perceive.

682
00:38:18,280 --> 00:38:21,680
Speaker 3: But asloc is also in the running here in this race,

683
00:38:22,080 --> 00:38:25,080
Speaker 3: he seems to command his beast with confidence and pleasure.

684
00:38:25,160 --> 00:38:27,120
Speaker 3: As lucks, he's a big ball of fun here.

685
00:38:27,239 --> 00:38:27,439
Speaker 1: Yeah.

686
00:38:29,120 --> 00:38:32,480
Speaker 3: One visual theme I started noticing right around this sequence

687
00:38:32,560 --> 00:38:35,319
Speaker 3: that I thought I should flag Rob. The movie has

688
00:38:35,680 --> 00:38:41,480
Speaker 3: lots of shots of mostly empty snowfields that foreground, a

689
00:38:41,719 --> 00:38:46,440
Speaker 3: single tree all by itself, piled up with snow, sometimes

690
00:38:46,480 --> 00:38:49,520
Speaker 3: even bent over sideways under the weight of old frost

691
00:38:50,360 --> 00:38:53,759
Speaker 3: and I think that is probably an intentional pattern, and

692
00:38:53,800 --> 00:38:57,400
Speaker 3: it's kind of a subtle visual cue that communicates something

693
00:38:57,600 --> 00:39:01,960
Speaker 3: about loneliness. Loneliness is a theme of the film, and

694
00:39:02,480 --> 00:39:05,000
Speaker 3: it shows it as loneliness as this kind of cold

695
00:39:05,120 --> 00:39:07,040
Speaker 3: and heavy burden that smothers you.

696
00:39:07,840 --> 00:39:10,759
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's great. Yeah, And then just in general, like

697
00:39:11,640 --> 00:39:14,919
Speaker 1: the world is this vast cold landscape and you find

698
00:39:15,040 --> 00:39:18,960
Speaker 1: warmth and community and in very small packages here and there.

699
00:39:19,800 --> 00:39:22,239
Speaker 3: Yes, I totally agree with that, though I would say

700
00:39:22,280 --> 00:39:25,960
Speaker 3: that like the focus is on something about the physical

701
00:39:26,160 --> 00:39:30,759
Speaker 3: world and the necessities of life creating these things. It's not,

702
00:39:31,360 --> 00:39:34,480
Speaker 3: it seems to me, not really a comment on anything

703
00:39:34,600 --> 00:39:39,040
Speaker 3: about the community being alienating or isolating. It's more just like,

704
00:39:39,160 --> 00:39:42,160
Speaker 3: these are the realities we have to deal with to survive.

705
00:39:42,360 --> 00:39:44,040
Speaker 1: Right, right, And you know, they get out in the

706
00:39:44,080 --> 00:39:47,200
Speaker 1: snow and they have some fun. They they're laboring in

707
00:39:47,280 --> 00:39:49,759
Speaker 1: the snow. They don't you know, obviously it is an

708
00:39:49,840 --> 00:39:54,040
Speaker 1: environmental hurdle for life, but they're doing their best. And yeah,

709
00:39:54,200 --> 00:39:56,960
Speaker 1: just there are multiple scenes where our main actors are

710
00:39:57,000 --> 00:40:01,360
Speaker 1: like iced over, but they're smiling. I think that's telling

711
00:40:01,440 --> 00:40:03,479
Speaker 1: and it matches up with some things I've heard about

712
00:40:04,160 --> 00:40:08,120
Speaker 1: surviving in cold environments where like people say, yeah, I mean,

713
00:40:08,360 --> 00:40:09,920
Speaker 1: you just got to find a reason to go out

714
00:40:10,000 --> 00:40:11,840
Speaker 1: in the snow and live your life.

715
00:40:12,960 --> 00:40:17,080
Speaker 3: So eventually Parita and Aslac seem to have become separated

716
00:40:17,160 --> 00:40:19,120
Speaker 3: from all the other contestants in the race. I don't

717
00:40:19,120 --> 00:40:21,560
Speaker 3: know if they stopped caring about the overall race course.

718
00:40:22,080 --> 00:40:24,400
Speaker 3: Now they're just playing together. It's just the two of

719
00:40:24,480 --> 00:40:28,720
Speaker 3: them dashing over this big hillside, treating each other flirtatiously.

720
00:40:28,920 --> 00:40:32,440
Speaker 3: And eventually Aslac makes a move. He throws a rope

721
00:40:32,920 --> 00:40:37,200
Speaker 3: and lasso's Parita, pulling her off her sled, and he says,

722
00:40:37,320 --> 00:40:40,640
Speaker 3: a reindeer is fast, but a wolf is faster, and

723
00:40:40,840 --> 00:40:43,840
Speaker 3: they embrace, laughing, and they tumble down the hill in

724
00:40:43,880 --> 00:40:47,560
Speaker 3: their furs, rolling over each other. And there's a shot

725
00:40:47,640 --> 00:40:51,840
Speaker 3: here where when they come to rest, Aslac cradles Parita

726
00:40:51,880 --> 00:40:53,800
Speaker 3: in his arms and she looks up at him with

727
00:40:53,880 --> 00:40:57,480
Speaker 3: this big, toothy smile, and it really shows off this

728
00:40:57,800 --> 00:41:01,000
Speaker 3: angel witch duality that kosmon And brings to the role,

729
00:41:01,480 --> 00:41:04,359
Speaker 3: Like if you look at her face here, Rob, she's

730
00:41:04,400 --> 00:41:08,000
Speaker 3: looking so happy, but also if you just change your mindset,

731
00:41:08,120 --> 00:41:09,759
Speaker 3: she could look so dangerous.

732
00:41:10,280 --> 00:41:14,040
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, and she will totally have those those Dracula

733
00:41:14,120 --> 00:41:14,800
Speaker 1: moments later on.

734
00:41:15,440 --> 00:41:17,919
Speaker 3: So as Lac leans down to kiss her. And there's

735
00:41:17,920 --> 00:41:21,200
Speaker 3: also something funny about the way he looks here. They've

736
00:41:21,360 --> 00:41:24,080
Speaker 3: done him up so that his eyebrows are just spiky

737
00:41:24,200 --> 00:41:28,360
Speaker 3: with ice, so he's got like icicles over his eyes. Anyway,

738
00:41:28,440 --> 00:41:30,920
Speaker 3: after the games are done, we see Parita and Aslac

739
00:41:31,320 --> 00:41:34,520
Speaker 3: canoodling together in a reindeer drawn sled and riding around

740
00:41:34,600 --> 00:41:37,960
Speaker 3: outside the festivities. Clearly they are falling in love, and

741
00:41:38,239 --> 00:41:41,239
Speaker 3: Aslac asks do you like me? And she smiles and

742
00:41:41,360 --> 00:41:46,320
Speaker 3: leans on him, but doesn't say anything. So soon after this,

743
00:41:46,520 --> 00:41:48,960
Speaker 3: Parita is at home with her family. I believe these

744
00:41:49,000 --> 00:41:53,239
Speaker 3: are her adoptive parents, and we see Aslac and his

745
00:41:53,400 --> 00:41:57,360
Speaker 3: father coming in his sled to visit the house. I

746
00:41:57,560 --> 00:41:59,840
Speaker 3: don't know if this was supposed to mean anything, or

747
00:42:00,000 --> 00:42:02,760
Speaker 3: even if it was intentional, But Rob, did you notice

748
00:42:02,920 --> 00:42:06,239
Speaker 3: in this scene that as Aslac is coming down the road,

749
00:42:06,400 --> 00:42:08,240
Speaker 3: a black cat runs across his path?

750
00:42:09,400 --> 00:42:11,800
Speaker 1: You know, I didn't notice this when I watched the film,

751
00:42:12,160 --> 00:42:14,640
Speaker 1: but it's a great point. I'm not sure what it means, Like,

752
00:42:14,640 --> 00:42:16,840
Speaker 1: I don't know what the black cat's role might be

753
00:42:17,840 --> 00:42:21,759
Speaker 1: in the folklore of northern Finland, but in absence of that,

754
00:42:21,840 --> 00:42:23,920
Speaker 1: maybe it's just like cinematic tradition of black cats. Or

755
00:42:24,000 --> 00:42:26,600
Speaker 1: sometimes you just have a cat that is going along

756
00:42:26,640 --> 00:42:28,600
Speaker 1: and mining its own business and does not care that

757
00:42:28,640 --> 00:42:29,479
Speaker 1: you're shooting a film.

758
00:42:29,640 --> 00:42:33,920
Speaker 3: Get that cat out of the snow. Speaking to Parita's parents,

759
00:42:34,880 --> 00:42:38,200
Speaker 3: I think this is Aslak's father, and he says, this

760
00:42:38,360 --> 00:42:40,600
Speaker 3: must be some kind of metaphor. He says, we have

761
00:42:40,719 --> 00:42:43,320
Speaker 3: a merchant, you have a bird, sell us the bird,

762
00:42:44,680 --> 00:42:48,240
Speaker 3: and this is a marriage proposal. And Parita's father asks

763
00:42:48,320 --> 00:42:51,480
Speaker 3: Aslac if his intentions are honorable, and he promises they are.

764
00:42:51,840 --> 00:42:54,319
Speaker 3: He makes a pledge that he will treat their daughter well,

765
00:42:55,440 --> 00:42:58,560
Speaker 3: and then the parents unfold a cloth containing the bride price.

766
00:42:58,680 --> 00:43:03,000
Speaker 3: It's several coins and pieces of jewelry. And you get

767
00:43:03,040 --> 00:43:09,080
Speaker 3: the sense that within their community, these people they're not rich,

768
00:43:09,320 --> 00:43:11,520
Speaker 3: but they can lead a rich life.

769
00:43:12,080 --> 00:43:15,879
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, there's not a sense of the people here

770
00:43:16,000 --> 00:43:19,360
Speaker 1: like barely scraping by in the edge of civilization or

771
00:43:19,400 --> 00:43:20,040
Speaker 1: anything like that.

772
00:43:21,080 --> 00:43:24,440
Speaker 3: No, there are environmental hardships, but but this is their

773
00:43:24,480 --> 00:43:26,520
Speaker 3: way of life and they make it work, so there

774
00:43:26,640 --> 00:43:30,120
Speaker 3: is there. It's not communicating it seems to me anything

775
00:43:30,200 --> 00:43:35,520
Speaker 3: about like poverty or hardship of that kind. But but yeah,

776
00:43:35,920 --> 00:43:37,560
Speaker 3: so we see that, and then the next thing, you know,

777
00:43:37,640 --> 00:43:39,840
Speaker 3: we're at the wedding and it's a rock and party,

778
00:43:39,960 --> 00:43:42,640
Speaker 3: like friends and relatives come to poor gifts onto the

779
00:43:42,719 --> 00:43:45,560
Speaker 3: pile on the table, and they're drinking from this frothy

780
00:43:45,719 --> 00:43:49,360
Speaker 3: booze booze chalice. Actually it's mostly just one guy drinking

781
00:43:49,440 --> 00:43:52,760
Speaker 3: this chalice of and they're dancing around in the warmth

782
00:43:52,880 --> 00:43:57,799
Speaker 3: of the fire. Eventually, this might be Aslek's father, I think,

783
00:43:57,880 --> 00:44:00,960
Speaker 3: who says the drink is drunk bread and salt eaten.

784
00:44:02,239 --> 00:44:04,360
Speaker 3: And then there's this interesting thing where like Parita and

785
00:44:04,440 --> 00:44:08,080
Speaker 3: Aslac are kept behind a curtain. They're hidden from everybody

786
00:44:08,120 --> 00:44:11,040
Speaker 3: else at the party, and one drunk guy keeps peeping

787
00:44:11,120 --> 00:44:13,200
Speaker 3: through the curtain and tells them they look just like

788
00:44:13,239 --> 00:44:15,840
Speaker 3: a couple of lovebirds. And then at the end that

789
00:44:15,920 --> 00:44:18,000
Speaker 3: there's a funny shot where they're like closing up shop

790
00:44:18,080 --> 00:44:20,200
Speaker 3: at the end of the wedding party, and like everybody's

791
00:44:20,200 --> 00:44:22,520
Speaker 3: still like trying to peek in the door and somebody's

792
00:44:22,600 --> 00:44:24,120
Speaker 3: trying to force the door shut.

793
00:44:24,920 --> 00:44:27,279
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, this is the sequence where I kind of

794
00:44:27,280 --> 00:44:29,200
Speaker 1: wish I had color because I feel like this is

795
00:44:29,280 --> 00:44:32,840
Speaker 1: a This is a colorful in its own way, you know,

796
00:44:33,000 --> 00:44:35,840
Speaker 1: rosy depiction of traditional life. Is it accurate, I don't know,

797
00:44:35,960 --> 00:44:39,399
Speaker 1: but it has an accurate feel to it, at least

798
00:44:39,760 --> 00:44:40,400
Speaker 1: in my viewing.

799
00:44:40,840 --> 00:44:43,320
Speaker 3: I think the clothes in the scene alone would have

800
00:44:43,360 --> 00:44:44,520
Speaker 3: had a lot of cool colors.

801
00:44:44,760 --> 00:44:44,960
Speaker 4: Yeah.

802
00:44:45,120 --> 00:44:57,280
Speaker 3: Yeah, But after this, now our main characters are married

803
00:44:57,440 --> 00:45:01,480
Speaker 3: and time passes. Of course, Aslac a reindeer herder, which

804
00:45:01,560 --> 00:45:04,000
Speaker 3: is a job that requires travel. He has to take

805
00:45:04,040 --> 00:45:07,120
Speaker 3: his stock around, I guess, to different feeding grounds. Probably,

806
00:45:07,360 --> 00:45:11,160
Speaker 3: so he's often gone, leaving Parita home alone for long periods.

807
00:45:11,760 --> 00:45:16,040
Speaker 3: And when Aslac is gone, we learn Parita is lonely.

808
00:45:17,200 --> 00:45:19,920
Speaker 3: We see her excitement in one scene where he returns

809
00:45:20,040 --> 00:45:23,080
Speaker 3: with a giant train of animals. This was shot with

810
00:45:23,160 --> 00:45:25,799
Speaker 3: a real reindeer herd, and it's just amazing to see

811
00:45:25,840 --> 00:45:29,719
Speaker 3: this ocean of antlers bobbing. Is this column of like

812
00:45:29,920 --> 00:45:32,759
Speaker 3: hundreds or maybe even thousands of animals clops on by?

813
00:45:33,280 --> 00:45:34,600
Speaker 1: Yeah, so many reindeers.

814
00:45:35,120 --> 00:45:37,719
Speaker 3: So Parita and Aslac race to meet each other, and

815
00:45:37,840 --> 00:45:40,640
Speaker 3: she just collapses into his arms. There's not just love

816
00:45:40,880 --> 00:45:44,640
Speaker 3: but relief when he comes home. But the night of

817
00:45:44,719 --> 00:45:48,080
Speaker 3: their reunion, that's when the vibes first start getting a

818
00:45:48,120 --> 00:45:51,279
Speaker 3: little dark. We see the couple together in their bed,

819
00:45:52,040 --> 00:45:55,160
Speaker 3: and the camera slowly zooms in on them as we

820
00:45:55,280 --> 00:45:59,360
Speaker 3: hear these uneasy, dissonant chords swelling up on the soundtrack,

821
00:46:00,000 --> 00:46:03,360
Speaker 3: and we see that Aslac is asleep, but Parita is awake.

822
00:46:03,760 --> 00:46:06,440
Speaker 3: She's laying there and her eyes are open, and she

823
00:46:06,560 --> 00:46:09,239
Speaker 3: turns to her husband and she rubs his chest and

824
00:46:09,600 --> 00:46:13,120
Speaker 3: tries to rouse his attention, but he's you know, he's tired.

825
00:46:13,160 --> 00:46:15,640
Speaker 3: He sound asleep, and he rolls over, turning his back

826
00:46:15,680 --> 00:46:18,719
Speaker 3: to her. And then Parita rises up from the bed

827
00:46:18,920 --> 00:46:22,200
Speaker 3: and slowly walks over to the fireplace to warm her hands.

828
00:46:22,840 --> 00:46:26,400
Speaker 3: And she turns and sees a man not Aslac staring

829
00:46:26,480 --> 00:46:31,239
Speaker 3: at her from a bedroll on the floor. First time

830
00:46:31,280 --> 00:46:33,279
Speaker 3: I watched it, I was like, wait, who is this?

831
00:46:33,480 --> 00:46:35,520
Speaker 3: But I think this is one of the other herders.

832
00:46:35,520 --> 00:46:37,279
Speaker 3: I think they're all just sleeping in the same house

833
00:46:37,360 --> 00:46:42,200
Speaker 3: here and you know, one of her husband's coworkers here.

834
00:46:42,920 --> 00:46:45,960
Speaker 3: And the man looks at her and she smiles, and

835
00:46:46,080 --> 00:46:50,120
Speaker 3: then she climbs back into bed with asloc this little

836
00:46:50,280 --> 00:46:54,560
Speaker 3: encounter in this exchange of looks feels significant, but I

837
00:46:56,200 --> 00:46:58,960
Speaker 3: truly wasn't sure what to make of it, Like, was

838
00:46:59,000 --> 00:47:01,520
Speaker 3: there supposed to be some kind of sexual tension with

839
00:47:01,640 --> 00:47:04,800
Speaker 3: this other man? Or is he frightened of her for

840
00:47:04,920 --> 00:47:07,000
Speaker 3: some reason? You could kind of read the scene that

841
00:47:07,120 --> 00:47:09,279
Speaker 3: way at stage, like that could be what it means.

842
00:47:09,760 --> 00:47:12,840
Speaker 3: She hasn't really done anything overtly creepy yet, but she

843
00:47:13,120 --> 00:47:15,360
Speaker 3: is just I don't know, there's something in the music

844
00:47:15,480 --> 00:47:17,120
Speaker 3: and the way she looks at him that is a

845
00:47:17,160 --> 00:47:22,840
Speaker 3: little maybe off, and we don't know like what exactly

846
00:47:23,000 --> 00:47:25,400
Speaker 3: is going on, but there's something she has a moment

847
00:47:25,480 --> 00:47:26,239
Speaker 3: with this other man.

848
00:47:26,719 --> 00:47:28,719
Speaker 1: Yeah, I was wondering, is the man's supposed to be

849
00:47:28,840 --> 00:47:33,480
Speaker 1: creepy here? Like I'm thinking to some of the themes

850
00:47:33,520 --> 00:47:35,719
Speaker 1: here that are not all that overt I guess. But

851
00:47:36,320 --> 00:47:39,600
Speaker 1: you know, we begin with this scene where her mother

852
00:47:40,000 --> 00:47:43,920
Speaker 1: played by the same actor, is chased by wolves there,

853
00:47:44,160 --> 00:47:47,400
Speaker 1: so is this guy sort of like are we thinking

854
00:47:47,400 --> 00:47:50,320
Speaker 1: about like he's kind of a wolf himself? Is he

855
00:47:50,640 --> 00:47:54,759
Speaker 1: like looking at her with predatory eyes? I'm not sure. Again,

856
00:47:55,000 --> 00:47:57,640
Speaker 1: the film is kind of leads it to your interpretation.

857
00:47:58,000 --> 00:48:01,040
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, And so we have this question, like, ultimately,

858
00:48:01,840 --> 00:48:05,440
Speaker 3: what is it that Parita wants? We know, and we'll

859
00:48:05,480 --> 00:48:08,040
Speaker 3: explain more about this in following scenes, but we know

860
00:48:08,200 --> 00:48:12,280
Speaker 3: she's unsatisfied in her marriage somehow. But is this only

861
00:48:12,440 --> 00:48:16,399
Speaker 3: because she misses her husband and wants more attention from him,

862
00:48:17,040 --> 00:48:19,520
Speaker 3: or is it because she desires other men as well?

863
00:48:20,360 --> 00:48:22,600
Speaker 3: I think you could or is it something else? I

864
00:48:22,680 --> 00:48:26,440
Speaker 3: think you could interpret it multiple ways? And Parita herself

865
00:48:26,719 --> 00:48:30,719
Speaker 3: never says in the film. Later, in her wear reindeer form,

866
00:48:31,280 --> 00:48:34,960
Speaker 3: she does seduce other men, But I wonder should we

867
00:48:35,040 --> 00:48:38,239
Speaker 3: take that as like her true to herself, as her

868
00:48:38,400 --> 00:48:41,000
Speaker 3: desire or is that just like the curse, the evil

869
00:48:41,080 --> 00:48:42,319
Speaker 3: magic acting through her?

870
00:48:43,239 --> 00:48:47,120
Speaker 1: Yeah? In either case, like, I think more communication was

871
00:48:47,200 --> 00:48:48,480
Speaker 1: necessary its marriage.

872
00:48:49,520 --> 00:48:52,880
Speaker 3: So later there's a scene where Aslak is preparing to

873
00:48:53,000 --> 00:48:56,160
Speaker 3: leave with his herd once again, and before he goes,

874
00:48:56,239 --> 00:49:00,319
Speaker 3: he gives Parita a gift, a young white reindeer, which

875
00:49:00,400 --> 00:49:03,640
Speaker 3: he says she can have as a pet. So it's small,

876
00:49:03,840 --> 00:49:07,520
Speaker 3: with soft looking fur, and it's asymmetrical. It only has

877
00:49:07,680 --> 00:49:11,080
Speaker 3: one antler on one side of its head, no antler

878
00:49:11,120 --> 00:49:13,759
Speaker 3: on the other side. And then Parita says, kind of

879
00:49:13,800 --> 00:49:16,200
Speaker 3: sadly off you go again, and who knows for how

880
00:49:16,320 --> 00:49:19,200
Speaker 3: long I'll miss you? And he hugs her and he

881
00:49:19,320 --> 00:49:21,279
Speaker 3: tries to comfort her. He says he'll be back soon,

882
00:49:21,440 --> 00:49:23,360
Speaker 3: but you can see that she is not happy in

883
00:49:23,400 --> 00:49:25,799
Speaker 3: the way that like as he pulls away, she's still

884
00:49:25,920 --> 00:49:29,719
Speaker 3: just reaching after him. So now Parita is alone again,

885
00:49:30,160 --> 00:49:33,880
Speaker 3: alone with her one antlered white white reindeer dough, and

886
00:49:34,120 --> 00:49:37,000
Speaker 3: we see her feeding it from a big ball of lichen.

887
00:49:37,080 --> 00:49:38,920
Speaker 3: I think that's what it is. She's got, like this

888
00:49:39,040 --> 00:49:42,239
Speaker 3: big wad of something that she feeds it. And then

889
00:49:42,320 --> 00:49:44,880
Speaker 3: later she sits in her house staring out the window

890
00:49:44,960 --> 00:49:48,400
Speaker 3: at this bleak landscape with gray clouds, and there's like

891
00:49:48,440 --> 00:49:51,080
Speaker 3: a beam of sunlight cutting through the gray clouds, like

892
00:49:51,160 --> 00:49:55,760
Speaker 3: we saw earlier in the opening montage. She's obviously yearning

893
00:49:55,880 --> 00:50:00,720
Speaker 3: for something, and then suddenly it's a swis is flipped.

894
00:50:00,800 --> 00:50:04,200
Speaker 3: A change comes over Parita and she has decided to

895
00:50:04,280 --> 00:50:06,960
Speaker 3: do something. So she hurriedly packs some items in a

896
00:50:07,040 --> 00:50:10,759
Speaker 3: bag and ventures out into the snow. She goes over

897
00:50:10,840 --> 00:50:13,560
Speaker 3: a hill, across a plain all the way to a

898
00:50:13,719 --> 00:50:18,800
Speaker 3: tiny isolated cottage in the fells. And I thought this

899
00:50:18,960 --> 00:50:22,080
Speaker 3: was an interesting choice for the equivalent of what you

900
00:50:22,120 --> 00:50:24,680
Speaker 3: would get in other movies. The witch's hut, which is

901
00:50:24,880 --> 00:50:28,279
Speaker 3: often in the movies I'm more familiar with, is in

902
00:50:28,360 --> 00:50:31,000
Speaker 3: a forest or is in a swamp. And here it

903
00:50:31,160 --> 00:50:35,040
Speaker 3: is the only vertical feature we can see in an

904
00:50:35,120 --> 00:50:39,279
Speaker 3: otherwise completely empty expanse of snow, and it.

905
00:50:39,360 --> 00:50:42,400
Speaker 1: Itself is covered in snow. Snow everywhere.

906
00:50:42,560 --> 00:50:44,600
Speaker 3: So Parita goes to the door and lets herself in.

907
00:50:45,160 --> 00:50:48,200
Speaker 3: The cottage is filled with smoke, The floor is filthy.

908
00:50:48,680 --> 00:50:51,120
Speaker 3: There is a goat chained to a post in the

909
00:50:51,160 --> 00:50:53,920
Speaker 3: middle of the room, and then squatting on the floor

910
00:50:54,200 --> 00:50:58,320
Speaker 3: tending to a fire. Is salku Nila, the shaman, the wizard,

911
00:50:58,680 --> 00:51:01,319
Speaker 3: kind of the cunning man. I wondered if you had

912
00:51:01,320 --> 00:51:05,040
Speaker 3: a thought on this, rob do you read Salkunila as

913
00:51:05,120 --> 00:51:09,360
Speaker 3: an inbounds or an out of bounds practitioner of magic

914
00:51:09,480 --> 00:51:12,480
Speaker 3: from the society's point of view? Is he more like

915
00:51:12,600 --> 00:51:15,640
Speaker 3: the village priest or the village shaman, or is he

916
00:51:15,880 --> 00:51:18,560
Speaker 3: more like some kind of outsider warlock.

917
00:51:19,480 --> 00:51:22,840
Speaker 1: That's a great question, Yeah, because if in other films

918
00:51:22,880 --> 00:51:25,600
Speaker 1: where we have this character, sort of character show up,

919
00:51:25,640 --> 00:51:27,960
Speaker 1: you know, generally in the form of a witch, you

920
00:51:28,040 --> 00:51:30,600
Speaker 1: can have different flavors they more. They may lean more

921
00:51:30,840 --> 00:51:34,680
Speaker 1: old religion, more pagan, or they may lean more satanic

922
00:51:34,800 --> 00:51:38,440
Speaker 1: dark magic. Right, and in either case kind of like

923
00:51:38,520 --> 00:51:44,080
Speaker 1: position a sort of spiritual distance from the mainstream. But

924
00:51:44,160 --> 00:51:47,920
Speaker 1: then here we get the sense that whatever the spiritual distance,

925
00:51:48,000 --> 00:51:51,600
Speaker 1: there is a there is an actual physical distance from

926
00:51:51,719 --> 00:51:53,920
Speaker 1: the rest of the people. I'm not sure how we're

927
00:51:53,960 --> 00:51:56,960
Speaker 1: to take that, So I don't know. I guess I

928
00:51:57,000 --> 00:52:00,960
Speaker 1: got the overall impression that the shamanistictor that he represents

929
00:52:01,080 --> 00:52:04,560
Speaker 1: are at least not that far from the mainstream. But

930
00:52:04,760 --> 00:52:08,760
Speaker 1: for whatever reasons, what he does is a little removed

931
00:52:08,880 --> 00:52:11,279
Speaker 1: from the rest of the community. He is kind of

932
00:52:11,360 --> 00:52:16,920
Speaker 1: an individual corners. Yeah, he is an individual with with

933
00:52:17,280 --> 00:52:20,759
Speaker 1: influences in the other world, and that's why you come

934
00:52:20,800 --> 00:52:21,160
Speaker 1: to him.

935
00:52:21,880 --> 00:52:24,080
Speaker 3: Maybe it's in a place where like you could buy

936
00:52:24,120 --> 00:52:25,960
Speaker 3: beer at the store, but he's a home brewer.

937
00:52:26,560 --> 00:52:27,640
Speaker 1: Yeah, so.

938
00:52:29,760 --> 00:52:33,760
Speaker 3: Salkut Nila. He turns his eyes up to uh Pirrito

939
00:52:33,800 --> 00:52:36,239
Speaker 3: when he when she comes in, and he says, I

940
00:52:36,400 --> 00:52:39,160
Speaker 3: knew you would come, And then he hangs a pot

941
00:52:39,320 --> 00:52:41,319
Speaker 3: over the fire. It looks like maybe it's a pot

942
00:52:41,400 --> 00:52:43,200
Speaker 3: of soup. I thought, it looks like it's got a

943
00:52:43,239 --> 00:52:44,600
Speaker 3: big bone sticking out of it.

944
00:52:44,760 --> 00:52:44,960
Speaker 4: Yeah.

945
00:52:45,040 --> 00:52:48,800
Speaker 3: Yeah, and Parita quickly begins digging into her bag and

946
00:52:48,960 --> 00:52:51,640
Speaker 3: pulling things out to lay before the wise man. She

947
00:52:51,760 --> 00:52:55,000
Speaker 3: has brought, She has brought gifts. This is I guess

948
00:52:55,080 --> 00:52:57,560
Speaker 3: how she's going to pay for his services. First of all,

949
00:52:57,680 --> 00:53:00,640
Speaker 3: she pulls out these round loaves of that look like

950
00:53:00,719 --> 00:53:04,279
Speaker 3: giant bagels. Rob, I understand you figured out what kind

951
00:53:04,320 --> 00:53:05,440
Speaker 3: of bread product this is.

952
00:53:05,640 --> 00:53:07,680
Speaker 1: Yeah, I was curious, maybe a little hungry at the time,

953
00:53:07,760 --> 00:53:11,280
Speaker 1: and it's it's it's I'm not gonna attempt to pronounce

954
00:53:11,280 --> 00:53:14,239
Speaker 1: its finished name, but it's apparently a traditional finish rye bread.

955
00:53:14,719 --> 00:53:16,520
Speaker 1: And that hole in the center it has to do

956
00:53:16,600 --> 00:53:18,960
Speaker 1: with the way that they're they're they're hung on poles

957
00:53:19,000 --> 00:53:21,879
Speaker 1: at some point in the process of making them. But yeah,

958
00:53:21,880 --> 00:53:23,680
Speaker 1: so some sort of finished rye bread here.

959
00:53:23,880 --> 00:53:25,759
Speaker 3: So you sent me an article. It's like after you

960
00:53:25,840 --> 00:53:28,040
Speaker 3: bake them, you hang them up on a pole over

961
00:53:28,120 --> 00:53:30,480
Speaker 3: the oven, and that like keeps them warm or dries

962
00:53:30,520 --> 00:53:31,120
Speaker 3: them or something.

963
00:53:31,400 --> 00:53:34,520
Speaker 1: Yeah, so they're not donuts or bagels.

964
00:53:35,080 --> 00:53:38,399
Speaker 3: There's something unique, but so yeah, she pulls out these

965
00:53:39,480 --> 00:53:42,320
Speaker 3: large bagel shaped loaves of bread and then a wedge

966
00:53:42,320 --> 00:53:44,920
Speaker 3: of cheese that's got to be reindeer milk cheese.

967
00:53:44,800 --> 00:53:47,719
Speaker 1: Right, it's or goats, I mean this guy, but this

968
00:53:47,800 --> 00:53:50,879
Speaker 1: guy's got goats and he doesn't have cheese, so that's true.

969
00:53:51,000 --> 00:53:53,560
Speaker 3: He wants that cheese, I think. She also pulls out

970
00:53:53,560 --> 00:53:56,760
Speaker 3: a dried piece of meat, and then finally the good stuff,

971
00:53:57,320 --> 00:54:00,759
Speaker 3: a bottle of clear spirits. This could be vodka or

972
00:54:00,960 --> 00:54:08,520
Speaker 3: maybe some kind of traditional sami liquor anywayland Salkunila sees

973
00:54:08,560 --> 00:54:11,120
Speaker 3: what he wants. When she produces the bottle, he snatches

974
00:54:11,200 --> 00:54:14,919
Speaker 3: it and immediately just starts chugging. And after a good

975
00:54:15,040 --> 00:54:18,360
Speaker 3: long chug, he turns back to Parita and he says,

976
00:54:19,200 --> 00:54:20,080
Speaker 3: love potion.

977
00:54:20,080 --> 00:54:20,239
Speaker 2: Is it?

978
00:54:20,880 --> 00:54:20,920
Speaker 4: You?

979
00:54:21,120 --> 00:54:24,720
Speaker 3: Women young and old the same? And then while he's talking,

980
00:54:24,800 --> 00:54:28,600
Speaker 3: he also keeps doing this bizarre, slow, high pitched laugh,

981
00:54:29,480 --> 00:54:33,120
Speaker 3: and he says, your man off in the fells, salku

982
00:54:33,200 --> 00:54:36,120
Speaker 3: Nila knows the cure. And then here he pulls out

983
00:54:36,120 --> 00:54:39,080
Speaker 3: a leather pouch and begins to pinch things out of

984
00:54:39,160 --> 00:54:42,920
Speaker 3: it and sprinkle them into the pot. He says, herbs

985
00:54:43,040 --> 00:54:48,320
Speaker 3: from beyond ten fells, beside ten streams, some graveyard salt,

986
00:54:48,880 --> 00:54:52,239
Speaker 3: the balls of ten bull moose, the strength of ten

987
00:54:52,320 --> 00:54:56,520
Speaker 3: bull moose. Salkunila the Wizard can bring back lost reindeer,

988
00:54:56,960 --> 00:55:01,440
Speaker 3: Salcunila the Great Wizard can raise the dead. And then

989
00:55:01,600 --> 00:55:05,320
Speaker 3: I love this part. He pulls out a divination object.

990
00:55:06,520 --> 00:55:10,680
Speaker 3: It is a drum with a skin loosely stretched over

991
00:55:10,960 --> 00:55:14,680
Speaker 3: the top as its head, and all over this skin

992
00:55:14,920 --> 00:55:19,080
Speaker 3: are illustrations and drawings, these patterns, and then he places

993
00:55:19,160 --> 00:55:22,960
Speaker 3: a small stone or bone dye of some kind on

994
00:55:23,080 --> 00:55:25,960
Speaker 3: the drum and then starts beating the drum with a

995
00:55:26,080 --> 00:55:29,360
Speaker 3: clawed mallet and this makes the little dye object like

996
00:55:29,480 --> 00:55:32,080
Speaker 3: bounce up and down and land on different parts of

997
00:55:32,239 --> 00:55:35,480
Speaker 3: the drawings on the drum head. Yeah, I like this,

998
00:55:36,400 --> 00:55:39,480
Speaker 3: so I assume where the bone piece bounces on the drum.

999
00:55:39,560 --> 00:55:43,200
Speaker 3: Here tells her what she must do, and Sualkuneila explains

1000
00:55:43,239 --> 00:55:46,959
Speaker 3: the message. He says, you must sacrifice to the stone god,

1001
00:55:47,239 --> 00:55:50,000
Speaker 3: the first living thing you meet on your way home.

1002
00:55:50,560 --> 00:55:53,520
Speaker 3: Then no reindeer herder will be able to resist you

1003
00:55:54,239 --> 00:55:57,960
Speaker 3: this winter. You will. But then he trails off. He

1004
00:55:58,040 --> 00:56:02,120
Speaker 3: stops talking, and he leans back, looking frightened, like he's

1005
00:56:02,200 --> 00:56:06,000
Speaker 3: frightened of Pirita. And she tells him to go on,

1006
00:56:06,280 --> 00:56:10,120
Speaker 3: but now she's looming over him. With this menacing posture

1007
00:56:10,239 --> 00:56:14,400
Speaker 3: and this crazed look in her eyes, and she reaches

1008
00:56:14,480 --> 00:56:18,560
Speaker 3: out a hand flexed like an animal's claw and presses

1009
00:56:18,600 --> 00:56:22,359
Speaker 3: it down against the painted drumhead. And now the drum

1010
00:56:22,440 --> 00:56:27,799
Speaker 3: begins to sound, releasing this new, deep, deeper, echoing beat,

1011
00:56:28,239 --> 00:56:31,120
Speaker 3: and the bone dye. The little object starts to dance,

1012
00:56:31,280 --> 00:56:34,279
Speaker 3: even though Salkunila is not touching the drum. Nobody's beating

1013
00:56:34,320 --> 00:56:37,399
Speaker 3: the drum, but we're hearing a drum beat and it's reverberating.

1014
00:56:38,080 --> 00:56:41,160
Speaker 3: So there's some kind of terrible power radiating out of

1015
00:56:41,280 --> 00:56:45,600
Speaker 3: Parita herself into the drum and Rob, I don't know

1016
00:56:45,640 --> 00:56:48,319
Speaker 3: if you have a way of describing the way her

1017
00:56:48,400 --> 00:56:50,480
Speaker 3: face looks in this scene, but it's intense.

1018
00:56:50,920 --> 00:56:53,719
Speaker 1: Yeah, the lighting is totally different, you know. Of course,

1019
00:56:53,800 --> 00:56:57,640
Speaker 1: this is a darker environment to begin with. And then yeah,

1020
00:56:57,760 --> 00:56:59,799
Speaker 1: she has this kind of sinister look on her face.

1021
00:57:00,120 --> 00:57:03,680
Speaker 1: Something has awoken inside her. The spell. It kind of

1022
00:57:03,719 --> 00:57:05,719
Speaker 1: comes back to what you said earlier. This spell has

1023
00:57:06,320 --> 00:57:09,640
Speaker 1: has interacted with a pre existing condition that was unknown

1024
00:57:09,719 --> 00:57:13,399
Speaker 1: to our wizard here, that she herself is a born witch.

1025
00:57:14,040 --> 00:57:17,360
Speaker 3: Yeah, and he announces it now he Sualcuniela screams witch,

1026
00:57:18,040 --> 00:57:23,120
Speaker 3: and Parita looks possessed. And then also an interesting distinction

1027
00:57:23,240 --> 00:57:25,920
Speaker 3: to wonder, Like, so he's doing something like some kind

1028
00:57:25,960 --> 00:57:28,960
Speaker 3: of magic or witchcraft, but there's a different thing he

1029
00:57:29,120 --> 00:57:31,600
Speaker 3: means by her being a witch. Maybe it's that like

1030
00:57:32,080 --> 00:57:36,520
Speaker 3: he knows the the the magical arts, but she's got

1031
00:57:36,600 --> 00:57:40,360
Speaker 3: something you know, inborn in her, like she has powers.

1032
00:57:40,760 --> 00:57:42,720
Speaker 1: Yeah, Like I get the sense that like he is

1033
00:57:42,800 --> 00:57:45,720
Speaker 1: one who has reached into the other world and has

1034
00:57:45,800 --> 00:57:49,080
Speaker 1: some degree of power and is probably over selling his

1035
00:57:49,200 --> 00:57:51,520
Speaker 1: ability saying he can raise the dead and so forth,

1036
00:57:51,640 --> 00:57:54,600
Speaker 1: and you know what's that vodka? Yeah, he's kind of

1037
00:57:54,640 --> 00:57:57,560
Speaker 1: a mess. Uh. And at this point he realizes, oh,

1038
00:57:57,760 --> 00:58:01,480
Speaker 1: she's the real deal though, she has powers that emerge

1039
00:58:01,520 --> 00:58:05,040
Speaker 1: from within the other world. And yeah, maybe he even

1040
00:58:05,120 --> 00:58:09,560
Speaker 1: has some some notion that there are going to be

1041
00:58:09,600 --> 00:58:13,160
Speaker 1: some interactions with how his magic and her magic are

1042
00:58:13,200 --> 00:58:14,280
Speaker 1: now going to manifest.

1043
00:58:14,680 --> 00:58:18,640
Speaker 3: Right, So Parita looks possessed, and then finally the drumhead

1044
00:58:18,760 --> 00:58:21,840
Speaker 3: rips open and Sualkunila shouts in terror as he like

1045
00:58:21,960 --> 00:58:24,120
Speaker 3: falls back into the corner of the room. He reaches

1046
00:58:24,240 --> 00:58:28,360
Speaker 3: for his goat for safety, and Parita stares into the

1047
00:58:28,440 --> 00:58:32,360
Speaker 3: fire as it climbs higher and then the scene's over.

1048
00:58:32,440 --> 00:58:35,120
Speaker 3: After this, Parita, we see her back outside heading home.

1049
00:58:35,560 --> 00:58:37,520
Speaker 1: Now did she get a love potion at all? It

1050
00:58:37,640 --> 00:58:41,280
Speaker 1: was just well, she was given a ritual to a

1051
00:58:41,400 --> 00:58:43,680
Speaker 1: ritual to carry out, so there's not so much a potion,

1052
00:58:43,840 --> 00:58:45,920
Speaker 1: but yeah, a ritual to carry out in order to

1053
00:58:46,000 --> 00:58:47,040
Speaker 1: achieve this effect.

1054
00:58:47,360 --> 00:58:49,880
Speaker 3: Right, So she's going back home and she's come out

1055
00:58:49,920 --> 00:58:53,360
Speaker 3: of her trance. But she as she's crossing the distance,

1056
00:58:53,480 --> 00:58:56,240
Speaker 3: she hears the words of the shaman again. She has

1057
00:58:56,360 --> 00:58:59,920
Speaker 3: to sacrifice to the stone god, the first living thing

1058
00:59:00,240 --> 00:59:02,800
Speaker 3: that she meets on her way home. But when she

1059
00:59:03,040 --> 00:59:07,040
Speaker 3: arrives home, Oh no, there's Osloc outside the house. He's

1060
00:59:07,120 --> 00:59:11,600
Speaker 3: home early. But fortunately before she reunites with her husband,

1061
00:59:11,680 --> 00:59:14,480
Speaker 3: he like the pet reindeer with the one antler. He

1062
00:59:14,680 --> 00:59:16,840
Speaker 3: lets go of it and it runs ahead of him

1063
00:59:17,040 --> 00:59:20,000
Speaker 3: into her arms. So the white reindeer now is the

1064
00:59:20,080 --> 00:59:23,520
Speaker 3: thing that she has to sacrifice Aslac tells her that

1065
00:59:23,720 --> 00:59:26,720
Speaker 3: he missed her and he had to come home early

1066
00:59:26,840 --> 00:59:29,720
Speaker 3: to see her. And at this point I wondered, oh, man,

1067
00:59:30,240 --> 00:59:33,360
Speaker 3: should you interpret that as like I made the trip

1068
00:59:33,440 --> 00:59:37,400
Speaker 3: to the shaman for no reason, like he came back anyway?

1069
00:59:37,640 --> 00:59:40,919
Speaker 3: This was the thing I wanted or did it already work?

1070
00:59:41,560 --> 00:59:43,600
Speaker 1: Hmmm, that's a good question. I also had a question

1071
00:59:43,720 --> 00:59:46,560
Speaker 1: about how there's not, again, not a lot of dialogue

1072
00:59:46,560 --> 00:59:49,040
Speaker 1: in some of these In many of these scenes, so

1073
00:59:49,320 --> 00:59:51,480
Speaker 1: like the wizard is just saying like, oh, yeah, I've

1074
00:59:51,520 --> 00:59:56,080
Speaker 1: got what you want. You want a love potion, No

1075
00:59:56,320 --> 00:59:58,600
Speaker 1: reindeer herder will be able to resist you. And then

1076
00:59:58,680 --> 01:00:00,880
Speaker 1: but she doesn't say no, no, no, just my husband.

1077
01:00:00,960 --> 01:00:04,280
Speaker 1: I'm just trying to make my husband more attracted any reindeer.

1078
01:00:05,240 --> 01:00:08,320
Speaker 3: Well, it's unclear again, I think it we don't fully

1079
01:00:08,440 --> 01:00:11,480
Speaker 3: know whether she is just wanting the attention of her

1080
01:00:11,560 --> 01:00:14,000
Speaker 3: husband or whether she's interested in the attention of other

1081
01:00:14,040 --> 01:00:17,240
Speaker 3: reindeer herders as well. It could be either one. Yeah,

1082
01:00:17,560 --> 01:00:20,400
Speaker 3: I mean I think it is clear she misses aslock,

1083
01:00:20,560 --> 01:00:33,000
Speaker 3: so that's at least a part of it. Yes. Anyway,

1084
01:00:33,560 --> 01:00:37,320
Speaker 3: later we see Seepurita remembering what she has to do,

1085
01:00:37,520 --> 01:00:40,320
Speaker 3: so she packs up and she harnesses the young reindeer

1086
01:00:40,680 --> 01:00:42,800
Speaker 3: and she sets out for a journey to the place

1087
01:00:43,080 --> 01:00:45,880
Speaker 3: of the Stone God. This is one of my favorite

1088
01:00:45,920 --> 01:00:49,640
Speaker 3: parts of the movie. So, like, she passes these strange

1089
01:00:49,800 --> 01:00:53,000
Speaker 3: landscapes while she's on the way, there's one part here, Robert,

1090
01:00:53,240 --> 01:00:54,680
Speaker 3: I don't know if you know what we're looking at.

1091
01:00:54,720 --> 01:00:58,080
Speaker 3: There's this big ice field and then there are these

1092
01:00:58,240 --> 01:01:02,760
Speaker 3: regularly spaced vertical structures that are totally covered in snow

1093
01:01:02,840 --> 01:01:05,440
Speaker 3: and ice, and I was like, are these just like

1094
01:01:05,560 --> 01:01:09,360
Speaker 3: really narrow trees that are regularly spaced this way or

1095
01:01:09,520 --> 01:01:12,240
Speaker 3: is this something man made? I truly have no idea.

1096
01:01:12,560 --> 01:01:14,520
Speaker 1: I mean, I took them to be trees when I

1097
01:01:14,600 --> 01:01:16,400
Speaker 1: was watching the film, but I could be wrong. Yeah,

1098
01:01:16,400 --> 01:01:18,200
Speaker 1: they could be structures of some sort, but they've been

1099
01:01:18,240 --> 01:01:21,480
Speaker 1: blasted by the snow and are now just encrusted with it.

1100
01:01:22,000 --> 01:01:25,200
Speaker 3: So the atmosphere and the music become much more frightening

1101
01:01:25,360 --> 01:01:28,440
Speaker 3: as she nears the place of the Stone God, and

1102
01:01:28,840 --> 01:01:34,480
Speaker 3: it is a giant, dark stone monolith looming over a field,

1103
01:01:35,240 --> 01:01:39,640
Speaker 3: topped with a reindeer skull and massive antlers. And then

1104
01:01:39,760 --> 01:01:43,720
Speaker 3: below the stone there is a reindeer graveyard, though all

1105
01:01:43,800 --> 01:01:48,440
Speaker 3: we see is snow with just hundreds of reindeer antlers

1106
01:01:48,640 --> 01:01:52,080
Speaker 3: sticking up out of it. It's a wonderfully composed scene.

1107
01:01:52,440 --> 01:01:53,480
Speaker 1: Absolutely yes.

1108
01:01:54,360 --> 01:01:57,160
Speaker 3: So Parita reaches the altar and then she kneels down

1109
01:01:57,200 --> 01:01:59,680
Speaker 3: with her pet and she raises the knife and then

1110
01:01:59,720 --> 01:02:03,120
Speaker 3: plum bunges the knife in to complete the sacrifice, and

1111
01:02:03,480 --> 01:02:07,920
Speaker 3: here some power comes over her. Yet again, Parita is overwhelmed,

1112
01:02:08,080 --> 01:02:11,320
Speaker 3: maybe possessed in some way, and she passes out and

1113
01:02:11,400 --> 01:02:13,880
Speaker 3: has all these visions. She has visions of her life,

1114
01:02:14,080 --> 01:02:17,800
Speaker 3: of her meeting with the shaman, of there's a vision

1115
01:02:17,840 --> 01:02:20,720
Speaker 3: of a reindeer running across a field in photo neegative

1116
01:02:21,560 --> 01:02:27,400
Speaker 3: and something now has changed, And I think maybe this

1117
01:02:27,600 --> 01:02:30,200
Speaker 3: is a good point to kind of zoom out and

1118
01:02:30,280 --> 01:02:32,520
Speaker 3: speak in a more summary way about the rest of

1119
01:02:32,560 --> 01:02:34,360
Speaker 3: the plot of the film, and then we can, I

1120
01:02:34,360 --> 01:02:36,360
Speaker 3: don't know, focus on anything that stands out to you

1121
01:02:36,560 --> 01:02:39,400
Speaker 3: that you want to talk about. So after this point,

1122
01:02:40,760 --> 01:02:44,600
Speaker 3: the ritual seems to have worked, but at a terrible cost.

1123
01:02:45,320 --> 01:02:47,600
Speaker 3: It sort of it comes with a twist. It's like

1124
01:02:47,600 --> 01:02:51,240
Speaker 3: a monkey's paw sort of thing. She is indeed now

1125
01:02:51,400 --> 01:02:56,200
Speaker 3: irresistible to the reindeer herdsman, but at night she transforms

1126
01:02:56,280 --> 01:03:01,800
Speaker 3: bodily into a wild white reindeer and roams the fells

1127
01:03:02,120 --> 01:03:06,560
Speaker 3: committing murders. So in her reindeer form we see this

1128
01:03:06,680 --> 01:03:09,160
Speaker 3: first scene where she attracts the attention of a herder

1129
01:03:09,360 --> 01:03:12,760
Speaker 3: one night and he wants to catch her, not as parita,

1130
01:03:12,840 --> 01:03:15,360
Speaker 3: but as a reindeer, to add her to the herd,

1131
01:03:15,400 --> 01:03:17,520
Speaker 3: I guess. And this is funny because it plays on

1132
01:03:17,600 --> 01:03:20,640
Speaker 3: this duality of like, she will be irresistible to the

1133
01:03:20,720 --> 01:03:24,600
Speaker 3: reindeer herdsman, and sometimes what they're interested in is business

1134
01:03:24,720 --> 01:03:27,000
Speaker 3: they want, you know, they want this reindeer, or maybe

1135
01:03:27,400 --> 01:03:30,040
Speaker 3: there's it's playing on this folk belief that like catching

1136
01:03:30,080 --> 01:03:33,720
Speaker 3: a wild white reindeer is like something that brings great fortune.

1137
01:03:33,760 --> 01:03:37,360
Speaker 1: Right right. But then the other side of that, of course,

1138
01:03:37,480 --> 01:03:39,720
Speaker 1: is that on one level or the other, she is

1139
01:03:40,160 --> 01:03:41,320
Speaker 1: a woman pursued by.

1140
01:03:41,280 --> 01:03:44,080
Speaker 3: Men, yes exactly. And then so when this guy does

1141
01:03:44,200 --> 01:03:47,400
Speaker 3: catch her, she transforms back into her human form and

1142
01:03:47,480 --> 01:03:51,120
Speaker 3: then she kills him. And this cycle repeats several times

1143
01:03:51,160 --> 01:03:54,400
Speaker 3: with these different sort of lurings out and murders in

1144
01:03:54,840 --> 01:03:57,880
Speaker 3: where she will alternate between her reindeer form and her

1145
01:03:58,000 --> 01:03:58,600
Speaker 3: human form.

1146
01:03:59,240 --> 01:04:02,120
Speaker 1: And she kind of has vampire teeth to a certain extent.

1147
01:04:02,280 --> 01:04:05,200
Speaker 3: Yeah, oh yeah, yeah, we see that, and it's freaky.

1148
01:04:05,320 --> 01:04:08,640
Speaker 3: And in response to the killings, the villagers get very

1149
01:04:09,120 --> 01:04:11,600
Speaker 3: upset and they try to come up with solutions to

1150
01:04:11,800 --> 01:04:15,560
Speaker 3: combat the evil witchcraft in their midst. The solution favored

1151
01:04:15,600 --> 01:04:19,440
Speaker 3: by Aslak, not knowing that the witch is his wife

1152
01:04:20,000 --> 01:04:22,320
Speaker 3: is cold iron, and that is the only way to

1153
01:04:22,440 --> 01:04:25,280
Speaker 3: kill a witch. So you see these forging scenes where

1154
01:04:25,360 --> 01:04:27,200
Speaker 3: these got you know, people who are I think not

1155
01:04:27,360 --> 01:04:30,680
Speaker 3: professional blacksmiths, are just doing the best they can. They're

1156
01:04:30,760 --> 01:04:34,880
Speaker 3: like beating out these iron tips into spearheads so that

1157
01:04:35,000 --> 01:04:36,720
Speaker 3: they can kill the witch with cold iron.

1158
01:04:36,840 --> 01:04:39,000
Speaker 1: Isn't there one scene where he's making one in the

1159
01:04:39,120 --> 01:04:42,160
Speaker 1: room with his wife. Yeah, yes, she's in there, Yeah, yeah,

1160
01:04:42,200 --> 01:04:45,960
Speaker 1: and she's kind of like recoiled in the corner because yeah,

1161
01:04:46,080 --> 01:04:49,080
Speaker 1: this is like an instrument of death for her, But

1162
01:04:49,280 --> 01:04:51,720
Speaker 1: he doesn't know that she is the witch. She is

1163
01:04:51,800 --> 01:04:52,400
Speaker 1: the reindeer.

1164
01:04:53,360 --> 01:04:55,960
Speaker 3: So at one point you mentioned the ranger with the

1165
01:04:56,120 --> 01:04:59,200
Speaker 3: rifle that shows up from the south. He is not

1166
01:04:59,600 --> 01:05:02,800
Speaker 3: part of the culture of the film and is not

1167
01:05:03,040 --> 01:05:06,760
Speaker 3: impressed by stories of magic and devils. He tracks the

1168
01:05:06,840 --> 01:05:08,720
Speaker 3: reindeer and he tries to shoot it, but I think

1169
01:05:08,760 --> 01:05:11,840
Speaker 3: some magical trickery goes on and the rifle explodes in

1170
01:05:11,920 --> 01:05:16,120
Speaker 3: his face, and then he sees the animal transform back

1171
01:05:16,200 --> 01:05:19,040
Speaker 3: into a beautiful woman and he sort of loses his mind.

1172
01:05:19,480 --> 01:05:19,680
Speaker 4: Yeah.

1173
01:05:20,240 --> 01:05:23,520
Speaker 3: After more killings, the villagers form a mob to hunt

1174
01:05:23,640 --> 01:05:28,600
Speaker 3: down the wear reindeer, and in this final in the climax,

1175
01:05:28,640 --> 01:05:32,080
Speaker 3: here Parita is frightened and she flees. She keeps transforming

1176
01:05:32,160 --> 01:05:34,920
Speaker 3: back and forth between her reindeer and human forms. She

1177
01:05:35,080 --> 01:05:37,000
Speaker 3: tries to go back to get help from the Wizard

1178
01:05:37,120 --> 01:05:40,280
Speaker 3: from Salkunela, but finds that he has been killed in

1179
01:05:40,440 --> 01:05:43,520
Speaker 3: his cottage. Rob, how did you interpret that? Who killed him?

1180
01:05:43,560 --> 01:05:45,080
Speaker 3: Do you think it was the villagers?

1181
01:05:45,800 --> 01:05:49,400
Speaker 1: I don't know, because he's in there, it's cold and frozen.

1182
01:05:50,440 --> 01:05:54,560
Speaker 1: It's unclear when he died exactly. So I mean, it

1183
01:05:55,000 --> 01:05:57,960
Speaker 1: also doesn't seem and he was necessarily practicing a lot

1184
01:05:58,000 --> 01:06:01,480
Speaker 1: of self care, Like did he drink himself to death

1185
01:06:01,560 --> 01:06:05,400
Speaker 1: in that hut? Is it because of what he saw after?

1186
01:06:06,160 --> 01:06:07,000
Speaker 3: Did she kill him?

1187
01:06:07,040 --> 01:06:07,200
Speaker 4: Yeah?

1188
01:06:07,240 --> 01:06:09,320
Speaker 1: Did she kill him? Yes? She may have. She may

1189
01:06:09,360 --> 01:06:12,080
Speaker 1: have killed him un sight unseen, you know, off off

1190
01:06:12,200 --> 01:06:16,280
Speaker 1: off camera, off screen, after that initial encounter. I don't know.

1191
01:06:17,880 --> 01:06:21,080
Speaker 1: It's again, it's it's it's a bit ambiguous, but it's

1192
01:06:21,160 --> 01:06:24,360
Speaker 1: clear that like he cannot help her in the same

1193
01:06:24,440 --> 01:06:27,560
Speaker 1: way that this ranger from the south cannot help the villagers.

1194
01:06:27,880 --> 01:06:31,120
Speaker 3: Yeah, and so she also she's seeking help wherever it

1195
01:06:31,200 --> 01:06:32,880
Speaker 3: can come. She tries to go back to the place

1196
01:06:32,920 --> 01:06:35,600
Speaker 3: of the Stone God to ask for mercy, but no

1197
01:06:35,760 --> 01:06:39,640
Speaker 3: mercy will be given. And then finally, in her reindeer form,

1198
01:06:40,040 --> 01:06:43,480
Speaker 3: she's caught by Aslac, who gores her with a cold

1199
01:06:43,520 --> 01:06:48,560
Speaker 3: iron spear, after which she transforms back into herself, leaving

1200
01:06:48,640 --> 01:06:52,400
Speaker 3: Aslac mortified and he kneels down over her, realizing he

1201
01:06:52,480 --> 01:06:55,080
Speaker 3: has killed his wife, and he brushes her hair tenderly

1202
01:06:55,160 --> 01:06:57,520
Speaker 3: while she's dying, and then we just see the snow

1203
01:06:57,680 --> 01:07:00,520
Speaker 3: blowing from the slope of the fells and the cold wind,

1204
01:07:01,040 --> 01:07:03,280
Speaker 3: and that's the end. It's a very bleak ending.

1205
01:07:03,560 --> 01:07:06,560
Speaker 1: Yeah, we don't even get at the end. We close

1206
01:07:06,600 --> 01:07:09,240
Speaker 1: out and then we get the like the studio, the logo,

1207
01:07:09,360 --> 01:07:09,800
Speaker 1: and that's it.

1208
01:07:10,400 --> 01:07:13,320
Speaker 3: So so many interesting questions. I've raised this a couple

1209
01:07:13,440 --> 01:07:15,960
Speaker 3: times now, but I want to come back to evidence

1210
01:07:16,040 --> 01:07:18,520
Speaker 3: we can look at in the film for what is

1211
01:07:18,720 --> 01:07:22,680
Speaker 3: Parita's attitude? Like, so much of her inner life is

1212
01:07:22,840 --> 01:07:25,560
Speaker 3: left mysterious, and that's part of what makes the film

1213
01:07:25,600 --> 01:07:29,680
Speaker 3: and the character so alluring. She's clearly feeling and thinking

1214
01:07:29,840 --> 01:07:33,000
Speaker 3: so much, but we get hardly any dialogue or voiceover

1215
01:07:33,120 --> 01:07:36,360
Speaker 3: to share the details of those thoughts and feelings. With

1216
01:07:36,560 --> 01:07:40,640
Speaker 3: the audience, So, like, what is her attitude towards the

1217
01:07:40,760 --> 01:07:43,960
Speaker 3: killings that she's doing in the form of the White Reindeer.

1218
01:07:45,080 --> 01:07:47,400
Speaker 3: I found this commented on in a book entry I

1219
01:07:47,520 --> 01:07:49,439
Speaker 3: was reading about the movie. This was in a book

1220
01:07:49,440 --> 01:07:52,800
Speaker 3: about werewolf films called The Werewolf Filmography by an author

1221
01:07:52,880 --> 01:07:56,640
Speaker 3: named Brian Sin and in the entry on the White Reindeer,

1222
01:07:57,000 --> 01:08:01,400
Speaker 3: Sin writes, quote, it remains ambiguous to what triggers the

1223
01:08:01,560 --> 01:08:05,400
Speaker 3: change in Parita, nor is it clear whether she embraces

1224
01:08:05,520 --> 01:08:09,400
Speaker 3: the metamorphosis. At times she seems distraught over what she's

1225
01:08:09,520 --> 01:08:12,640
Speaker 3: done in her bewitched reindeer form, while at others she

1226
01:08:12,720 --> 01:08:15,960
Speaker 3: appears to revel in it, even sporting vampiric fangs. In

1227
01:08:16,080 --> 01:08:19,080
Speaker 3: one scene, like you mentioned, Rob as her witch half

1228
01:08:19,160 --> 01:08:22,960
Speaker 3: seemingly takes over. It's as if she has two personalities,

1229
01:08:23,080 --> 01:08:27,519
Speaker 3: the innocent Parita and the evil Witch. So I think

1230
01:08:27,600 --> 01:08:30,600
Speaker 3: that's a correct description. I wonder what we're supposed to

1231
01:08:30,640 --> 01:08:33,160
Speaker 3: take away from that. And likewise, the other question we

1232
01:08:33,280 --> 01:08:37,519
Speaker 3: raised about Parita's motivations, what is at the root of

1233
01:08:37,640 --> 01:08:40,800
Speaker 3: her unhappiness and her desire at the beginning of the film,

1234
01:08:41,520 --> 01:08:44,680
Speaker 3: What exactly is it she wants to be different, and

1235
01:08:45,360 --> 01:08:48,800
Speaker 3: also like what does she feel about her transformations. Is

1236
01:08:48,880 --> 01:08:53,439
Speaker 3: she desiring a kind of violent liberation from some aspect

1237
01:08:53,520 --> 01:08:55,800
Speaker 3: of her life or is it more just that she

1238
01:08:55,960 --> 01:08:59,760
Speaker 3: desires love and companionship. It could go either way.

1239
01:09:00,479 --> 01:09:05,080
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, it's you know, I suspect it's it's getting

1240
01:09:05,120 --> 01:09:07,720
Speaker 1: to some degree into this idea of like how does

1241
01:09:07,840 --> 01:09:12,640
Speaker 1: she fit into this masculine world around her and the

1242
01:09:12,760 --> 01:09:17,040
Speaker 1: desires of men, including her husband, you know, like she

1243
01:09:17,200 --> 01:09:20,639
Speaker 1: wants to be loved, she doesn't want to be murdered.

1244
01:09:21,400 --> 01:09:24,920
Speaker 1: But that's that's where we end up with the slaying

1245
01:09:25,080 --> 01:09:29,400
Speaker 1: of her monster self as perceived by the community, and

1246
01:09:30,200 --> 01:09:34,000
Speaker 1: you know, the murder of her human self. And you

1247
01:09:34,080 --> 01:09:36,120
Speaker 1: know that this is also a case that the ending.

1248
01:09:36,240 --> 01:09:38,960
Speaker 1: We can point out that this matches up with with

1249
01:09:39,120 --> 01:09:43,439
Speaker 1: where wolf and shape shifting tales from ancient times, the

1250
01:09:43,600 --> 01:09:46,200
Speaker 1: idea that the monster is killed, and in the killing

1251
01:09:46,280 --> 01:09:49,080
Speaker 1: of the monster it is revealed that they were actually

1252
01:09:49,520 --> 01:09:53,439
Speaker 1: this individual, or if not a particular individual, than a

1253
01:09:53,640 --> 01:09:58,439
Speaker 1: human being. They are revealed in the death. Sometimes there's

1254
01:09:58,439 --> 01:10:00,800
Speaker 1: another form of the reveal, which we've all seen in

1255
01:10:00,840 --> 01:10:04,400
Speaker 1: werewolf movies before, where it's the wound the beast is wounded.

1256
01:10:04,439 --> 01:10:07,360
Speaker 1: Then later we see the wound on the human individual

1257
01:10:07,400 --> 01:10:09,080
Speaker 1: and we realize that the two are one.

1258
01:10:09,560 --> 01:10:13,679
Speaker 3: Can I point out another variation? Often in werewolf movies

1259
01:10:14,120 --> 01:10:18,120
Speaker 3: the character transforms into the werewolf, not only to in

1260
01:10:18,240 --> 01:10:21,559
Speaker 3: this transformed state get the desire to kill. Usually it's

1261
01:10:21,600 --> 01:10:23,800
Speaker 3: a kind of tragic thing where the werewolf in their

1262
01:10:23,880 --> 01:10:26,760
Speaker 3: human state doesn't want to do violence to anyone, but

1263
01:10:26,880 --> 01:10:29,639
Speaker 3: they transform and then the wolf side of them takes

1264
01:10:29,680 --> 01:10:31,519
Speaker 3: over and it wants to do these killings. But it's

1265
01:10:31,560 --> 01:10:35,040
Speaker 3: also the wolf side of them is the kind that

1266
01:10:35,360 --> 01:10:38,200
Speaker 3: can do the killings. It has the physical power and

1267
01:10:38,320 --> 01:10:41,240
Speaker 3: the teeth and the claws and all that. So it

1268
01:10:41,400 --> 01:10:44,880
Speaker 3: is through the wolf body that the violence is done.

1269
01:10:45,720 --> 01:10:48,400
Speaker 3: That's not always the case in The White Reindeer. In fact,

1270
01:10:49,280 --> 01:10:52,120
Speaker 3: I think, am I remembering it right? That Parita usually

1271
01:10:52,240 --> 01:10:55,400
Speaker 3: seems to like she will take the form of the

1272
01:10:55,439 --> 01:10:59,400
Speaker 3: White Reindeer at some point in the luring of these men,

1273
01:11:00,520 --> 01:11:02,640
Speaker 3: or at some point in the pursuit, or at some

1274
01:11:02,720 --> 01:11:06,040
Speaker 3: point in the escape afterwards. But like when she does

1275
01:11:06,120 --> 01:11:09,400
Speaker 3: the killing, she often is in her human form, isn't she.

1276
01:11:09,600 --> 01:11:12,320
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's a great point this. I was reading about

1277
01:11:12,360 --> 01:11:15,000
Speaker 1: this a bit in some of the information I was

1278
01:11:15,040 --> 01:11:19,440
Speaker 1: reading a few months ago about the female werewolf in folklore,

1279
01:11:19,720 --> 01:11:23,840
Speaker 1: in mythology, and in cinema, and the authors may the

1280
01:11:23,920 --> 01:11:28,439
Speaker 1: point that, yeah, you'll often see that the female turns

1281
01:11:28,479 --> 01:11:30,680
Speaker 1: into a werewolf, and in turning into a werewolf, they

1282
01:11:30,720 --> 01:11:36,000
Speaker 1: turn into a masculine or more masculine form of themselves

1283
01:11:36,439 --> 01:11:42,560
Speaker 1: in order to be this dominant monster. Yeah. And in

1284
01:11:42,720 --> 01:11:45,400
Speaker 1: here in this film, yeah, she seems to generally kill

1285
01:11:45,560 --> 01:11:48,200
Speaker 1: in human form. And we should also point out again

1286
01:11:48,280 --> 01:11:51,559
Speaker 1: that it is not a graphic picture, so when people

1287
01:11:51,600 --> 01:11:55,400
Speaker 1: are killed and animals are killed, it's generally not shown cut.

1288
01:11:55,520 --> 01:11:57,000
Speaker 1: It's left to our imaginations.

1289
01:11:57,320 --> 01:11:59,760
Speaker 3: But I have the impression, based on having watched it

1290
01:11:59,840 --> 01:12:02,559
Speaker 3: a couple of times, that most or all of the killings,

1291
01:12:02,880 --> 01:12:05,240
Speaker 3: the last thing we see of her is like she's

1292
01:12:05,240 --> 01:12:07,439
Speaker 3: about to do it, and she's in human form, and

1293
01:12:07,520 --> 01:12:10,320
Speaker 3: then maybe she warps away and you know, runs off

1294
01:12:10,400 --> 01:12:11,599
Speaker 3: in the white reindeer form.

1295
01:12:12,080 --> 01:12:15,720
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, Yeah, it seems like the white reindeer form

1296
01:12:15,760 --> 01:12:17,719
Speaker 1: itself is more about mobility, yeah.

1297
01:12:18,000 --> 01:12:19,120
Speaker 3: But also about attraction.

1298
01:12:19,360 --> 01:12:23,760
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, attraction, mobility. Yeah. I'm also reminded of other

1299
01:12:23,840 --> 01:12:28,840
Speaker 1: folkloric traditions in which there is some inhuman threat that

1300
01:12:29,040 --> 01:12:32,479
Speaker 1: may take on the form of two different things that

1301
01:12:32,560 --> 01:12:36,880
Speaker 1: may attract a male, one being a female woman and

1302
01:12:36,960 --> 01:12:39,680
Speaker 1: the other being a horse. Those kind of traditions kind

1303
01:12:39,720 --> 01:12:43,040
Speaker 1: of seem akin to what we're seeing here in the

1304
01:12:43,160 --> 01:12:46,000
Speaker 1: modes of attraction that are employed. You know, the men

1305
01:12:46,320 --> 01:12:47,960
Speaker 1: are like, oh, there's a great reindeer, I need to

1306
01:12:48,000 --> 01:12:49,880
Speaker 1: catch that from my hurt. Or there is a beautiful woman,

1307
01:12:49,960 --> 01:12:52,280
Speaker 1: I want to go see what she's up to, chatter

1308
01:12:52,400 --> 01:12:55,160
Speaker 1: up a little bit, that sort of thing. I'm not

1309
01:12:55,240 --> 01:12:58,439
Speaker 1: sure how we might completely factor that into our calculations here.

1310
01:12:58,800 --> 01:13:01,599
Speaker 3: Yeah, there is a kind of duality of attraction along

1311
01:13:01,640 --> 01:13:02,160
Speaker 3: those lines.

1312
01:13:02,760 --> 01:13:05,599
Speaker 1: I should also point out I don't have materials put

1313
01:13:05,640 --> 01:13:08,479
Speaker 1: together to really go in depth on this, but we

1314
01:13:08,560 --> 01:13:11,320
Speaker 1: should also acknowledge that like a dear woman or a

1315
01:13:11,400 --> 01:13:16,320
Speaker 1: dear lady is also a part of different Native American

1316
01:13:17,320 --> 01:13:21,560
Speaker 1: mythologies and traditions, and I think there is like some

1317
01:13:21,720 --> 01:13:25,479
Speaker 1: amount of overlap in the way that that figure is

1318
01:13:25,600 --> 01:13:28,080
Speaker 1: sometimes presented in what we have here in this film.

1319
01:13:28,280 --> 01:13:31,080
Speaker 1: I'm not saying there's any actual connective tissue between these

1320
01:13:31,160 --> 01:13:33,840
Speaker 1: but maybe they maybe they speak to some common threads

1321
01:13:33,880 --> 01:13:37,439
Speaker 1: in the human psyche. I'm not sure. If nothing else,

1322
01:13:37,560 --> 01:13:39,320
Speaker 1: you know, we might view it in the same way

1323
01:13:39,439 --> 01:13:43,719
Speaker 1: that we have different werewolf traditions and other shape shifting

1324
01:13:43,760 --> 01:13:46,439
Speaker 1: traditions that have popped up in different parts of the world,

1325
01:13:47,040 --> 01:13:51,000
Speaker 1: some influenced by each other, but some with no connections.

1326
01:13:51,520 --> 01:13:54,719
Speaker 1: But they sometimes end up embodying some of the same ideas,

1327
01:13:54,920 --> 01:13:58,400
Speaker 1: the same attitudes, the same relationships between the wild world

1328
01:13:58,479 --> 01:14:03,479
Speaker 1: and the domesticated worldeen civilization and the wilds, and so forth.

1329
01:14:04,080 --> 01:14:07,599
Speaker 3: One more question about Pirita. Do you see any element

1330
01:14:07,760 --> 01:14:10,760
Speaker 3: of her getting her comeuppance in the film or do

1331
01:14:10,840 --> 01:14:14,120
Speaker 3: you think it's purely tragic, just tragic what happens to her,

1332
01:14:14,320 --> 01:14:16,200
Speaker 3: Like is it not really her fault or is it

1333
01:14:16,320 --> 01:14:17,320
Speaker 3: partially her fault?

1334
01:14:18,280 --> 01:14:21,640
Speaker 1: Oh? I mean, in my viewing of the film, it

1335
01:14:21,760 --> 01:14:26,160
Speaker 1: felt tragic. It felt like the path of doom that

1336
01:14:26,479 --> 01:14:29,880
Speaker 1: was like writ from the day she was born. You know,

1337
01:14:29,960 --> 01:14:32,680
Speaker 1: if I go back and piece it together, like you know,

1338
01:14:32,960 --> 01:14:35,960
Speaker 1: in question where her mind was and all of this,

1339
01:14:36,479 --> 01:14:39,120
Speaker 1: I could maybe lean more into the retribution view. But

1340
01:14:39,400 --> 01:14:41,720
Speaker 1: I know, I think the pure cinematic experience is one

1341
01:14:41,760 --> 01:14:42,879
Speaker 1: of doom and tragedy.

1342
01:14:43,080 --> 01:14:45,240
Speaker 3: Yeah, I feel the same way. I was just wondering though,

1343
01:14:45,280 --> 01:14:48,840
Speaker 3: because I mean, it has structural elements that would lend

1344
01:14:49,000 --> 01:14:51,719
Speaker 3: themselves to a kind of, you know, punishment of hubris

1345
01:14:51,840 --> 01:14:55,519
Speaker 3: in some way, that there's something this character really should

1346
01:14:55,560 --> 01:14:59,160
Speaker 3: have done differently, that they did wrong and they're being

1347
01:14:59,280 --> 01:15:01,960
Speaker 3: punished for it. But I don't know, when you think

1348
01:15:02,000 --> 01:15:04,639
Speaker 3: of the content of it scene to scene, it doesn't

1349
01:15:04,720 --> 01:15:07,920
Speaker 3: quite feel that way. It feels more like the evil

1350
01:15:08,000 --> 01:15:11,080
Speaker 3: magic is sort of acting through her rather than an

1351
01:15:11,120 --> 01:15:14,280
Speaker 3: expression of herself. Yeah.

1352
01:15:14,680 --> 01:15:18,000
Speaker 1: The weird thing though, is like we tend to side

1353
01:15:18,040 --> 01:15:21,280
Speaker 1: with her because she is the character we know the

1354
01:15:21,439 --> 01:15:23,639
Speaker 1: most in the movie, and yet at the same time,

1355
01:15:23,720 --> 01:15:26,479
Speaker 1: we really don't know her at all. We have very

1356
01:15:26,560 --> 01:15:29,160
Speaker 1: limited information about where her mind is in all of this.

1357
01:15:29,560 --> 01:15:31,479
Speaker 3: But again, I think that's one of the things that

1358
01:15:31,520 --> 01:15:35,800
Speaker 3: makes the movie so exciting, is like, is the mysteriousness

1359
01:15:35,880 --> 01:15:38,720
Speaker 3: of this character. I can't stop thinking about her in

1360
01:15:38,760 --> 01:15:39,000
Speaker 3: a way.

1361
01:15:39,240 --> 01:15:41,600
Speaker 1: Yeah, Yeah, there's an art house ambiguity to this and

1362
01:15:41,840 --> 01:15:45,360
Speaker 1: a dreamlike quality, fitting since it seems that this film,

1363
01:15:45,400 --> 01:15:48,879
Speaker 1: at least in part, emerged from the mist of dreams.

1364
01:15:49,520 --> 01:15:51,360
Speaker 3: Okay, well, I think that's all I've got on the

1365
01:15:51,400 --> 01:15:52,080
Speaker 3: White Reindeer.

1366
01:15:52,600 --> 01:15:55,400
Speaker 1: Yeah, the White Reindeer. Yeah, I highly recommend it. It's

1367
01:15:55,400 --> 01:15:58,600
Speaker 1: easy to get. This is not one that as of

1368
01:15:58,680 --> 01:16:02,000
Speaker 1: this recording, is super were hard to find, so we

1369
01:16:02,479 --> 01:16:06,479
Speaker 1: recommend it, especially if you want some counter season programming.

1370
01:16:06,600 --> 01:16:09,439
Speaker 3: Like we were saying, freeze out your mind while your

1371
01:16:09,479 --> 01:16:10,200
Speaker 3: body sweats.

1372
01:16:10,520 --> 01:16:15,360
Speaker 1: Yes, all right, just a reminder to everyone that's Stuff

1373
01:16:15,400 --> 01:16:17,639
Speaker 1: to Blow Your Mind is primarily a science and culture podcast,

1374
01:16:17,680 --> 01:16:20,960
Speaker 1: with core episodes on Tuesdays and Thursdays, short form episodes

1375
01:16:21,000 --> 01:16:23,599
Speaker 1: on Wednesdays, but on Fridays, we set aside most serious

1376
01:16:23,600 --> 01:16:25,360
Speaker 1: concerns to just talk about a weird film here on

1377
01:16:25,479 --> 01:16:28,080
Speaker 1: Weird House Cinema. You can get the Weird House Cinema

1378
01:16:28,160 --> 01:16:31,400
Speaker 1: episodes in the main Stuff to Blow your Mind podcast feed,

1379
01:16:32,000 --> 01:16:35,479
Speaker 1: but we're at least experimenting with Weird House Cinema as

1380
01:16:35,520 --> 01:16:38,680
Speaker 1: its own playlist, which appears as a feed wherever you

1381
01:16:38,760 --> 01:16:41,200
Speaker 1: get your podcast. Wherever you're listening to the show, we

1382
01:16:41,320 --> 01:16:44,080
Speaker 1: just ask you rate and review and subscribe. That helps

1383
01:16:44,120 --> 01:16:46,960
Speaker 1: us keep things rolling. If you were on letterbox dot com,

1384
01:16:47,000 --> 01:16:48,280
Speaker 1: which is a great place to be if you're a

1385
01:16:48,320 --> 01:16:50,600
Speaker 1: film fan, you can find us there. We are a

1386
01:16:50,640 --> 01:16:52,880
Speaker 1: weird house. There's a list of all the movies we've

1387
01:16:52,920 --> 01:16:55,000
Speaker 1: covered over the years. And sometimes a glimpse ahead of

1388
01:16:55,040 --> 01:16:55,920
Speaker 1: what's coming up next.

1389
01:16:56,400 --> 01:16:59,920
Speaker 3: Huge thanks as always to our excellent audio producer, JJ Posway.

1390
01:17:00,280 --> 01:17:01,760
Speaker 3: If you would like to get in touch with us

1391
01:17:01,840 --> 01:17:04,160
Speaker 3: with feedback on this episode or any other, to suggest

1392
01:17:04,240 --> 01:17:06,200
Speaker 3: a topic for the future, or just to say hello,

1393
01:17:06,600 --> 01:17:09,240
Speaker 3: you can email us at contact at stuff to Blow

1394
01:17:09,320 --> 01:17:10,320
Speaker 3: your Mind dot com.

1395
01:17:18,200 --> 01:17:21,120
Speaker 2: Stuff to Blow Your Mind is production of iHeartRadio. For

1396
01:17:21,240 --> 01:17:24,000
Speaker 2: more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app,

1397
01:17:24,160 --> 01:17:26,920
Speaker 2: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.