Violent motion picture about a brutal army of warriors invading Scandinavia . This is the first and classic version well directed by Nils Gaup in 1988, winning several prizes. Circa the year 1000 AD warlike people, the so-called "tjudes," roam in a strange land , in northern Scandinavia . There a boy , Aigin : Mikkel Gaup , living with his native family , is hunting . But merciless, ambitious and cruel barbarians suddenly appear and they are cruelly murdered . The starring observes the massacre from a distance and he manages to flee these murderers and reaches a village with other Natives whose inhabitants are worried if he has been able to hide his leads. Afraid of the violent savage warriors , they decide to flee to the coast . Meanwhile , the protagonist falls in love with a charming Native. The young stays alone to revenge his families killers but he gets captured by the invading people . Unfortunately , they get him before he can do anything and force him to lead them to the other natives , threatening to kill a friend , when Aigin sees this he dashes forward, and says he will guide them . He guides them and agrees to lead to the hiding place of his fellow villagers but he has a scheme to destroy the cutthroats barbarians before reach the camp.It's the first version based on ancient folk-tale from Lapland, this classy adaptation is an exciting picture plenty of action, thrills, chills, roller-coaster ride, violence and breathtaking fights . The plot is plain and simple , some violent stranger warriors capture a young man and they want him to guide them to the coast, and start torturing him , then , things go wrong . As the intelligent starring , Mikkel Gaup , will fight for his freedom and his people as well as he'll take off a nasty villain , performed by Helgi Skúlason who doesn't say a word the entire film . The brutal invaders dresssed in black pelts deliver the goods, their appearance is spectacular and creepy . Furthermore , the astonishing killings are gruesome executed and grisly graphic. The atmospheric photography by Erling Andersen with a sort of never-ending dawn is truly awesome. It's a kind of light mingled in a moody and foggy atmosphere. Stirring and evocative musical score by three Scandinavian composers . Stunning and gripping realization by Nils Gaup . He was born in 1955 in Kautokeino, Norway. Gaup is a director and actor, who has made a few but acceptable films , being especially known for Pathfinder (1987), , Misery harbour (1989) , Above Water (1993) , North star (1996) , Journey to the Christmas Star (2012) and The last King (2017) . Gaup turned down offers to direct No without my daughter (1991) with Sally Field, RoboCop (1987) and many others. He began to direct Waterworld (1995), but he thought the budget was blown up and the project too difficult to handle.It had a remake titled ¨Pathfinder¨ in 2007 by Marcus Nispel. It stars Karl Urban, Clancy Brown, and special mention to Russell Means , he was born Lakota Sioux, a good actor Native American, he along with Graham Greene, Rodney A Grant, Tantoo cardinal, Eric Schweitz and Wes Studi appear in all movies about Indian themes and it deals with a viking child raised by Native Americans, to take on the invaders Vikings .

Norwegian-Sami screenwriter and director Nils Gaup's feature film debut which he also wrote, is based on an old Sami legend and was the first Sami feature length film ever produced. It was shot on locations at Kautokeino, Finmarksvidda in Northern Norway and is a Norwegian production which was produced by Norwegian producer John M. Jacobsen. It tells the story about Aigin, a young man who after returning home from a hunting trip witnesses his family being murdered by a group of Russian chudes dressed in black. Though trying to hide, he is discovered some of the men. Aigin manages to flee to his nearest neighbours and tell them what has happened, but a manhunt has begun and the chudes are right behind him.Distinctly and engagingly directed by Norwegian filmmaker Nils Gaup, this historic period film which narrated mostly from the protagonist's point of view, draws a moving portrayal of the internal conflicts a young man experiences when he becomes a pathfinder for the people who killed his family. While notable for it's poignant and atmospheric milieu depictions, brilliant cinematography by renowned Norwegian cinematographer Erling Thurman-Andersen (1945-2002), costume design, editing by Danish film editor Nils Pagh Andersen and use of sound, this character-driven and mythical story about a, at that period in time, minority of indigenous people who are attacked by a group of villains once upon a time in the 11th century, depicts a dense and mindful study of character and contains a powerful score by Norwegian musician Marius Müller (1958-1999), Norwegian composer Kjetil Bjerkestrand and Sami-Finnish writer and musician Nils-Aslak Valkeapää (1943-2001).This finely paced and riveting journey through the highland winter landscapes of Northern Norway which is so rightfully considered one of the greatest Norwegian action films ever made, is impelled and reinforced by it's cogent narrative structure and the fine acting performances by Norwegian actor Mikkel Gaup, Icelandic actor Helgi Skúlason (1933-1996) and Norwegian actor Nils Utsi. A consistently involving and memorable drama which gained, among other awards, the Sutherland Trophy Nils Gaup at the British Film Institute Awards in 1989, the Amanda Award for Best Norwegian Film at the 4th Amanda Awards in 1988 and became the second Norwegian film succeeding Arne Skouen's "Nine Lives" (1957) that was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film at the 60th Academy Awards in 1988.

Many foreigners might be put off by the idea of watching a movie with subtitles, especially in countries like Spain, France, Italy and Germany where movies usually are dubbed into the native language (which is not the case in Norway). Even though the movie is produced in Norway, the cast is Sami and the Sami language is used throughout the entire film. Therefore most Norwegians find themselves watching this movie with subtitles anyway, which makes the plot in itself more believable.Who else is better to tell a story from a Sami legend than a Sami writer/director? For its time the movie was, and still is, outstanding, only to be matched by "Orions Belt".Personally I think the acting could have been better, but the plot was great, and so was the directing as well."Ofelas"/"Veiviseren" is truly a Sami/Norwegian treasure of culture! 9 out of 10 ~

An excellent film based on a thousand year old legend,"Pathfinder" was nominated for an Oscar for best foreign film. Directed by Miles Gaup, his first film, Pathfinder is from a tale he heard from his grandfather. The film is in the Lapp language and reflects the customs and costumes of ancient northern Norway in the deep of winter.The legend is of a Lapp boy, Aigin, played by Mikkel Gaup. Aigin's family is murdered by a barbarian group, the Tchudes, who are invading and killing along the way. Aigin is wounded but escapes and finds his way across waist deep snow to collapse once he reaches the nearest village. The villagers are terrified of the Tchudes, and mad at Aigin for leaving a blood trail for the murderous band to follow. Rasti-the Noidi (a sort of shaman), played by Nils Utsi, tells a frightened Aigin about visions of the great reindeer. Rasti also tells the boy about how the brotherhood of mankind is connected to everything: to be out of touch was to be a Tchude.Most of the townspeople flee to the safety of the village on the seashore, having strength in numbers, and in the fact that it (the village) lies at the base of an extremely treacherous mountain.A few of the original villagers stay with Aigin to fight the Tchudes: even reducing the barbarians' numbers before being captured. Rasti-the-Noidi is killed and Aigin is used as a pathfinder to locate the people who live by the sea. Aigin tricks the Tchudes on the side of the mountain and they are killed in an avalanche.The sea-villagers see the snow engulfing the Tchudes. They go back inside their thick animal-hide tents and build their fires high, composing a story of the great boy Aigin who saves his people. Aigin shows up at their door, bloodied once again. This time, the villagers are not mad - they hand him Rasti's little skin drum. He is now Aigin-the-Noidi.The use of subtitles is something which American viewers have a hard time accepting. American audiences have a sort of arrogance about a film that is not spoken in English. The subtitles in Pathfinder; however, are not a hindrance. Action and vocal inflection carry the storyline well enough that a viewer could probably understand what's going on without the subtitles even being there.Besides the universal good versus evil theme, the viewers are treated to a view of a boy growing up: the way Aigin looks at the girl from the village when he's hurt versus the way he looks at her once he is the Noidi. Keeping in touch with human kind and with nature are also themes stated in this movie.Director Nils Gaup gives the audience a bit of foreshadowing with a flying crow: to symbolize impending death. The way he films the journey shots in letterbox style is nice because the viewer can always tell when the Tchudes are traveling. The sound is interesting in that every time the Tchudes come into a scene, there is a sound like a cross between a car door slamming and a slab of foot-thick ice cracking underfoot; which is a little disconcerting, just like the Tchudes themselves.Pathfinder has a great deal of violence in it. The body count is high enough to compare it to a Rambo, or Dirty Harry movie in the sheer amount of killing. However, in Pathfinder, the camera does not relish the gore, only uses it to convey the atrocities carried out on those peaceful Lapplanders.Overall, Pathfinder is a wonderful movie that really has not received the attention that it rightfully deserves. It has good style, interesting culture, and a storyline that has been worked for a thousand years.