Village Voice by Alan Scherstuhl
Matter-of-fact in its scenecraft but searing in its content, Sami Blood is about girlhood and racism, passing and escape.
✭ ✭ ✭ ✭ Read critic reviews
Norway, Denmark, Sweden · 2016
1h 50m
Director Amanda Kernell
Starring Lene Cecilia Sparrok, Mia Sparrok, Maj-Doris Rimpi, Julius Fleischanderl
Genre Drama
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Elle Marja, 14, is a reindeer-breeding Sami girl. Exposed to the racism of the 1930s and phrenological examinations at her boarding school, she starts dreaming of another life. In order to achieve this other life, she has to become someone else and break all ties with her family and culture.
Village Voice by Alan Scherstuhl
Matter-of-fact in its scenecraft but searing in its content, Sami Blood is about girlhood and racism, passing and escape.
The New York Times by Ben Kenigsberg
While Sami Blood can sometimes seem didactic, Ms. Kernell, who has Sami heritage, richly conveys a sense of the time and place, with elegant shots that glide through the Nordic wilderness.
From a certain perspective, Sami Blood tells a very familiar story, but the hyper-specificity of its telling renders it a wholly new and quietly profound experience.
RogerEbert.com by Godfrey Cheshire
The film’s success comes from how Kernell’s skills as a director match the ambitions of her script.
This handsome debut feature from Swedish-Sami writer-director Amanda Kernell robustly blends adolescent fears that resonate across borders and generations with a fascinatingly specific, rarely depicted cultural context: Sweden’s colonial oppression of the indigenous Sami folk.
Washington Post by Michael O'Sullivan
Sami Blood is a beautiful, haunting film, anchored by a startlingly accomplished lead performance.
Los Angeles Times by Sheri Linden
Writer-director Amanda Kernell’s assured first feature has a classic sheen, but with its powerful sense of place and sensitive performances, it’s no fusty museum piece.
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