The White Reindeer
| The White Reindeer | |
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Original release poster
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| Directed by | Erik Blomberg |
| Produced by | Aarne Tarkas |
| Written by | Erik Blomberg Mirjami Kuosmanen |
| Starring | Mirjami Kuosmanen |
| Music by | Einar Englund |
| Cinematography | Erik Blomberg |
| Edited by | Erik Blomberg |
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Release date
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Running time
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74 minutes (1952) 68 minutes (1986 restoration) |
| Country | Finland |
| Language | Finnish |
The White Reindeer (Finnish: Valkoinen peura, Swedish: Den Vita Renen) is a 1952 Finnish horror drama film directed by Erik Blomberg. It was entered in competition at the 1953 Cannes Film Festival and earned the Jean Cocteau-led jury special award for Best Fairy Tale Film. After its limited release five years later in the United States, it was one of five films to win the 1957 Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Film.
The film, based on pre-Christian Finnish mythology and Sami shamanism, is set in Finnish Lapland and centers on a young woman, Pirita. In the snowy landscape, Pirita and reindeer herder Aslak meet and soon marry. Aslak must spend time away for work, leaving his new bride lonely. In an effort to alleviate her loneliness and ignite marital passion, Pirita visits the local shaman, who indeed helps her out; but in the process turns her into a shapeshifting, vampiric white reindeer. The villages' men are drawn to her and pursue her, with tragic results.
Film review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported an approval rating of 100%, based on 5 reviews, with a rating average of 6/10.
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Wikipedia