When you hear about the subject of treating native people badly you think about America (American Indians) and Australia (Aboriginals) but not about Sweden, that has an image of great tolerance.
This image however is severely damaged in the film "Sameblod". This film shows how Sami people are discriminated against in the '30s. More particularly it shows how a Sami girl (Elle Marja played by Lene Cecilia Sparrok) is treated at school.
This summer I was in Jokkmokk, an important Sami municipality in the Noth of Sweden and also an important cultural center for the Sami. The story of the film was confirmed in the local museum.
Two scenes in the film were very memorable to me.
The first one is a very degrading medical examination of Elle Marja. She is ordered to undress in the presence of others. The volume of her skull is measured, the hypothesis being that this volume is smaller than that of "normal" Swedes, as if Sami people are some sort of Neanderthal.
In the secons scene Elle Marja has lost a fight against a couple of Swedish boys. When she's on the ground the boys try to cut her ear with a knife, as if she is some kind of animal that has to be marked.
The film is however not only about the way the Swedish people behave (although that was the most shocking part for me), but also about the way Elle Marja reacts.
Elle Marja wants to go to the university. That was very unusual for Sami people, the general opinion at that time being that Sami need minimal education because they are going to herd reindeer after all.
In persuing her dream Elle Marja has to adapt to Swedish culture and to a certain extent fosrsake Sami culture. She comes in between two worlds. This is maybe the real theme of the movie.
This theme is portrayed more nuanced than in for example "Imitation of life" (1959, Douglas Sirk). In that film the black Sarah Jane forsakes her own culture not to a certain extent but completely. She is ashamed of being black. Elle Marja is never ashamed of being Sami.
"Sameblod" is a very interesting film about a black spot in Swedish history. One minor minus is in my opinion the fact that the classmates of Elle Marja are all very blond and very Swede. That could have been a little less exaggerated.
This image however is severely damaged in the film "Sameblod". This film shows how Sami people are discriminated against in the '30s. More particularly it shows how a Sami girl (Elle Marja played by Lene Cecilia Sparrok) is treated at school.
This summer I was in Jokkmokk, an important Sami municipality in the Noth of Sweden and also an important cultural center for the Sami. The story of the film was confirmed in the local museum.
Two scenes in the film were very memorable to me.
The first one is a very degrading medical examination of Elle Marja. She is ordered to undress in the presence of others. The volume of her skull is measured, the hypothesis being that this volume is smaller than that of "normal" Swedes, as if Sami people are some sort of Neanderthal.
In the secons scene Elle Marja has lost a fight against a couple of Swedish boys. When she's on the ground the boys try to cut her ear with a knife, as if she is some kind of animal that has to be marked.
The film is however not only about the way the Swedish people behave (although that was the most shocking part for me), but also about the way Elle Marja reacts.
Elle Marja wants to go to the university. That was very unusual for Sami people, the general opinion at that time being that Sami need minimal education because they are going to herd reindeer after all.
In persuing her dream Elle Marja has to adapt to Swedish culture and to a certain extent fosrsake Sami culture. She comes in between two worlds. This is maybe the real theme of the movie.
This theme is portrayed more nuanced than in for example "Imitation of life" (1959, Douglas Sirk). In that film the black Sarah Jane forsakes her own culture not to a certain extent but completely. She is ashamed of being black. Elle Marja is never ashamed of being Sami.
"Sameblod" is a very interesting film about a black spot in Swedish history. One minor minus is in my opinion the fact that the classmates of Elle Marja are all very blond and very Swede. That could have been a little less exaggerated.