''The White Reindeer'' ( fi, Valkoinen peura, sv, Den Vita Renen) is a 1952 Finnish horror

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

directed by

Erik Blomberg Erik Blomberg (18 September 1913 – 12 October 1996) was a Finnish cinematographer, film producer, screenwriter and film director. He was married to actress Mirjami Kuosmanen. Selected filmography * ''The Stolen Death'' (1938) * ''One Man ...

in his feature film debut. It was entered in competition at the

1953 Cannes Film Festival The 6th Cannes Film Festival was held from 15 to 29 April 1953. The Grand Prix of the Festival went to ''The Wages of Fear'' by Henri-Georges Clouzot. The festival opened with ''Horizons sans fin'' by Jean Dréville. During the opening ceremony, ...

and earned the

Jean Cocteau Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau (, , ; 5 July 1889 – 11 October 1963) was a French poet, playwright, novelist, designer, filmmaker, visual artist and critic. He was one of the foremost creatives of the su ...

-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 1956

Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Film The Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film is a Golden Globe Award presented by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. Until 1986, it was known as the Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Film, meaning that any non-American film coul ...

Plot

The film, based on pre-Christian

Finnish mythology Finnish mythology is a commonly applied description of the folklore of Finnish paganism, of which a modern revival is practiced by a small percentage of the Finnish people. It has many features shared with Estonian and other Finnic mythologies, ...

and

Sami shamanism Acronyms * SAMI, ''Synchronized Accessible Media Interchange'', a closed-captioning format developed by Microsoft * Saudi Arabian Military Industries, a government-owned defence company * South African Malaria Initiative, a virtual expertise n ...

, is set in

Finnish Lapland Lapland ( fi, Lappi ; se, Lappi; smn, Laapi; sv, Lappland; la, Lapponia, links=no) is the largest and northernmost region of Finland. The 21 municipalities in the region cooperate in a Regional Council. Lapland borders the region of North O ...

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 Shamanism is a religious practice that involves a practitioner (shaman) interacting with what they believe to be a spirit world through altered states of consciousness, such as trance. The goal of this is usually to direct spirits or spiritu ...

, who indeed helps her out; but in the process turns her into a

shapeshifting In mythology, folklore and speculative fiction, shape-shifting is the ability to physically transform oneself through an inherently superhuman ability, divine intervention, demonic manipulation, Magic (paranormal), sorcery, Incantation, ...

vampiric A vampire is a mythical creature that subsists by feeding on the Vitalism, vital essence (generally in the form of blood) of the living. In European folklore, vampires are undead, undead creatures that often visited loved ones and caused mi ...

white reindeer. The villages' men are drawn to her and pursue her, with tragic results.

Cast

Mirjami Kuosmanen Mirjami Kuosmanen (22 February 1915 – 5 August 1963) was a Finnish actress. She appeared in 24 films between 1937 and 1956. She was married to filmmaker Erik Blomberg. In 1952, she won the Jussi Award for Best Actress for her role in ''The Whit ...

as Pirita and as Maarita, Pirita's mother *

Kalervo Nissilä Kaino Kalervo Nissilä (11 July 1913 – 30 March 1997) was a Finnish actor and a theatre leader. He is best remembered for such films as ''Härmästä poikia kymmenen'' (1950), ''Sadan miekan mies'' and '' Valkoinen peura'' (1952). Nissilä was a ...

as Aslak *

Åke Lindman Åke Leonard Lindman (born Åke Leonard Järvinen; 11 January 1928 – 3 March 2009) was a Finnish director and actor. In his youth Lindman was a football player, playing defence for the Finnish national team during the Olympics in Helsinki ...

as forest ranger *

Arvo Lehesmaa Arvo Aleksander Lehesmaa (till 1928 Nylund; 22 October 1901 – 18 May 1973) was a Finnish actor. He was seen on stage in such roles as Esko in an Aleksis Kivi play ''Nummisuutarit'' and Jago in William Shakespeare's '' Othello''. He also appeare ...

as Tsalkku-Nilla, shaman * Jouni Tapiola as reindeer herder * Tyyne Haarla as older woman (uncredited) *

Pentti Irjala Pentti Irjala (23 September 1911 – 25 June 1982) was a Finnish actor. Career Since 1959, Irjala worked for the Finnish National Theatre. He appeared in over a hundred films, making him the actor with one of the longest careers in Finnish film ...

as the speaker (uncredited) *

Edvin Kajanne Edvin is a form of Edwin and may refer to: * Edvin Alten (1876–1967), Norwegian judge * Edvin Biuković (1969–1999), Croatian comics artist * Edvin Hagberg (1875–1947), Swedish sailor and Olympic competitor * Edvin Hevonkoski (1923–2009) ...

as reindeer herder (uncredited) *

Kauko Laurikainen Kauko is a given name. Notable people with the name include: * Kauko Armas Nieminen (1929–2010), Finnish self-taught physicist * Kauko Hänninen (1930–2013), Finnish Olympic rower * Kauko Helovirta (1924–1997), Finnish film actor *Kauko Jalk ...

as man in Laplander's hut (uncredited) *

Heimo Lepistö Heimo is a German and Finnish male given name. Notable people with this name include: * Heimo Erbse (1924–2005), German composer * Heimo Haitto (1925–1999), Finnish-American violinist * Heimo Hecht (born 1961), Austrian sailor * Heimo Korth ...

as wealthy man (uncredited) *

Osmo Osva Osmo is a Finnish male given name. It appears in Kalevala, where it means "a young man". The name has been in use since the 1880s. Name day for Osmo in Finland is 11 May. People with the name Osmo *Osmo Kontula (born 1951), Finnish sociologist * ...

as reindeer herder (uncredited) * Aarne Tarkas as the groom (uncredited) *

Inke Tarkas Inke is a village in Somogy county, Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, R ...

as the bride (uncredited) *

Evald Terho Evald is a masculine given name found primarily in Northern Europe, especially in Denmark, Estonia, Norway and Sweden. It is a cognate of the German given name Ewald and may refer to the following individuals: * Eevald Äärma (1911–2005), Es ...

as Pirita’s father (uncredited) *

Kaarlo Wilska Kaarlo is a Finnish given name. Notable people with the name include: * Kaarlo Bergbom (1843–1906), Finnish theatre director * Kaarlo Blomstedt (1880–1949), Finnish historian and archivist * Kaarlo Castrén (1860–1938), Prime Minister of Fi ...

as reindeer herder (uncredited)

Release

Theatrical release

''The White Reindeer'' was released theatrically outside Finland in at least 11 countries, including the United States, Sweden and France.''Valkoinen peura''
at Elonet (in Finnish).

Home media

The film was released on VHS in Finland in 1990; and in the 2010s, DVDs were released in Finland and France. A 4K restoration from the original camera negative was realized in 2016–2017 by the National Audiovisual Institute of Finland and was released on Blu-ray with Swedish and English subtitles. On April 8, 2019, Region 2 DVDs and

Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of sto ...

disks were released by Eureka Entertainment, as a part of its "Masters of Cinema" series.

Reception

International reception

''The White Reindeer'' received mostly positive reviews from critics outside of Finland, with many praising the film's atmosphere, cinematography, and haunting imagery.

J. Hoberman James Lewis Hoberman (born March 14, 1949) is an American film critic, journalist, author and academic. He began working at ''The Village Voice'' in the 1970s, became a full-time staff writer in 1983, and was the newspaper's senior film critic ...

from ''

The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the crea ...

'' gave the film a positive review, calling it "a quasi-ethnographic exercise in magic neorealism". Hoberman also commended the film for its "terse delivery and stark premise". Jeremy Aspinall from ''

Radio Times ''Radio Times'' (currently styled as ''RadioTimes'') is a British weekly listings magazine devoted to television and radio programme schedules, with other features such as interviews, film reviews and lifestyle items. Founded in May 1923 by J ...

'' rated the film four out of five stars, praising the film's documentary-style cinematography, which he felt effectively captured Finland's snow-filled landscape, haunting imagery, and Kuosmanen's performance. ''

Starburst Magazine ''Starburst'' is a British science fiction magazine published by Starburst Magazine Limited. ''Starburst'' contains news, interviews, features, and reviews of genre material in various media, including TV, film, soundtracks, multimedia, books, ...

''s James Evans awarded the film a score of nine out of ten stars, calling it "a remarkable, beautiful, and compelling film that is fascinatingly rooted in Lapland mythology and Sámi practices"; highlighting the film's story, dream-like cinematography, and Kuosmanen's performance.

Maitland McDonagh Maitland McDonagh () is an American film critic and the author of several books about cinema. She is the author of ''Broken Mirrors/Broken Minds: The Dark Dreams of Dario Argento'' (1991) and works of erotic fiction and erotic cinema, as well a ...

from ''

TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or t ...

'' awarded the film 3 out of 5 stars, criticizing the film for being awkward in some parts while praising the cinematography, and haunting imagery. McDonagh concluded her review by calling it "A must-see for horror completists, and one of the few films to explore Sami folkloric traditions."

Awards

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Festival (; french: link=no, Festival de Cannes), until 2003 called the International Film Festival (') and known in English as the Cannes Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films o ...

1953: Best fairy-tale film *

Golden Globe The Golden Globe Awards are accolades bestowed by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association beginning in January 1944, recognizing excellence in both American and international film and television. Beginning in 2022, there are 105 members of t ...

1956: Best foreign-language film

References

Bibliography

* * *

External links

* * *
Valkoinen peura (The White Reindeer)
at

Elonet Elonet is a website run by the Finnish National Audiovisual Archive National Audiovisual Institute ( fi, Kansallinen audiovisuaalinen instituutti; sv, Nationella audiovisuella institutet or ') is a governmental bureau under the Finnish Ministry ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:White Reindeer, The 1952 films 1952 drama films 1950s fantasy films 1952 horror films Best Foreign Language Film Golden Globe winners 1950s Finnish-language films Finnish black-and-white films Films directed by Erik Blomberg Films about shapeshifting Films about animals Films about deer and moose Films set in Lapland Finnish fantasy films Finnish horror films Folk horror films Horror drama films