Pirita represents a primal, pagan animal spirit... A feminine spirit resistant to the encroachment of Christianity and of more patriarchal values. The taming of her - an allegory of Sámi history - is as much tragedy as triumph.

Blomberg makes the most of the Lapland locations: the wooded plains, seen under feet of snow, are forbidding-the horizon always seems distant. Against this backdrop, the movie's conflicts feel especially primal.

Perhaps the world's only example of Sami gothic cinema.

A beautiful film from Finland presenting a story from Lapland mythology, which won the one-off "best fairytale" prize at Cannes in 1953.