★★★½
There’s something viscerally beautiful about a film so grounded in time and space. In our current cinematic landscape dominated by elevated horror, big blockbusters and financially safe remakes, seeing an understated film laced with raw honesty is a refreshing change.
Set in the pristine, frosty white lands of Sápmi, northern Scandinavia, ÁRRU, by Elle Sofe Sara in their directorial debut, is rich in emotional depth and tells a powerful story of resilience and the fight to protect cultural identity.
Evoking the essence of Sámi culture, ÁRRU is less film and more cinematic folk song. A joik that portrays the deep ancestral connection the Sámi reindeer herders have to the land. And more importantly, the harrowing tragedy they face: the imminent loss of their land to a looming mining project.
The story follows single mum Maia (Sara Marielle Gaup Beaska), reluctantly turning towards a long-absent activist lawyer uncle, Lemme (Mikkel Gaup), to help fight for land rights against commercial colonialist enterprises. Lemme’s return, however, soon unearths traumatic family history and forces Maia into the difficult position of choosing between saving her people or fracturing her family.
The use of music is a highlight of the film. The swelling, soul-stirring Gairu folk music serves as the emotional pulse of the narrative. In an otherwise disjointed series of scenes within the film, the recurrent, rousing ode to Gairu and vibrant folk choreography firmly anchors the story within the world of the Sámi and reindeer.
There is a highly surrealist dance scene where Maia runs through the fjords, physically enmeshed in a nest of naked bodies against a soundscape of deep breaths. There is another scene during the protest camp that feels like a surprise musical. After Lemme’s passionate but slightly generic speech, Áilin leads the protestors into a resplendent communal dance that exudes Sámi joy and pride.
Performances are praiseworthy across the board, especially within a film that stylistically gives so little space for actors to shine as performers. Baeska, as Maia, delivers a grounded, down-to-earth portrayal of a single mother, caught between family and connection to land.
In many ways, Maia symbolises the land itself. Cool, nonchalant, non-smiling (as her daughter remarks), even her arctic blue outfit merges her with the snowy fjords. This starkly contrasts with Gaup’s charismatic and energetic Lemme, who, at face value, is a champion for indigenous land rights across the world, mobilising the press and stirring protests. But in reality, Lemme is as exploitative and self-serving as the land mining corporations.
Maia’s daughter Áilin (Ayla Nutti), the bubbly rebellious teenager, delivers the one moment in the film that came close to a cathartic climax. Nutti gives a very public, fiery (and satisfying) dressing-down to her middle-aged great-uncle’s hypocrisy, in one of the most engaging scenes, triggering many laughs from the audience.
Despite the inherent conflict within the film, the narrative is virtually non-existent. Aesthetically, the film is bare and unadorned with flourishes. Nor does the editing serve as a driver to heighten tensions. This is a film that unabashedly relishes in just existing.
We are offered a window to peer through and feel the presence of a people and way of life. What we see is a snippet of life with no resounding justice or well-packaged solution to the conflict.
Sometimes in life, we are faced with obstacles out of our control. Despite our best efforts, the only thing we can do is express our quiet dissent. It is also the grim reality many Indigenous communities around the world are faced with, when their voices are relegated into spaces of silence and fights against dispossession are largely ignored by national discourse. This is powerfully conveyed by the noticeable absence of non-Sámi Scandinavians throughout the film.
This is the reality that ÁRRU (Northern Sámi for ‘obstacle’) presents to its audience. While the lack of strong narrative payoff, simple editing and cinematic techniques means ÁRRU as a film can come across as unsatisfying, its depiction of events is very true to life. And like life, the story just goes on.
ÁRRU runs at the 2026 Hurtigruten Nordic Film Festival from 9 July, with dates varying in each city.
See full city dates and venues below.
Tickets: https://nordicfilmfestival.com.au/films/nor26-arru
Website: https://nordicfilmfestival.com.au/
Socials: https://www.instagram.com/nordicfilmfest/
Hero image supplied. Watch the Festival trailer below:
Film details:
Title: ÁRRU
Director: Elle Sofe Sara
Cast: Sara Marielle Gaup Beaska, Simon Issát Marainen, Ayla Gáren Nutti, Mikkel Gaup
Country of Origin: Norway, Sweden, Finland
Duration: 95 mins
Rating: CTC
2026 Festival Dates and Venues by City:
Canberra: 9 July – 2 August, Palace Electric
Melbourne: 10 July – 2 August, Palace Balwyn, Palace Brighton Bay, Palace Church St, Palace Cinema Como, Palace Westgarth, Palace Penny Lane, The Kino, Pentridge Cinema and The Astor Theatre
Ballarat: 10 July – 2 August, Palace Regent Cinema
Brisbane: 22 July – 16 August, Palace James St, Palace Barracks
Adelaide: 22 July – 16 August, Palace Nova Eastend Cinemas, Palace Nova Prospect Cinemas
Sydney: 23 July – 16 August, Palace Norton St, Palace Moore Park and Palace Central
Perth: 23 July – 16 August, Luna Leederville, Luna on SX and Palace Raine Square
Byron Bay and Ballina: 23 July – 16 August, Palace Byron Bay, Ballina Fair Cinemas
