*spoiler-free till half-way* I wanted to like this film. It has beautiful images from the area and herding of reindeer and costumes from the Sami people. Although it's obvious that most of the actors aren't professionals, I think it's important for the message of the movie that they are played by Sami people and overall they do a decent job.

My issue is with the writing. The film touches on many interesting topics: unemployment among the villagers, the opening of a mine that will bring jobs, but will also interfere with the herding of the reindeer, the distrust between Sami people and the other villagers, alcoholism, depression and suicide among young people. Even the grandmother with beginning dementia and Elsa wondering if she should leave for university could have been interesting plot points. Enough topics to fill a multiple season show! All of these topics are touched upon briefly, but none of them is worked out properly, leaving me either wanting to know more or just not interested.

*big spoilers from here* Then there's the plot of the movie. Villagers kill reindeer to try and chase away the Sami people, because they prefer mining over herding reindeer. A young girl sees one of the killers but is afraid to say anything and ten years later, as a young woman, she wants to finally catch him. It could've been an exciting thriller-like plot. Sadly, the action is too slow, most characters just lack urgency or logic. Most of the plot is Elsa telling her elders or the police what happened and they denying her story over and over again. Then in the end, she tells the story to the police again and now they believe her, because the guy's already dead and they find the dead reindeer in his shed. The story just left me very unsatisfied. I think with better writing and better directing, it could have been an exciting story in an original setting with a strong message, but now it's sadly a mediocre film.

And finally: what about that mine? Did it ever open? Did the Sami fight back? It's never been spoken of again and the story ends with a sentimental message.

Stolen is set in an indigenous (Sami) community of reindeer herders in northern Sweden. After years of harassment from a local non indigenous group, and an inadequate response from police, a young Sami woman decides to take matters into her own hands.

Although a simple tale that focuses mainly on racism and its dispiriting effect on the community, the movie also hints at broader problems, namely competition for land, disagreement about government subsidies to the Sami, and the likely impact of climate change on the region.

Visually the movie is delightful with the colourful Sami costumes set off by beautiful snow covered landscapes. The vibrancy of the visuals provide a stark but welcome contrast to the sense of doom about the future of the Sami way of life.

On the good side - the scenery is great.

The story of local Swedes trying to drive out indigenous Sami is sadly replicated all over the world, the Sami are trying to hang on desperately to a way of life increasingly untenable in the 21st century and the non-native locals hate the special privileges the natives have.

Also throw in a mining company wanting to dig the place up for completeness.

It takes about 2 decades, but the evil guy shooting reindeer is finally defeated. This is the very definition of a slow burn and nothing like an American shoot-em-up.

The bad - Actual Sami actors were used, no dark-haired English woman pretending to be an Arctic native as in Smila's Sense of Snow. The issue here is that is seems sometimes like a school play, the actors seem to be very obviously acting.

The other frustrating thing is the Sami seem incredibly passive. Maybe they really are that way, but an American watching this would be thinking how short your life expectancy would be if you got repeatedly caught going to the local ranch and shooting the cows.

The other annoying thing is every now and then they throw in a "Oh no, it is too hot or too cold, how can the reindeer cope with climate change". Not that reindeer don't have issues with climate change, but it is almost like there is a insert climate message here spot in the script every 15 minutes whether is makes sense right then or not.

Worth watching, but don't expect a Swedish version of a range-war action movie.