This magnificent drama-documentary records the now largely vanished traditional life of the reindeer-herder Sami people of the Scandinavian Arctic. Netflix UK has recently done us the service of presenting many unknown but remarkable early films from Sweden and Norway, amongst which 'Midnattssolens son' is included. This title ought to be considered alongside the work of Robert J. Flaherty. However, we should probably not expect that this wonderful film can be fairly assessed by our own 'politically-correct' audiences today, obsessed as they are with their own trivial lives to the exclusion of any real interest in the heroic struggles of the Sami, in their hostile environment. Yet the awe-inspiring spectacle of this admirable race of people, prevailing cheerfully amidst some of the harshest conditions of nature, should be an inspiration to anyone appalled by the wretched and degenerate state of our own society.
