What a movie. The first thing that came to my mind when the end credits started rolling over a gorgeous waterscape was how beautifully the film justifies it's title and lives up to it, capturing all of the Finnish rural life in all its majestic scope and gory details. The movie unfolds in a poetic manner, weaving a really melancholic and sinful song in its course, and laying bare the intricacies of Lapp (indigenous people of Lapland) lives and the most carnal of human behaviors. The village life is portrayed with utter honesty and is so brutally natural in its narrative that it will surely grip you and exert an air of morbidity mixed with beauty. Disbelieving, you will watch their lives and realize that deep inside, you too are like them, ruled by instincts, and whilst they acted as they felt, we, the modern men, devise new ways to achieve the same through deception and slime. Even if each character has morals that won't match up to our (fake) standards, you, as a viewer cannot help but admire the toughness and gut in their lives. Conservatism versus Desires leads to a fate that is bleak but yet optimist and stoic and cyclical in its anti-climax. The story revolves around Martta, a promiscuous girl in love with a womanizing herdsman, and how their love ripples through a family. The Padre, an intentional insertion by the director, does not fail to burn the imagination as he delivers fear unto the villagers with his poisonous and twisted sermons, and drives them into an orgy to purge sins. The movie always tries to explore contradictions and honestly speaking, what is life without contradictions? In giving no answers and taking no sides, Mollberg is able to capture life in its magnificence, and create a reflective and awesome movie experience. Totally recommended. Truly an allegorical film and a microcosmic representation of humanity under the sheen.
Review of The Earth Is a Sinful Song
