‘Brace Your Heart’ Review: Tradition and Modernity Collide in an Impassioned Ode to Sámi Womanhood

Amanda Kernell's third feature brings the identity politics of her debut, the historical drama 'Sámi Blood,' into the present day.

By Guy Lodge

Guy Lodge

Film Critic

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For those of us who only ever think about reindeer when December draws in, and even then in a fairly abstract sense, “Brace Your Heart” arrives as a flinty reality check. Following the life and trials of a young female reindeer herder in the present day, it’s stripped of any fairytale essence, and doesn’t stint on the grueling physical and economic challenges of the profession, even before the ugly actuality of being a woman in this male-dominated realm is made clear. The third feature from Swedish writer-director Amanda Kernell follows on from her 2016 debut “Sámi Blood” in spotlighting the experience of the indigenous Sámi community in northernmost Europe, to which Kernell herself belongs; where that film was a period piece, powerfully examining Sweden’s colonial oppression of her people, the filmmaker’s latest is a testament to the resilience of Sámi identity (and womanhood, in particular) in the 21st century.

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