Unto Dust Shalt Thou Return

This documentary brings into focus a dark chapter in Norwegian and Lapp history. How is it possible that an old-fashioned documentary clutches you slowly and unnoticeably, and gradually insists that you must sit through and find out what happened? An old Sami woman´s powerful but withdrawn agony is captured beautifully in this film. And the recurring injustices that the Norwegian authorities have committed towards the aboriginal population in our country are once more exposed by director Johannes Kalvermo. In 1852 a group of Lapps revolted against the clergy in Kautokeino. It was a social uproar caused by provocations and long-lasting social oppression of the Lapps. The bloody revolt resulted in the killing of a police sergeant and a shopkeeper. Two years later, the leaders of the revolt, Aslak Jacobsen Heatta and Mons Somby, were beheaded at Galgeberget (Gallows Hill) in Alta. Heatta´s grandchild Risten Heatta Pentha, who is 90 years old, tells about her search for the skull of her grandfather. It was not found until 1997, at the University of Copenhagen, were it had been kept for research. The return of the skulls of Aslak Heatta and Mons Somby marks a victory of sorts for Norway´s 30,000 Lapps, who live in the harsh terrain of the country´s far north, inside the Arctic Circle.