I watched a documentary on the issue of rising senior populations in Finnish Lapland and how so-called “village helpers” can aid the elderly with daily tasks. The documentary talks about the Sami population in Lapland, what their traditions and ways of life are like, and how these helpers can ensure that the elderly citizens living by themselves in the northernmost regions of Lapland can stay in their homes and keep their traditions alive. Not only does the older population benefit greatly from this program, but they can also teach Sami traditions to the younger generations. The documentary talks about how the Sami traditionally lead rather secluded lives and prefer staying by themselves. This lifestyle, however, becomes harder to manage as Finland’s population, like in most European countries, keeps growing older. This is where these helpers come in and help out with tasks such as getting firewood, hunting or drying reindeer meat and skins.
The documentary talks about an indigenous people, but was made by a German team. This creates delicate ethical situation, where filmmakers must be very careful not to misrepresent or mistreat the filmed minority. Filming must happen in collaboration and with lots of transparency in order to accurately represent the culture and heritage. In this documentary, the film team followed some of the village helpers which were either not Sami or still had to learn some things about the traditions and culture. This way, the film was able to teach and learn in a respectful way and also depict what the process of sharing tradition can look like. This way, the point of view of the documentary is similar to the actual relation of the filmmakers to the topic.
The film treats the difficult topic of loneliness in old age and an aging population, while also showing a possible solution and an optimistic outlook. At the same time, it shows indigenous traditions and breathtaking landscapes of the north. Visually the documentary found a good balance of beautiful b-roll of the Scandinavian winter and meaningful moments between the elderly and the village helpers.
Although a story arc was created by following the training of the new village helpers, the tension of whether they had passed their theoretical exam or whether the senior lady would like them felt a bit too forced and unimportant to be the main problem or conflict of the film.
To conclude, I liked the effortless way of including multiple important topics into the documentary while also making sure to treat them in a respectful and transparent way. However, the dramaturgy of the film I found a bit lacking because it felt forced rather than just documented. By this I do not mean that they created uncomfortable situations for the participants but I do feel like the filmmakers tried to create more of a dramatic situation than there actually was in the editing process, making this part of the film feel a bit over exaggerated. This has made me realised that while a dramatic story arc is important to keep viewers watching, it cannot be artificially created but has to be authentic.
