If the phrase “Arctic cosa nostra” sends a delightful anticipatory shiver down your Nordic noir-loving spine, you’ll find plenty to like in Finnish crime saga Reindeer Mafia.
That’s how producers Pete Eklund and Liisa Penttilä-Asikainen describe this eight-part series, which takes us into the heart of a small far-northern village and the reindeer-herding family that controls many of the local businesses and tracts of surrounding land.
When family matriarch Brita Nelihanka dies, her will causes a series of upsets. Her oldest son Sameli (Samuli Edelmann) returns for the funeral after spending a decade in a prison abroad. Also back is someone unexpected: Sara Poikkipää (Anna-Maija Tuokko, star of film festival audience favourite Master Cheng), the daughter of the family’s late rival and one of the beneficiaries of Brita’s will. For Brita’s husband Rouku (Aake Kalliala), the terms of the will threaten his mining project, though even more devastating is the discovery of a secret about his youngest son, Pieti (Olavi Uusivirta). Developments will also see family members clashing with Swedish-Norwegian harbour crime boss Stagge (Sex Education’s Mikael Persbrandt, the leading Swedish actor also known for the Beck series of films and as Beorn in The Hobbit, who was so keen on the project that a role was written especially for him). Thrown in moody landscapes, drug-smuggling, dangerous debts, an outlaw snowmobile club and a prior entanglement between Sameli and Sara, and it has all usual ingredients for a successful Nordic noir.
Sameli (Samuli Edelmann). Credit: Kaiho Republic
But Reindeer Mafia (Poromafia in Finnish, which looks almost like ‘pyro’ mafia, fittingly given the opening scenes involve someone throwing accelerant around and setting fire to a cottage), is different, bringing a darkly comic touch (and actual reindeer) to the family saga, and slotting into the small but successful sub-genre of “reindeer noir”.
Emerging in the past half-dozen or so years, this chilly sector of the Nordic noir beat takes its tone from Santa’s home town of Rovaniemi, and the surrounding areas, right on the Arctic Circle in Finnish Lapland, with Film Lapland commissioner Ida Tirkkonnen describing it as having “a hint of dark humour” and a focus on strong characters in small communities. A multi-branched sub-genre (how could we resist an antler reference!) taking in books and film along with TV, reindeer noir’s other leading examples include crime drama series Arctic Circle and several novels by best-selling Finnish author Elina Backman, which are currently being developed into a TV series. While filmed further south, in the coastal town of Hamini, Finnish series The Man Who Died (both seasons streaming at SBS On Demand), also boasts the same quirky cold-climate humour.
There's a Fargo-eque feel to some of the scenes in 'Reindeer Mafia'. Credit: Kaiho Republic
In Reindeer Mafia, which broke the host streamer’s viewing records in Finland and Sweden, that deft touch of humour is apparent right from the start when the arson attempt does not go quite as expected.
Loosely inspired by the novel of the same name by Finnish author Mikko-Pekka Heikkinen, the quirky crime feel of the TV series (The UK’s Telegraph dubs it “Succession but with a dash of The Sopranos on snowmobiles”) was a deliberate nod to the influence of the Coen Brothers, says series writer and director Mika Kurvinen (Invisible Heroes).
“The mood and style of the Reindeer Mafia bows to Coen brothers’ films. In this alternative reality of Lapland, we can see the ‘80s American influence in architecture and vehicles. It is sort of a symbol of decay and a hint that the world´s superpower has changed. This contrast is the canvas of our characters of simple needs. And the base for the dark humour of the story,” says Kurvinen, who won the Finnish Television Academy’s Director of the Year award for his work on the series. (The series also won Best Drama.)
“Reindeer Mafia is located at a remote society in the middle of wilderness of Lapland. All the young people have moved away, and the withering country is for the old men. The Northeast Passage has melted for shipping. The Arctic Ocean Railway runs through the landscapes of Lapland. There´s only few of them left who want to secure their natural resources from the majority who believe that the future is only possible by making collaboration with the new gods, global corporations from China. Of course, this is fiction. But it could be closer to the reality than many think.”
A chilly chase in 'Reindeer Mafia'. Credit: Kaiho Republic
Filming in such remote and chilly locations brought its own challenges, with camera operators battling near-frozen fingers in -30°C temperatures, and one of the main locations more than 300 kilometres from the nearest airport. Which brings us to a suitably quirky almost-Aussie connection to the series, via the mullet-wearing Finnish F1 driver who has made Australia his second home. “We lived next door to Valtteri Bottas!”, says Paavo Westerberg, who plays a local policeman in the series, talking about the cast and crew staying in the village of Kilpisjärvi.
Sara (Anna-Maija Tuokko). Credit: Kaiho Republic
While the snowy landscapes offer some stuffing visuals and remind us how the battles for control are tied to ownership of the land (also potentially deadly if you’re abandoned naked in it, as Pieti finds himself), it’s the people and their choices that sit at the heart of this series: Brita’s decisions, revealed in her will; the father-son battle between Sameli and Rouku; the push-pull of past and present for Sameli and Sara, who’s looking for revenge for the death of her father.
With strong acting, the darkly comic touches, and a fresh take on a familiar genre, Reindeer Mafia is the kind of chilly crime where you’ll thoroughly enjoy the ride. Gloves, coats and furry hats optional.
Reindeer Mafia is streaming at SBS On Demand.
Stream free On Demand
Reindeer Mafia
series • drama • Finnish
MA15+
series • drama • Finnish
MA15+
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