SAMPO (1959)

 

PHENOMENALITY: *marvelous*
MYTHICITY: *good*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *adventure*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTION: *metaphysical, sociological*

It's been many years since I read THE KALEVALA, an epic poem assembled from raw Finnish sources by folklore scholar Elias Lonnrot in 1835. But like many of the epics composed in archaic times, KALEVALA is an episodic story. Therefore it does no violence to the overall epic to adapt just one part of it, as long as the adapter skillfully renders that section with an integrity regarding the symbolic discourse.

In contrast, I have next to no information as to why the USSR in the 1950s invested considerable money into promoting films designed to reproduce ancient myth-stories. But because they did, director and FX-specialist Alexsandr Ptushko had the chance to become a sort of "Russian Ray Harryhausen." Of the half dozen fantasy-films Ptushko directed, SAMPO may possess the most mythic integrity.

The arc of stories Ptushko chose from the epic concern a battle between the stalwart Finnish heroes from the land of Kalevala and  the evil witch Louhi (Anna Orochko) in the Northland. The two realms represent respectively the land of mortal life, devoted to light and life, and the land of death, devoted to preying on life. The entire plot revolves around the agents of death trying to claim either persons or property from the life-realm, and the heroic counter-efforts of mortals.

The film introduces us to three noble lead characters: the blacksmith Ilmarinen (Ivan Voronov), his sister Annikki (Eve Kivi) and Annikki's groom-to-be Lemmikainen (Andris Osins). Ilmarinen, a blacksmith of supernatural capacities, is approached by a few men from the local village. They have heard of a magical mill called the Sampo, which is capable of grinding forth salt, grain, and gold, and they wonder if the smith can forge this legendary artifact for the enrichment of their village. But Ilmarinen says that he cannot, for he needs a special "holy fire" for that project, and that fire lies in the hands of Louhi.

Louhi, as it happens, wants just such a mill forged for her, but though she possesses the holy fire, she doesn't have a smith with Ilmarinen's skills. So she sends her magical cloak across the sea to the land of Kalevala, where the cloak abducts Annikki. Once the two heroes learn of the young woman's kidnapping, they sail to the Northland. Louhi sets them a few tasks, as if testing their mettle, and then gets down to cases. She will release Annikki only if Ilmarinen crafts the magical Sampo.

After arduous labors, the smith succeeds and Louhi keeps her word. However, as Annikki and the heroes sail back to their home, Leimmikainen becomes irked at how Louhi treated them. He swims back to the Northland while Ilmarinen sails back home with his sister. However, Louhi slays Lemmikainen and his body is washed up on the shores of Kalevala.

I believe the following sequence was omitted from the American cut of SAMPO, possibly because of its pagan take on resurrection, Lemmikainen's distraught mother seeks out various nature-spirits, asking them to help her revive her sun. At last the sun rejuvenates the dead hero. Though his mother warns him that he cannot expect a second revival, Lemmikainen sails back to the Northland again, However, this time he sneaks into a corridor where Louhi keeps captive the winds and mists of the heavens. He unleashes a mist to conceal his actions as he steals the Sampo and loads it into his boat. When Louhi learns that the mill is missing, she detects the thief and whips up a storm, whelming his boat. But though most of the mill's substance is lost beneath the waves-- where it continually produces the salt within the sea-- Lemmikainen swims back to Kalevala with one small piece of the mill, with which he can enrich his people.

The wrathful Louhi takes revenge. Just as Lemmikainen and Annikki are about to be wed-- another life-renewing ritual-- Louhi steals the sun and subjects Kalevala to freezing winds. This time, the two heroes consult the elder wizard Vainomoinen, and he shows them the way to charm the sun back into the sky with musical minstrelry. When the sun is recovered, Lemmikainen returns to the Northland for one last time, and Louhi is defeated.

The constant back-and-forth of the heroes and their witchy adversary raiding one another is one of the most enduring tropes in myth, and several of Ptushko's scenarios are very evocative, particularly the mother beseeching nature-spirits for her son's life. Possibly because of the limits of FX available to the director in that period, Ptushko's visuals are sometimes too dependent on using only middle-range shots, with few if any of the close-ups that engender greater audience empathy. It's an interesting, possibly not entirely coincidental parallel that both Russian and American moviemakers issuing more ambitious epic fantasies in the 1950s, and SAMPO is definitely one of the top ten fantasies of that decade.