Brace Your Heart film explores Sami reindeer herding culture

Amanda Kernell’s third feature film, ‘Brace Your Heart’, explores the traditional life and complexities of the Sami Indigenous community in the Sápmi region. The drama follows Ejva, a young woman who must take over her family’s reindeer herd following her father’s death.

The narrative depicts the intense demands of reindeer herding and the social pressures within the community. The plot centers on Ejva’s evolving relationships and a traumatic sexual assault by a man named Heaika, an event that leaves her with physical symptoms and forces her to confront her future within the herding culture.