Brace Your Heart (2026) Movie Drinking Game
Take a Drink: for traditional garb
Take a Drink: for reindeer
Take a Drink: for reminders she’s not entirely welcome with the boys
Do a Shot: for bangers
Do a Shot: for silence where words are needed
By: Henry J. Fromage (Two Beers) –
The Sami people occupy an interesting place as one of the very few indigenous peoples of Europe that have preserved their culture and traditions for millennia. Living largely above the Arctic Circle may have something to do with that.
Brace Your Heart follows Ejva, who’s just inherited her father’s reindeer herd after his untimely passing. She struggles to fill his shoes, or perhaps more accurately to be accepted by the nearly entirely male herders she now works alongside.
A Toast
Brace Your Heart begins in harrowing fashion- two children are out with their father in the wild when he suddenly has what appears to be a heart attack. A rescue helicopter is called, but it’s too late- Ejva is the inheritor and now caretaker of herd.
Herding reindeer is a tough and dangerous life- she’s got the will and strength to do so, but not many women even try, and she experiences ambivalence from her male compatriots when she wants to come along on the reindeer drive. That is until she gets together with the young village foreman, eventually agreeing to marry him and blend their herds in anticipation of the upcoming nuptials.
As time passes and she gets more of an idea of just how controlling he is, and is saved by another young herder when she falls through the ice rushing to scatter reindeer out of the way of a coming train, she finds herself in a romantic conundrum. That is, at least until the plot takes a dark turn, at which point there’s no conundrum whatsoever.
This sets up a clash with her community, as she at first tries to break off her engagement with her betrothed, which also entails separating their reindeer herds, a task nobody will help her on. She then decides it may be better to flee what happened to her by moving to the city and getting an apartment and factory job, but ultimately returns to face off against her ex-fiancé and retake her place in the community in an incredibly powerful scene.
The drama does work quite well when it comes, but Director Amanda Kernell is content to otherwise pursue an almost documentary approach, immersing us in these people’s daily lives and traditional past times like lassoing and riding.
Beer Two
You have to glean a lot of the context for various cultural and professional activities yourself- the approach is almost too observational to some degree.
Verdict
Brace Your Heart is the story of a strong and resilient Sami woman who is pushed to take a stand, even if it’s against tradition.
