Stupid, insulting - and a bit boring

Rating: 4/10 (20 July 2019)

The beginning of the film is brilliant. It is believable, gives a relevant introduction of the characters and set their internal relationships. Everything up until and including when the camera rolls 180 degrees (very clever footage) and the four young americans and the single swede travels up side down in the northern parts of Sweden is well done. It is Florence Pugh moments in the movie where she is given the chance to shine. It also gives an opening to how the movie could have ended. The car scene turns into a bad trip on some funghi and maybe - but apparently not since the film makers did not make any more significant hints towards it - it could all be just a nightmare and a purgatory for the female protagonist to get out of her grief and out of her poor relationship to her boyfriend and into a better self esteem. But from the bad trip the movie walks into the hands of the sect and turns in a southernly direction.
As a Swede I can not help feeling insulted by the outright stupid and primitive portrayal of somthing that should resemble swedish (midsummer) traditions. Apparently some research has been made since I can recognize bits and pieces - the Falu red coloured barn, the folklore dresses (but not in any of the correct and traditional variants), the outdoor long table for lunch with snaps, the occasional violin and so on. But most is just outright fabrication and close to a colonial view of some seriously deranged people in some primitive part of the world. But then I realise there are some other people that are even more unhinged and it is the american youngsters that not only are appalingly ignorant despite their higher education in philantropy, but also unable to interpret ceremonial killings (of humans), mystical disappearance of other outsiders to the cult and pure secterism as a warning to be careful and withdraw. But maybe this is what to be seen as normal in a "horror movie". Even so, I keep on wishing the "locals" would have been Danes, Norwegians or why not North Dakotians.
Before the locals prove themselves to be full blown psycopaths - but extremely well organised and conniving psycopaths since they manage to gather enough externals and manipulate them to get just enough human sacrifice, be helped with the breeding to propagate the tribe and also get a brand new May Queen - there are some sequences where I feel a secondary shame. The movie is non sense and makes no sense. It is just poor and awkward. Then it turns into full crazy and the awkwardness is more bearable and probably intended (at least some of it).
The actors portraying the locals most have wondered what they were supposed to do or how this would come across. Not nicely, anyway. And poor Florence Pugh. She needs to work hard to no avail. I saw her in The little drummer girl, was hugely impressed and noted her for future stardom. But it is not her fault she also becomes awkward at times.
It is almost as the beginning and the rest of the film where done by different teams or directors. And maybe they were. If so I would have guessed the moral was higher when the first part was shot.
Anyway - "synd på så rara ärter". (A pity with so nice peas.)