Land og synir

I first saw this 1980 film by Ágúst Guðmundsson, Land og synir (Land and Sons), back when it came out at the Nordic Film Festival. My Icelandic was not that hot when I first saw it, but there is not that much speaking anyway and there were English subtitles. On the flight back from Iceland this year I managed to squeeze in this film as a second film. I skipped over some of the bits in the middle that I remembered as being quite brutal. There was a real horse shot in the film which caused quite a public stir.

This is a film about the harshness of living in the countryside of Iceland during the Depression days. You could work from dawn to dusk and still not have enough to eat and still owe the co-op money. When Einar's father dies, he decides to quit this life and move to town. He sells everything he can, either slaughters the animals or sells them, and asks the girl from the next farm over to elope with him. They are to meet at the hotel in the next village, but she doesn't come, so he boards the bus alone.

The landscapes in this film are fantastic, Iceland nominated it for the foreign film Oscar, but it was not in the final nominees. Many Icelandic habits, such as drinking coffee at all hours of the day, are portrayed. The hardness of a sheep roundup and the swearing and drinking that go on during this yearly happening are in sharp contrast to the dancing celebrations.

You want to put a sweater on because the film so aptly portrays the cold and rain people have to put up with. The topic of people moving to the cities is still an acute one. We saw some abandoned houses in the Westfjords of Iceland, people just finally giving up because they can't make a living off fish or sheep. Another film worth watching if it shows up on a streaming service - or on a flight with Icelandair.