Movie Review: Woman at War

Woman at War *** / *****

Directed by: Benedikt Erlingsson.

Written by: Ólafur Egilsson and Benedikt Erlingsson.

Starring: Halldóra Geirharðsdóttir (Halla / Ása), Jóhann Sigurðarson (Sveinbjörn), Juan Camillo Roman Estrada (Juan Camillo), Jörundur Ragnarsson (Baldvin).

 

Woman at War has deadly serious subject matter and at times can be as intense as any modern thriller. But oddly director Benedikt Erlingsson adopts a comic, absurdist tone for the movie that is both delightful, and yet somewhat confusing. I’m not sure that all the elements of the movie work together – as wonderful as they can be on their own. There is a fine dual performance at the heart of the film – by Halldóra Geirharðsdóttir – who keeps things grounded, keeps you invested in what comes next – and the film is never boring. It’s one of those films that you’re never quite sure if it “works” – but it’s doing so much else, you forgive it for missing that big one.

 

When we first meet Halla (Geirharðsdóttir) she is sabotaging power lines in rural Iceland – all part of her plan (that we will eventually hear) to protect the environment, by messing up a deal between Iceland and China, the details of which remain murky, but don’t really matter anyway. In the various sequences in the film set in the middle of nowhere – with Halla taking her acts of sabotage to bigger and bolder levels, the film operates as a tense thriller – she is alone out there, there are wordless chase sequences with her and various helicopters and drones she has to hide from – all expertly staged by Erlingsson. In order to escape from them, she relies – repeatedly on Sveinbjörn (Jóhann Sigurðarson) a local sheep farmer, and perhaps a distant cousin, she meets one day and helps her out. Back in her real life, she is a choir director, and a leads a quiet, solitary life. Then she gets news that flips her world upside down – she had applied to adopt a child four years ago, and hasn’t heard anything until now – there is a little Ukrainian girl in need of a home, and Halla can adopt her shortly. But if she continues with her sabotage activities – which are now generating a lot of headlines – and get caught, she would ruin everything. Her sister, Asa (also Geirharðsdóttir), a yoga instructor, is the backup guardian – but she may be moving away to India to live among the gurus.

 

The film, directed by Benedikt Erlingsson, is certainly odd. The score in the film is quite distinctive – done by a three-piece ensemble, who are more often than not, onscreen playing the score right alongside Halla – no matter where she is. Later, they will add a Ukrainian acapella trio to sing some songs in the same way. It’s a weird choice – but kind of a welcome one. It adds a degree of Scandinavian absurdism to the proceedings – like something out of a Roy Andersson or Aki Kaurismaki movie (who would have guessed, I would drop two Kaurismaki’s shout outs in one week – and from films as different as The Hole in the Ground and Woman at War?). There are other weird touches throughout the film as well – like the Spanish tourist who keeps getting arrested as the suspected terrorist (I’ve seen it suggested this was the film’s way of criticizing Halla’s white privilege – but I’m not sure I buy that – he is after all always at the scene of the crime, and the police always end up letting him go – he’s just in the wrong place at the wrong time).

 

The comic elements probably do help the film somewhat – the premise is deliberately far-fetched, and gets increasingly so as it reaches its absurd climax. Keeping things light then is a way to keep the film from feeling so ridiculous, because the film knows what it is, and is playing with it. It does undermine some of the best moments in the film though – the tense chase sequences, the intense emotional moments that don’t quite hit so hard because there’s a guy in the background playing a tuba.

 

Still, Woman at War is at least a unique film – an odd duck of a film that is constantly up to something. Whether it all comes together is kind of beside the point.