Woman at War

Halla (played by Halldora Geirhardsdottir), a middle-aged Icelandic woman leading a seemingly ordinary life, is secretly a fierce eco-warrior. Staying completely off the radar, she conducts lone daring missions of sabotage against a big industrial plant that is endangering the environment of her region and her entire country. Her weapons of choice are small-scale explosives, and bow and arrows. The bare bones of this plot sound like just the sort of thing for a Hollywood action film, but Woman at War is stylistically so different, so NOT Hollywood that it inhabits practically a different universe. And it's all the better for that. We care about what's going on on the screen, and about the protagonist Halla, far more here than we ever would for things like Mission Impossible or Fast and Furious or the Bond films or a dozen other franchises like them which are basically just eye candy.

There actually aren't that many true 'action' scenes: most of the screen time is devoted to interactions among the relatively small cast of characters, and some slow-burn suspense. Will Halla keep successfully evading the authorities who are ramping up their search for the saboteur? After all, Iceland is a pretty small country. Her motivation for what she's doing also would not cut very deep unless we had a well rounded picture of her life and the deep connection of her fellow Icelanders with their own land. Her sister Asa (played by the same actress -- and the scenes where Asa and Halla are both on screen are seamlessly done) comes in and out of the story, as does cousin Sveinbjorn (Johann Sigurdarson), a farmer who helps Halla at critical moments. Halla is thrown a major curve when her hoped-for chance to adopt a little orphan girl from Eastern Europe come up suddenly: does she change the course of her life to take it, or let it go and continue her profoundly risky guerilla war? There are also genuinely surprising twists -- essentially bits of luck and timing -- that make us realize that every bit of the backstory and setup in the first half of the movie was put there for a reason.

There are loads of engaging details from beginning to end. In one scene Halla is being hunted by a police drone seeking for her in the countryside near the industrial plant. She shoots it down with her bow and arrow and then stomps it to pieces. (Who wouldn't like to do that with those annoying things, just once?) The oddest touch of all, though, has to do with the music. The edgy background music is played by a small band of musicians who are sometimes actually on screen, standing just to the side of the action -- on roadsides, on city streets, by airport parking lots. Their onscreen presence usually takes place at critical junction points in the story. This eccentric touch takes a further step into the truly surreal when at times Halla actually notices them (!) as if she has stepped outside her own role.

All in all, it's very much worth seeing. A whole lot of Hollywood studio suits who are only after your money could learn from far more genuine films like this one.

Woman at War is a film about a woman who has taken on the role of eco-terrorist to try and fight increased industrialization in Iceland. The question is, can she fight for what she thinks is right, keep her identity hidden from the authorities, and live a normal life in the meantime? This movie was exhilarating in all the right ways. I was totally invested in her adventures, and always wondered if she would take things too far. When regular life comes into play, I was even more interested to see what she might do, since balancing life as an outlaw with domestic life could be impossible. I was totally intrigued by this character. She is likable, and feels like one of the most friendly women you could possibly meet, and yet she is also fiercely passionate about a cause and does what she can for the betterment of her country (without hurting anyone in the process.)

One of the more quirky elements of Woman at War is something I'd rather not spoil for those who haven't seen the film. However, it's a fun way of breaking the fourth wall that I never saw coming. It made me laugh every time they went there, and added a unique element that sets this film apart from others I've seen. Halldóra Geirharðsdóttir is absolutely awesome in the lead role. She has to carry a great deal of this film on her own, and she manages to do it all and make it look easy. The tone of the film ranges from serious to silly, and that could throw some people off. Personally, I thought it worked remarkably well, and I enjoyed both the chuckles and the stress of our hero possibly being caught. It's a movie that entertains you and makes a point all at the same time. I would highly recommend Woman at War to anyone looking for something off the beaten path. It's a delightfully different kind of film.

Woman At War: Halla (Halldóra Geirharðsdóttir) is angry. Angry at Rio Tinto whose smelter is damaging the pristine environment of Iceland. So she takes direct action, sabotaging electricity pylons, cutting off power to the smelter. There is more than just the smelter involved though. Halla's actions are putting at stake a resources exploitation deal between China and Iceland. Halla's gets inside information from a senior civil servant, Baldvin (Jörundur Ragnarsson), Baldvin is now worried that Halla will be caught, a satellite will be used to track her, and tries to persuade her to just issue a manifesto. Halaa gas another reason to reconsider her actions: she has been approved to adopt a girl.

This is a political thriller, a comedy with surreal overtones, an eco-action film. But foremost it is about the indomitable spirit of one woman who will have to make hard choices. When Halla is pursued by helicopters and drones she hides in crevices, uses the carcass of a dead sheep to fool heat-seeking radar. Discovers a long lost cousin, farmer Sveinbjörn (Jóhann Sigurðarson), who helps her escape. A three piece band and choir trio appear incongruously in scenes. Eventually the surreal turns existential, Halla goes to a rooftop to scatter copies of her manifesto, the band enter the action and tweet images of her proclamation,

Director & co-writer Benedikt Erlingsson delivers a delightful, funny but hard-hitting drama. 8/10.

While the narrative may not physically reflect the lengths most of us would go to, it certainly promotes the psyche that anyone with a shimmer of a conscious about the ecosystems of the earth would or should feel. Enjoy it for what it is, a fight against the forces that see profit above people and the planet, twinned with a sweet and sentimental heart driven right through its centre.

I really liked this quirky Icelandic eco-thriller about a woman that goes to great lengths to do what she thinks is right for her country. But to try and categorize this movie is a bit tricky, as this reminded me more of Roy Andersson movies than Soylent Green, with a lot of surrealistic moments like a band that provides the movie's soundtrack but is an integral part of the action and, for better or worse, is one of the most unforgettable aspects of this film. It is generally well shot and Halldóra Geirharðsdóttir provides a great performance in the titular role.