MJÓLK, La guerre du lait

Most of the movie is a widowed woman tending to her farm in Iceland; seems the farmers belong to a local CO-OP that, not clearly explained, seems to control farmer & community economy (prices, raw materials, selling of farm products like milk) to some little dissatisfaction (also not clearly explained). Ending lacked believability. Didn't really get a sense of farm life. Most CO-OPs are well run, but true that some put pursuing money foremost.

I have seen some reviewers expecting this to be a comedy and I was quite surprised. Maybe this is due to a trailer or marketing.

I saw this on at a local film festival and had no prior knowledge of it, so I wasn't expecting any particular genre. Simply put, without that comedic expectation, this movie is excellent, well acted and filmed, with some fantastic sound design and music (and suspense-filled silence too)

The story, revolving around Inga's battle against corruption by a certain company in her country, is well paced, with some very well placed humour and suspense. All the other characters are great too. Most importantly, all of them are believable. None feel fake or over-acted or badly written.

Importantly to me, though, the main character, Inga... isn't a woman for the sake of it. This isn't a feminist focused movie trying to make Inga out to be 'powerful' or 'brave' or anything like that. She's portrayed as a normal human being who falls on hard times and is sick of it. This just makes her all the more lovable!

Overall an excellent movie. Go watch it.

... same the world over unfortunately but this time in Iceland, as Inga, an indomitable widow, takes on the exploitative local cooperative that led to her husbands death and the bankruptcy she faces. Go Girl Power!!!

I went into The County expecting it to be more of a comedy than it actually was. To be fair I expected bleak, dry and dark comedy because Iceland is like that. There is also some kind of similarity between New Zealand isolation stories and the Icelandic ones. It does feel like rural Iceland and rural NZ are quite similar and so I expected the tone to a bit dark.

Well that part was correct only a bit bleaker than I had expected. The earthy anti-glamor realism of thick jerseys and overalls plus dollops of cow muck and milk are a bit hard to watch without an involuntary wince or two.

I knew the lead character was a widow before I went to see the film and so was surprised to find the husband alive for the first part of the film. I think the editors could have missed that section and I was somewhat distracted to see the supposed corpse breathing in the body ID scene. The impression is that they are people of few words. When the lead character makes a pointed post on Facebook the group dynamic changes and the conflict from that drives the movie forward. It does feel a bit compressed though from a narrative perspective.

I know it is is a script but the villains of the film are cartoonish and very very stilted. By the end of the film there are some rays of hope although there are some realistic outcomes as well. Not as great at say "Woman at War" or "A White,White Day" but it has its charms.

A captivating drama that becomes more exciting and thought-provoking as it goes on, The County isn't necessarily the most easy-going watch, but it is still a gripping one throughout. Complete with a typically Scandinavian atmosphere of understated emotion, this film isn't the hyperbolic drama it could have been in different hands, instead telling its story as quietly, yet honestly, as possible.

Director Grímur Hákonarson received strong acclaim around the world for his 2015 film, Rams, which also looks at life in Iceland's farming community. That film, though insightful and certainly atmospheric, wasn't a masterpiece of storytelling in my opinion, and often felt more drab than genuinely understated.

The County, however, is a step in the right direction. Certainly, the film is deliberately filled with rough edges. It moves at a slow pace, its setting is rugged, and it often gets very detailed with the nitty-gritty of the politics of farming - something that few other films are willing to do.

And yet, this is never a boring watch. It's not a heart-stopping one either, but The County is meant to be an understated and affecting drama, and it achieves that for the most part.

Above all, the film's political edge is its most interesting line of focus. Though not entirely present in the early stages of the film, which looks more at grief and vulnerability, The County really steps up a gear in its middle act, taking aim at abusive and controlling organisations that pretend to be benevolent members of the community.

As I said, the nitty-gritty of how Icelandic farming cooperatives work may not be something you'd immediately think of as fascinating, but The County imbues that with real emotional depth, pitching the conflict between a frustrated farmer and an increasingly arrogant and uncontrollable organisation against the backdrop of personal loss.

In that, the film's overall arc comes together nicely, with a captivating blend of emotional and political drama. However, The County is just missing a small spark of life to really make it hit home.

Hákonarson's understated style shouldn't be criticised, after all it's what makes some of this film's most intimate and thought-provoking moments so powerful. However, this story, which to a degree looks at pent-up frustration, doesn't quite deliver that emotion as effectively as could be the case.

There's a part of me that wants this film to be a little like Wild Tales - a story of a normal person eventually having enough with the world and losing their cool. However, this is Iceland, not Argentina, and they deal with their frustration in a different way.

So, The County doesn't go to the hyperbolic lengths of Wild Tales, but in retaining such an understated style, it misses the opportunity to really get you on side with its main character, and sympathise with her enormous frustration and anger.

Arndís Hrönn Egilsdóttir gives an excellent performance throughout, it's just that the screenplay doesn't lend enough attention to her feelings of anger, instead putting more focus on the political connotations of the story. That's interesting in its own way, but I feel that a stronger display of anger in the screenplay could have been the difference between The County being a good film and a great film.

Still, The County is undeniably a good film. Better than Rams with its blend of emotional and political drama, as well as a hint of exciting drama on the verge of exploding, it's a captivating watch throughout, albeit missing that extra spark of frustration and anger that could have made it even better.