Ráðherrann

If you were a fan of TV series, 'Borgen' - I believe you will enjoy 'The Minister'. Writing, directing, acting, scenery, photography wonderfully capture the essence of the person vs. the politician as well as provide a travel log of Iceland and insight into local / EU politics.

Great story,great scenery,great great great!! Thank God mental illness is finally being shown on the big screen the way it is irl. bravo Iceland! please keep them coming!!!

I don't know how they do it. Iceland has a population of 350,000 people and yet they manage to turn out such high quality series on a regular basis. Especially impressive when you consider that they have no natural secondary market for their productions because their language is unique to the island (i.e. you'll need subtitles to watch).

Ólafur Darri Ólafsson is one of our favourite actors in any international series and after the first series of Trapped several years ago my wife and I became fans of his. He is outstanding in this because of the complexity of the character. Initially he has to be the calm sane politician with just the hint of a quirk or two to having a few eccentricities in the second and third episodes to being a bit over-the-top irrationally enthusiast about projects as the series progresses to finally reach the inevitably conclusion. He portrays all this really well.

One minor criticism (from my wife who used to work in mental health) is the change from extreme manic to extreme depression late in the series is a bit unrealistic but I think viewers will excuse that realism flaw readily enough - especially given the circumstances of the change (say no more, don't want to give any spoilers).

The plot itself isn't perfect, but the character study and the acting from the cast and the beautiful Icelandic scenery more than make up for anything one might want to quibble with.

More please, Iceland, and especially more from one of our favourite actors.

Ólafur Darri Ólafsson is just splendid, so different from his role in Ófærð where he was excelling too... And so many things to ponder or and over in relation to politics, including - should a top politician be mentally challenged for showing empathy and seeing a bigger picture? How to you intend to change things if there is a fierce competition for fame and power?

And again - beautiful Icelandic nature is a fine supporting cast.

It is a must watch, unless you hate politics and/or no nothing about Nordic mentality.

I wish more people would watch scandi shows regularly.

This show is a fine example of a tight script accompanied with fantastic acting - in particularly the lead, he is truly amazing - and an amazing setting of the island itself, Iceland.

Again we see the power of good writing. Icelandic TV RUV in cooperation with the other 4 scandi TV channels - SVT (Sweden) NRK (Norway) DR (Denmark) and YLE (Finland) served us with yet another masterpiece.

I would definitely watch more Icelandic film and TV in the future. I enjoyed the wonderful Icelandic language as well. It gives the story an air of being from strange, far away land which is an added bonus to the plot.

Go and watch this - it's good.