Godland

This movie is a feast for your eyes. The colors, sounds and scenery are lusciously incredible and pull you into this terribly, beautiful world that is Iceland. The story moves in a continuous slow beat that makes you feel every moment of the journey. The story unravels slowly but keeps your interest throughout. Some parts were shocking, a few funny in a dark way and some even puzzling. The attention to detail is striking, in every scene the contrast and saturation of color is near perfect. There isn't anything I disliked about this movie. I thought it was a true piece of art. I recommend seeing this movie and being patient throughout.

At least twice during this film, the director uses a bold and spectacular cinematographic gimmick. In the shots, lasting several minutes, the camera turns very slowly around in a 360-degree movement. These shots are almost mini-films within the film. In the second one, the camera captures a village wedding party, with musicians, dancers and children playing. Wonderful to look at.

There are more beautiful shots in the film. One shows a dead horse, slowly decaying in a series of identical shots, but filmed in different seasons. Has the director filmed the entire process during a full year? It's possible, there is enough space in the immense expanse of Iceland's remote wilderness.

Apart from the 19th century Danish priest who is the story's protagonist, the Icelandic landscape is really the most important element in the film. In the first part, there really isn't much else. After having arrived by ship, the priest travels on horseback through the barren landscape, accompanied by some taciturn Icelanders. When he arrives at a village in order to build a new church, the story concentrates on the tension between the Icelanders and the priest, who is not only seen as a representative of an oppressive country, but also seems ill-prepared for the physical challenges of the primitive Icelandic lifestyle.

In order to give this simple story an extra dimension, the priest is also a photographer, making portraits of the people he meets. In the 19th century, this was an elaborate process involving eggwhite and silver. The director wants us to believe it is the recent discovery of those photo's, which survived the centuries, that made him reconstruct the priest's journey.

For me, the film ticked several boxes. I have hiked through the Icelandic interior, and yes, the landscape really is amazing. I also like slow cinema, and this is very slow cinema. Thirdly, this film also contains some food for thought about religion. Officially, the Danish priest and the Icelandic villagers share the same religion, but the way they experience it couldn't be more different.

Unlikely to appeal to anyone seeking a film experience that features a straight forward narrative or easy to digest themes/events, Hlynur Pálmason's Denmark backed and Iceland shot epic is a film happy to enthral and mystify in equal measure, creating an offering that is at times majestic and at other times frustrating but one that at all times provides some of the most hauntingly beautiful captured imagery of the modern era.

Inspired by a series of photographs discovered in Iceland that were taken by a visiting Danish priest in the early 19th century, Godland follows the adventures of Elliott Crosset Hove's young Danish priest Lucas who finds himself tasked with venturing to the rugged lands of Iceland to establish the good word of God only to find his mission constantly running into roadblocks, roadblocks that threaten to destroy Lucas's faith, his sanity and his very life.

Creating an off-putting mood not dissimilar to the feeling the character of Lucas would be dealing with, Godland is an unnerving and uncomfortable film in many ways, as we like Lucas find ourselves in an unfamiliar setting with little context or background about what has come before and what is still too come and while at times early on it may appear as though Pálmason's film is heading in a certain direction, it remains an unpredictable and frequently surprising feature in ways both good and bad.

Throughout this strange tale, seeped deep in Icelandic custom and lore, Pálmason and his director of photography Maria von Hausswolff create some of the most eye capturing imagery you're likely to see from the cinematic medium, from raging waterfalls, precarious cliff top paths or decomposing horses, Godland is overflowing with visual beauty that won't soon be forgotten by engaged viewers giving this film an almost Malick like majesty that its story and characters are unable to match.

Most prominent with Lucas who is a hard central figure to warm too and joined by a plot-line that isn't always easy to understand from a point of view of clearly identifying its message or meanings, Godland isn't an easy film to fall in love with, despite its incredible artistic achievements, making it somewhat of a missed opportunity to create a modern day classic that explores themes of God, love and ones place in the wider world.

Final Say -

Visually one of the most spectacular and memorable offerings of the year, Godland's strange story and equally strange characters make it a film hard to warm too despite its many noteworthy technical accomplishments.

3 1/2 fireside stories out of 5.

Jordan and Eddie (The Movie Guys)

Fr. Lucas (Elliott Crosset Hove) is despatched by his bishop to a remote settlement in Iceland where he is charged with building a church and establishing a parish. Upon arrival, he is met by "Ragnar" (Ingvar Sigurdsson) - a rather unwelcoming man, who is tasked with guiding him to the hamlet many days trek away. Their journey tests the mettle of the young priest. The hostility of the environment, the indifference of his travelling companions, the cold, the wind, the rain - all of these make him consider seriously what he is doing and whether he actually has the faith. His exhaustion causes him to finally fall from his horse and upon wakening we discover that he has luckily arrived at his destination and is being nursed by "Anna" (Vic Carmen Sonne). He is broadly welcomed and the construction of his church proceeds but he is not a man at ease with his surroundings, his new-found parishioners and but for an increasingly close relationship with "Anna" would be an inch from despair. Is this a place where he can settle and live? The cinematography is gorgeous - make sure you take a jumper when you watch it. The sheer inhospitableness of this island. It was hardly a place for the indigenous ponies, it is certainly not a place for a clergyman used to home comforts now reduced to sleeping in a thin canvas tent! He was a photographer - and the film is inspired by a small collection of his photographs that were found. It was possibly this photography that he felt gave him a purpose as the man we see at the end bears little resemblance to the one we meet in Denmark at the beginning. This features a very strong performance from Hove. He manages the transformation of his character well and that encourages us to feel invested in him and his conflict. I did not enjoy, nor really understand, the last fifteen minutes. The story takes a turn for the brutal and the tragic in a way that seemed to me unnecessary and somewhat inexplicable. Cause and effect - but why? Perhaps I missed something? Anyway, this is well worth watching and though a bit long, is quite thought-provoking at times.

Iceland is terrible and beautiful.

A wooden trunk is uncovered with seven photographs in it from a hundred and fifty years ago in Iceland. The trunk belonged to a Danish priest who died there. Among the images are snow covered mountain ridges, a waterfall, glacier, and a portrait of a girl on a horse. Godland imagines the circumstances of how the photographs were taken.

A young Danish priest, Lucas, is assigned to a remote Icelandic village. He is told to adapt to the people and place, but because he is arrogant, he does neither. Against the advice of his guide and despite freezing rain and snow, Lucas insists upon going into the mountains and crossing a treacherous river. By the time they make it to his assigned village, Lucas is miserable, detested, isolated, and barely alive. Lucas is destined to become a part of Iceland, but not in the way he desires.

The sights and sounds of Godland are exquisite and resplendent. Listen to the women and birds singing, the ocean swells, the roar of a waterfall, a fierce river current, and volcano rumbling. Peer beneath the surface of the river, look across ice fields and canyons, see raindrops beginning to fall on smooth and sable stone, find your way through the thick fog, and gaze up close into a woman's eyes.

One of Lucas' greatest mistakes is seeing himself apart from nature, animals, and the local people. In showing the cycles of the seasons, and of life and death, Godland gently makes us aware of this crime. It is just one of the many wonders and complexities of this compelling, visually stunning, and thought-provoking film.

Godland premiered in Cannes and I saw it at the Toronto International Film Festival.