Hross í oss

Bengt Erlingsson's 'Of Horses and Men' tells the story of a remote Icelandic village where people don't say much, but, as a series of vignettes show, have fairly important relationships with their animals. The tone is droll and, although it takes a bit of getting used to, the individual tales are actually quite amusing, as is the overall conceit of the film. It's not exactly high art, but it's definitely warmer than the bleak landscapes that form the film's backdrop might suggest.

Forget the humourless naysayers. This is one of the most enjoyable films I have seen in a long time. I'm only sorry that it took me almost ten years to get a chance to see it. Thank you, MUBI.

There are a handful of delightful vignettes that explore the connections between humans and horses, and the barely concealed lustful feelings between women and men. The horses may get to consummate their amorous animal instincts - but will the women and men?

There are laughs a-plenty, and just enough dramatic moments to keep you guessing through to the end.

Iceland has not, as for example other Scandinavian countries such as Denmark and Sweden, a real film history. In the new century however the Icelandic film industry is slowly maturing and regularly Icelandic films reach a foreign audience. Since 1999 there is a yearly Edda film award in Iceland.

A difficulty in reviewing Icelandig films, at least in my opinion, is that the landscape in Iceland is so beautiful that it sometimes compensates for a mediocre film. It often requires some reflection to seperate these two elements.

"Of horses and men" is, as the title already indicates, about the relation between men and horses in Iceland. The film consists of a number of episodes and each episode starts with a close up of the eye of a horse with a man reflected in it.

The first epsisode is the most striking one, the one you will remember for the longest time and the one from which the filmposter is derived. A man goes visiting his female neighbour with romantic intentions. In Iceland the distance to your neighbour can be quite large, so he travels by horse. At the end of the visit it turns out that the horses have been much more decisive in pursuing their amorous intentions than the man himself.

Iceland is a sparsely populated land and so the relation between men and nature is more important than in more densely populated countries. Two years later an Icelandic film about the relationship between rams and men was released ("Rams", 2015, Grimur Hakonarson). Indicative for the growing populatiy of Icelandic cinema is the fact that in 2020 an Australian remake was made ("Rams", Jeremy Sims).

The one thing that Iceland has no shortage of, apart from ice that is, is scenery and director Benedikt Erlingsson makes great use of it in this strange tale that supposedly describes man's relationship with the horse but which lapses into the surreal often enough for us to wonder if Erlingsson has something else in mind. Indeed, after the scenery, it is the horses who are the real stars here, though if you are a horse lover, the few scenes where they are killed and mutilated by the good folk of Iceland, should give you pause, (though the humans don't come out of it too well, either). It's more like something you might get from the likes of Roy Andersson while on holiday and it's quirky enough to be of more than passing interest. It's also quite short.

Benedikt Erlingsson's first film, horses are a way of life in Iceland, and here they are honored for their compact bodies, ethereal faces, unique gaits, stamina, and for their endurance in a country not known for plush green hills and sunshine.

There is sly and delightful humor. The actors are on point. A bonus is that everyone who lives in this area obviously is totally at ease in the saddle. There was no need for stand-ins because what is seen is what happened during the filming.

The photography is exceptional, giving beauty to a vista of iron gray crags. It is an earthy tale of all too human humans.