Woman At War by Dacia Maraini

It’s a great climate change movie showing how we are not helpless in the face of today’s challenges!

This movie is different than most. The characters are very believable. The stories are relatable. Fun, too. Enjoyable.

I had this on YT but the streaming site is not behaving itself lately, so I am forced to DVD it. A steal at under £4. The DVD also has an interview in which director and actress talk candidly about the project.

Woman at War (2018), directed by Benedikt Erlingsson, and co-written with Ólafur Egill Egilsson, 96 minutes, and not one minute wasted. Halldóra Geirharðsdóttir plays two parts, sisters Halla and Ása, highly contrasted spirits. Juan Camilo Román Estrada reprises the role of Juan that he played in Of Horses and Men (2013). Davíð Þór Jónsson composed the music which forms a kind of commentary on the action. The musicians appear on camera, and, as Halldóra explains in the interview, they are an extension of her, part of her inner life. The director relates it to the Socratic idea of the daemon, whispering inspiration into a person’s ear, or else it is part of a romantic idea of the self, the self as hero. And Halla wants to be a heroine. That’s why she goes to war.

Halla fights to save Iceland, Icelandic nature, and in my favourite scene, Nature saves her. It is quietly, mesmerically devastating, that small scene, enough to bring tears to the eyes. Nature and Love. But let’s not get soppy, that wouldn’t be very Icelandic of us.

Many will have heard the anecdote from actress Emily Blunt, her saying that she rolls her eyes every time she opens a script to find reference to ‘strong female character’. The emptiest, most wearying of clichés in Hollywood. Tiresome ‘Girl Boss’ characters who are unrealistic, learn nothing, know everything simply by virtue of their sex, obnoxious and conceited. Many will have heard the howler voiced by Jennifer Lawrence, her statement that she was the first female heroine in an action movie. Tripe. And it was guys who demonstrated how that statement was flatly untrue (the girls knew nothing about the matter). This is the funny thing: IT IS THE MEN WHO TRULY APPRECIATE STRONG, VIGOROUS WOMEN, FEMALE CHARACTERS, IN STORIES. The director of this movie, Erlingsson, is an excellent example. He created a stirring example in the young Swedish wrangler in his movie Of Horses and Men. But here he has gone further, with the amazing pairing of Halla and her sister. Both women show extraordinary courage, and in such different ways. Both make sacrifices. Nobody is invincible and nobody is obnoxious or bratty. Hollywood, take a lesson from the most egalitarian country in the world. ICELAND.

This movie is dramatic, funny, poignant, tender, everything you might need. It tells a story about an important issue or issues, the exploitation of natural resources, climate change, corporate greed, and the fight against such destructive activities, but in a way that never becomes polemical or didactic or tedious. The focus is always on the human drama. There is also the consequences of that other kind of war – death, destruction, the loss of kin, orphans, refugees. Again, this testing topic is broached in a way that does not become overbearing or hectoring. The focus is on the human. A serious and seriously entertaining story, told in a way that is profoundly moving.

I’ve seen a lot of movies in my life, forgotten most of them, but Woman at War (2018) is one of the very best. Easily in my Top 5.

Recommended with enthusiasm.

Ya opiné y esperaba respuesta e incluso devolución de importe pagado pues ya les dije que la información previa y la que figura en el dvd no es real y no tiene versión en castellano ni en subtítulos ni audio. Compré dos ejemplares, casi 40 €. Estoy defraudado

Great story covering a serious topic while showing humor, lovely music and a backdrop of the incredible beauty of Iceland.

Note: The cast list is for another movie so I couldn’t look up who was playing each character.

Imbued with nuance, even the pops of red, the music, and the way the musicians follow the protagonist about her ventures imply meaning. Gorgeous scenery. Must be ok with subtitles unless you are Icelandic yourself. It’s got a surprising and mostly satisfying end, if a bit uncertain, which of course is why these types of films have such appeal. I would have liked to known more about the “cause” this gal was fighting, but the film was not about the reasons for her personal war – just that she was alone in it, and that it was bigger than her did not stop her. In fact, it was that her cause WAS bigger than one woman that she was inspired to go big and risk everything. And then there’s the sister….
A must watch for both genders, liberals, rebels, environmentalist, and general indy-art-flick lovers.

Best movie I’ve seen in years!