WOMAN AT WAR
In this rousing Icelandic drama, a mild-mannered choir instructor becomes an unlikely eco-warrior when she decides to take the fight against big industry into her own hands.
After waiting four long years, single, middle-aged choir instructor Halla (Halldóra Geirharðsdóttir) finally gets word that her application to adopt a little girl from Ukraine has gone through. Yet Halla’s good fortune couldn’t have come at a more inopportune time. Unbeknownst to anyone but a couple co-conspirators, Halla has begun sneaking into the countryside to cut the power lines that supply the nation’s environmentally destructive mining and smelting industries. As government forces close in and the media becomes increasingly infatuated with the mysterious “Mountain Woman” waging a radical campaign to defend Iceland’s natural resources, Halla must decide whether to keep fighting for her beliefs even if it means sacrificing the family life she yearns for. Director Benedikt Erlingsson laces his thrilling second feature with touches of whimsical, magical realism, including a three-man band and chorus of Ukrainian singers that appear on-screen to score (and sometimes comment upon) the action— yet Halla’s message of resistance in the face of environmental collapse couldn’t be more serious, or more urgent. Smart, compassionate, and fiercely independent, the unconventional activist at the heart of WOMAN AT WAR just might be one of the superheroes 2018 really needs.
CAST: Halldóra Geirharðsdóttir, Davíð Þór Jónsson, Magnús Trygvason Eliasen, Ómar Guðjónsson
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