Godland (film)
| Godland | |
|---|---|
 International poster | |
| Icelandic | Volaða land |
| Danish | Vanskabte Land |
| Directed by | Hlynur Pálmason |
| Written by | Hlynur Pálmason |
| Produced by | Eva Jakobsen Mikkel Jersin Katrin Pors Anton Máni Svansson |
| Starring | Elliott Crosset Hove Ingvar Eggert Sigurðsson |
| Cinematography | Maria von Hausswolff |
| Edited by | Julius Krebs Damsbo |
| Music by | Alex Zhang Hungtai |
Production company | Snowglobe Films |
| Distributed by | Scanbox (Denmark) |
Release date |
|
Running time | 138 minutes |
| Countries | Iceland Denmark France Sweden |
| Languages | Icelandic Danish |
Godland (Template:Lang-is, Template:Lang-da) is an internationally coproduced drama film, directed by Hlynur Pálmason and released in 2022.[1] Set in the late 19th century, the film stars Elliott Crosset Hove as Lucas, a Lutheran priest from Denmark who is sent to Iceland to oversee the establishment of a new parish church, only to have his faith tested and challenged by the harsh conditions of life in rural Iceland, including his inability as a monolingual Danish-language speaker to communicate with his assigned Icelandic guide Ragnar (Ingvar Eggert Sigurðsson).[2]
The film was inspired in part by a collection of wet plate photographs of rural Iceland taken by a priest in the late 1800s.[3]
The film premiered in the Un Certain Regard program at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival,[1] and had its North American premiere at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival.[4]
Plot
In the late nineteenth century, Danish priest Lucas is tasked with traveling to Iceland and building a church in a Danish settlement. He takes a camera to document the land and travels by boat with several Icelandic laborers and a translator. When they arrive, they meet their guide, Ragnar, who harbors a distrust for Danes.
While traveling, the group encounters a deep river that, despite Ragnar's warnings, Lucas insists they ford. Both the translator and a large straw cross fall off their horses, and the translator drowns. A grief-stricken Lucas becomes withdrawn and sullen, praying for God to allow him to return to Denmark. He falls ill and nearly dies, but the group arrives at the settlement and Lucas is nursed back to health by a man named Carl and his daughters, Anna and Ida.
As Lucas befriends Ida and develops an attraction to Anna, his horse goes missing. When the church finishes construction, Ragnar requests that Lucas take a picture of him before he leaves, but Lucas refuses and insults him. Ragnar reveals that he killed Lucas' horse, and Lucas attacks him. During the fight, he bashes Ragnar's head against the rocks, killing him. Lucas returns to Anna and discards his camera equipment, and the two have sex. Carl warns Anna not to get involved with Lucas any further.
During Lucas' first service in the finished church, his pet dog interrupts by barking outside. When he goes out to quiet it, he slips in mud and dirties his robes and face. Lucas decides to steal one of Carl's horses and flee, and Carl pursues him despite Anna's request that he not harm Lucas. Carl catches up to him and stabs him to death. Some time later, Ida finds Lucas' skeleton and tearfully tells him that he will soon be part of nature.
Awards
The film has been selected as Denmark's 2022 submission for the Nordic Council Film Prize.[5]
References
- ^ a b Peter Debruge, "‘Godland’ Review: Almighty Iceland Puts a Weak Danish Priest’s Faith to the Test". Variety, 24 May 2022.
- ^ Stephanie Bunbury, "Cannes Review: Hlynur Palmason’s ‘Godland’". Deadline Hollywood, 27 May 2022.
- ^ David Rooney, "‘Godland’ (‘Vanskabte Land/Volada Land’): Film Review | Cannes 2022". The Hollywood Reporter, 27 May 2022.
- ^ Jeremy Kay, "Toronto unveils 2022 TIFF Docs, Contemporary World Cinema line-ups". Screen Daily, 17 August 2022.
- ^ Wendy Mitchell, "Nordic Council Film Prize reveals five nominees for $40,000 award". Screen Daily, 23 August 2022.
External links
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