Against the Current (2018)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Against the current |
| Original title | Kona fer í stríð |
| Country of production | Iceland , France , Ukraine |
| original language | Icelandic |
| Publishing year | 2018 |
| length | 101 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 6 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Benedikt Erlingsson |
| script | Benedikt Erlingsson, Ólafur Egill Egilsson |
| production |
Marianne Slot , Benedikt Erlingsson, Carine Leblanc |
| music | Davíð Þór Jónsson |
| camera | Bergsteinn Björgúlfsson |
| cut | Davíð Alexsander Corno |
| occupation | |
| |
Against the Stream (original title Kona fer í stríð ) is an Icelandic comedy film by Benedikt Erlingsson , which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 2018 and was released in German cinemas on December 13, 2018.
action
Halla, in her late forties, is not only a choirmaster in Reykjavik , but also leads a secret double life as a cunning eco-activist. She single-handedly cuts the high-voltage lines of the local aluminum factory . On the way back from the attack sites, the police followed her several times with search dogs, helicopters and drones . A drone can harpoon them with a bow and arrow, pull them down and destroy them. She escapes the helicopters by throwing on the skin of a dead sheep and hiding in front of the infrared cameras in an ice-cold mountain stream. The farmer and sheep farmer Sveinbjörn helps her repeatedly to get through the police checks undetected and in the end becomes her friend and accomplice.
She throws letters of confession from the roof of the university and signs as a "miner". Soon she will be wanted by police across the country and her one-woman actions will be discredited in the media as "acts of foreign terrorist groups" because Halla discourages international mining companies like the Rio Tinto Group and Chinese investors who are obsequiously courted by the local government.
When Halla's application to adopt a child is unexpectedly granted after a waiting period of four years, she has to choose between her future motherhood with the Ukrainian four-year-old Nika and her deep conviction as an environmental activist. However, she chooses both, but can only achieve this with the help of her identical twin sister Ása.
On the way to the Ukraine to see her adopted child after one of her attacks, an additional DNA test in the form of a saliva sample is surprisingly carried out at the airport in Keflavik, so that she turns back before the exit control. On the radio of the taxi she hears the wanted man call for herself. After her sister was falsely arrested as a result of the DNA examination, she too is arrested and taken into custody. There she is visited by her sister Ása. In the event of a power failure caused by Sveinbjörn, both swap clothes and their identities. Ása had decided to take a two-year break in an Indian ashram anyway , and explained that this inner contemplation would just as well be possible for her in prison. Halla flies to the Ukraine to bring her assigned Nika to Iceland.
On the way back from the children's home, the bus gets stuck on a flooded street due to heavy rain. The passengers have to get off and wade through the chest-deep water. Halla carries the girl on her shoulders.
The film ends with this open sequence.
Stylistic devices
The main character is accompanied several times in the story by a three-member Icelandic band, alternating with three Ukrainian singers in traditional clothing, who - although they only provide the background music - are visible as an ironic break in the film. But they only become part of the plot in absurd details, e.g. B. when turning on the TV.
As a “ running gag ”, the Cuban bicycle tourist Juan Camilo is brutally arrested several times by the police, although he is completely innocent, but happens to be near Halla's attack sites.
production
The actress Halldóra Geirharðsdóttir plays the main characters Halla and her sister Ása in a double role.
reception
The Lübecker Nachrichten praised the fact that its warmth, its wit, its bizarre humor, its depth, its entertaining and, last but not least, the great landscape shots characterize the film. The review in the SHZ associated, “the parallels to the conflicts surrounding the planned clearing of the Hambach Forest are obvious”, while the British Guardian found the comedic effect of the musicians in the picture to be slightly distracting.
Awards
- Prix SACD 2018 for the script (Semaine de la Critique)
- Art Cinema Award 2018 of the Hamburg Film Festival
- NDR Film Prize, Audience Prize of the Nordic Film Days , Baltic Film Prize and Interfilm Prize
- Lux Film Prize 2018 of the European Parliament
Web links
- Against the tide in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- website
Individual evidence
- ↑ Against the Current, Flyer, Pandora Film 2018
- ↑ Approval certificate for against the current . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry (PDF).
- ↑ Kona fer í stríð Woman at War | Semaine de la Critique du Festival de Cannes. Retrieved November 21, 2018 (French).
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↑ Against the current. Filmfest Hamburg 2018, accessed on November 21, 2018 . Against the Current (2018). kino-zeit.de, accessed on November 21, 2018 .
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↑ Nordic Film Days: rain of prizes for “Against the Current”. Retrieved November 21, 2018 . Martin Schulte: Hamburg Film Festival: The opening film “Against the Current” and the parallels to the Hambach Forest. Schleswig-Holsteinischer Zeitungsverlag, accessed on November 21, 2018 . Peter Bradshaw: Woman at War review - pylon-slayer faces adoption challenge in quirky Icelandic eco-drama. The Guardian , May 12, 2018, accessed November 21, 2018 .
- ↑ Fabien Lemercier: Diamantino comes out on top in the Cannes Critics' Week. Cineuropa, accessed on November 21, 2018 .
- ↑ Art Cinema Award for Against the Current by Benedikt Erlingsson at the Hamburg Film Festival 2018. Confédération Internationale des Cinémas d'Art et d'Essai, October 8, 2018, accessed on December 13, 2018 .
- ↑ Petra Haase, Liliane Jolitz, Peter Intelmann, Regine Ley: Nordic Film Days: rain of prizes for “Against the Current”. Lübecker Nachrichten , November 3, 2018, accessed on December 13, 2018 .
- ↑ The Lux Film Prize 2018 goes to the film “Against the Current”. European Parliament , November 14, 2018, accessed on December 13, 2018 .