X
- 2019
- Not Rated
- Magnolia Pictures
- 1 h 41 m
- 2019
- Not Rated
- Magnolia Pictures
- 1 h 41 m
Summary Halla is a fifty-year-old independent woman. But behind the scenes of a quiet routine, she leads a double life as a passionate environmental activist. Known to others only by her alias “The Woman of the Mountain,” Halla secretly wages a one-woman-war on the local aluminum industry. As Halla’s actions grow bolder, from petty vandalism to ...
Directed By: Benedikt Erlingsson
Written By: Ólafur Egilsson, Benedikt Erlingsson
- 2019
- Not Rated
- Magnolia Pictures
- 1 h 41 m
- 2019
- Not Rated
- Magnolia Pictures
- 1 h 41 m
Woman at War
6.8
Where to Watch
Summary Halla is a fifty-year-old independent woman. But behind the scenes of a quiet routine, she leads a double life as a passionate environmental activist. Known to others only by her alias “The Woman of the Mountain,” Halla secretly wages a one-woman-war on the local aluminum industry. As Halla’s actions grow bolder, from petty vandalism to ...
Directed By: Benedikt Erlingsson
Written By: Ólafur Egilsson, Benedikt Erlingsson
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Universal Acclaim
Based on 25 Critic Reviews
81
92% Positive
23 Reviews
23 Reviews
8% Mixed
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Universal Acclaim
Based on 25 Critic Reviews
81
92% Positive
23 Reviews
23 Reviews
8% Mixed
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
With a masterful melding of the serious, the comic, the ridiculous and the musical, Woman at War is joyful to experience though difficult to sum up.
Despite its probe of deep moral questions, Woman at War (a multiple award winner on the festival circuit as well as having been Iceland’s entry for Oscar consideration last year) maintains a light feel and concludes with a sense of uplift as we watch human beings forge ahead despite the floodwaters rising around them.
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 25 User Ratings
6.8
72% Positive
18 Ratings
18 Ratings
12% Mixed
3 Ratings
3 Ratings
16% Negative
4 Ratings
4 Ratings
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 25 User Ratings
6.8
72% Positive
18 Ratings
18 Ratings
12% Mixed
3 Ratings
3 Ratings
16% Negative
4 Ratings
4 Ratings
Magnificent, witty, intelligent and soulful, Woman at War, featuring a superb performance by its lead actress Halldóra Geirharðsdóttir, uses warmth and humor tell a a potentially chilling story. The film is both deeply serious and fun at the same time. Among the broader topics raised: The threat to the environment posed by giant multinational corporations and our collective need for energy. Has the globalism of everything gone too far, and how do citizens and local communities and nations find their place in a world of sweeping technological and economic change?
Report
Big budget superhero flicks are a dime a dozen. Woman at War takes a sidelong glance at what it means to look, sound and act like a fighter – one hellbent on serving the world’s greater good.
Carried by a magnetic performance from Halldóra Geirharðsdóttir in a dual role (she plays both Halla and her identical twin sister Asa), Benedikt Erlingsson’s enjoyable follow up to Of Horses And Men is elevated by wryly idiosyncratic flourishes in its execution.
Though the quirk is ladled on a little thick at times, Woman at War is a surprisingly crowd-pleasing film experience considering its subject matter. In style, Erlingsson evokes the playfulness of Finnish director Aki Kaurismaki, and it seems impossible to film anything in Iceland without being hypnotized by the landscape.
Erlingsson takes a fairly cut-and-dried caper comedy and tosses twist after twist into it, letting Woman at War surprise us just as often as it repeats a running gag (the poor, cursing bicycle-camping Spaniard).
It is an attractive and sympathetic performance from Geirharðsdóttir as Halla.
I really enjoyed this film - the quirkiness and perhaps even surrealism, or absurdism, of traditional folk singers and bands appearing in weird environments made me laugh. The underlying story was quite interesting - certainly thought provoking and I liked the central character, what she was trying to do and how she defended herself to others with clearly differing ideas/opinions. I would definitely recommend this film to others, especially if your interested in environmentalism.
Report
(español / English)
**Extracto**
Inclasificable, original película islandesa sobre una quijotesca activista ambiental y una decisión que cambiará su vida, con ecos del cine de Kusturica y que combina admirablemente el relato intimista con el cine de acción.
Reseña
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
**Reseña**:
Halla (Halldóra Geirharðsdóttir) es una directora de coro islandesa cercana a los 50 y al mismo tiempo una solitaria activista ambiental que lleva adelante una serie de atentados para desalentar inversiones chinas en la contaminante industria local del aluminio. Pero una novedad que puede alterar radicalmente su vida privada entra en escena.
La película de Benedikt Erlingsson suma al carisma de su protagonista, varios rasgos de originalidad en su puesta en escena (que recuerda al cine de Kusturica), un humor seco (por momentos absurdo) típicamente nórdico, los hermosos paisajes islandeses (no como postal sino como marco necesario), una clara crítica a las industrias contaminantes y agudas reflexiones sobre el manejo de la agenda política y una lograda y curiosa integración de relato intimista con película de acción.
Halla es una mujer comprometida con su causa, quijotesca, que pone en juego su comodidad burguesa (con una importante demanda física para la actriz protagónica), frente a una encrucijada cuya resolución es conmovedora, en un filme con un desarrollo difícilmente previsible.
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
**Abstract**
Unclassifiable, original Icelandic film about an quixotic environmental activist and a decision that will change her life, with echoes of Kusturica cinema, admirably combining intimate storytelling with action cinema.
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………… ..
**Review**:
Halla (Halldóra Geirharðsdóttir) is an Icelandic choir director in her late fifties and at the same time a lonely environmental activist who carries out a series of attacks to discourage Chinese investment in the polluting local aluminum industry. But a novelty that can radically alter her private life enters the picture.
Benedikt Erlingsson's film adds to the charisma of its protagonist, various traits of originality in its staging (reminiscent of the Kusturica cinema), a dry humor (at times absurd) typically Nordic, the beautiful Icelandic landscapes (not as a postcard but as a necessary framework), a clear criticism of polluting industries and sharp reflections on the management of the political agenda and a successful and curious integration of an intimate story with an action film.
Halla is a woman committed to her cause, quixotic, who puts her bourgeois comfort at stake (with an important physical demand for the leading actress), faced with a crossroads whose resolution is moving, in a film with a development that is difficult to foresee.
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………
Report
Production Company
Slot Machine,
Gulldrengurinn,
Solar Media Entertainment,
Köggull Filmworks,
Vintage Pictures,
Icelandic Film Center,
Ministry of Industries and Innovation,
Eurimages,
L'Aide aux Cinémas du Monde,
Centre national du cinéma et de l'image animée (CNC),
Institut Français,
Aide aux Nouvelles Technologies,
Ukrainian State Film Agency,
Ministry of Culture of Ukraine,
Nordisk Film & TV-Fond,
Fondation GAN pour le Cinéma,
MEDIA Programme of the European Union,
Beta Cinema,
Ríkisútvarpið-Sjónvarp (RÚV),
Sena,
Jour2Fête,
Potemkine Films,
Camera Film
Release Date Mar 1, 2019
Duration 1 h 41 m
Rating Not Rated
Tagline Halla is a choir teacher. She's also a saboteur.
Awards
Edda Awards, Iceland
• 10 Wins & 10 Nominations
International Online Cinema Awards (INOCA)
• 5 Nominations
Chlotrudis Awards
• 2 Wins & 4 Nominations
