Reykjavík Grapevine - 01.08.2014, Page 54

"An Absurd Film
Set In Reykjavík"
Today Iceland is a natural movie set fre-
quented by famous directors. The makers
of big projects like ‘Prometheus,’ ‘Noah’
and ‘Game of Thrones’ have all used it to
film distant planets or imaginary worlds.
But this is something that Icelanders
have only recently gotten used to. A few
decades ago the country and its inhabit-
ants were almost never seen on TV or on
the big screen. And when it happened, it
was long remembered afterwards.
In 1990, when the first episodes of the
legendary television series ‘Twin Peaks’
were being broadcast, rumours quickly
spread among the Icelandic public. It was
said that "the nation" would be given a role
in the series and therefore Iceland's name
would be "promoted" to an international
television audience.
When the Icelanders finally appeared
in ‘Twin Peaks,’ these rumours proved to
be inaccurate. The Icelandic characters
were a group of eccentric alcoholic busi-
nessmen, whose horrid singing of patriotic
verses prevented FBI Special Agent Dale
Cooper from sleeping. Cooper cursed
them. It wasn't a majestic appearance for
Iceland.
Many in Iceland were bitter and felt
betrayed, thinking ‘is this how the rest of
the world sees us?’ But there was no real
outcry and nobody wanted to ‘do some-
thing about it.’
Icelanders Not
Okay With “Iceland”
A few decades earlier, however, Icelanders
had been much more sensitive.
The film the newspaper article in Sep-
tember 1942 referred to was "Iceland," a
musical film produced by 20th Century
Fox. The film was set in Reykjavík, and
starred the skater Sonja Henie as a na-
tive girl and John Payne as a U.S. marine
posted in Iceland during World War II.
Romantic relationships between native
women and soldiers were a recurring topic
in film and literature during and after the
war.
"Iceland" featured all the typical clichés
regarding that. The native boys were por-
trayed as dorky and clumsy losers, while
the "sweet and innocent" girls couldn’t
resist the charms of well-groomed military
men.
This is spelled out in almost every
scene. One of the songs in the film is "You
Can’t Say No to a Soldier."
“Iceland” is a seriously inaccurate por-
trayal of the country. The film was
supposed to take place in July, but the
pond in central Reykjavík has ice on it and
the whole place seemed like a weather
station in the Antarctic. Hotel Borg—back
then the biggest hotel in town—was called
"Hotel Jorg," which has no meaning in
Icelandic. The few details given on Iceland
and the few scenes that showed Reykja-
vík, both its buildings and general atmo-
sphere, were in almost every way totally
mistaken. The Icelanders themselves were
stingy and cold, servile and opportunistic.
"This film will not serve anything but to
give those who see it and have never been
here an extremely wrong idea about the
country and its people," the furious piece
in Morgunblaðið said. This was a serious
offence as nothing was as damaging to the
country's image as "stupid films."
This anger was not limited to journal-
ists and the general public. The govern-
ment of Iceland made a formal complaint
to the US government. The argument was
that the Icelandic state had spent substan-
tial resources in promoting the country,
and that work could turn out to be worth-
less if the film was a success.
And after a few months Iceland's wish
was fulfilled. The producers were forced to
change the name of the film and remove
any reference from it that indicated that it
was set in Iceland.
By then the film had already premiered,
but it hadn't been a success. It got medio-
cre reviews in the American newspapers,
if not negative ones. The New York Times
critic Bosley Crowther wrote: "[T]here is
no denying that ‘Iceland’ is no tribute to
any one's wits. And it is only fair entertain-
ment, at best."
In 1999 the historian Eggert Þór Bern-
harðsson examined the Icelandic reaction
to the film: “Of course they were hurt by
the misrepresentation and the nonsense.
[...] Icelanders had nonetheless extremely
overestimated the influence of a single film
on the world's opinion of them. Maybe that
had to with the influence of films over
their own views.”
54 The Reykjavík GrapevineIssue 11 — 2014LEMÚRINN
Lemúrinn is an Icelandic web magazine (Icelandic for the native primate of Mad-
agascar). A winner of the 2012 Web Awards, Lemúrinn.is covers all things strange
and interesting. Go check it out at www.lemurinn.is
In September 1942 the inhabitants of Reykjavík had break-
fast in a state of shock. They were reading an article in Mor-
gunblaðið newspaper about a new Hollywood film set in
their city, starring the world famous Norwegian figure skater
and movie star Sonja Henie. The headline read "An absurd
film set in Reykjavík" and the news lead to a public outcry.
Subsequently the US government received a complaint from
the Icelandic government.
Words
Helgi Hrafn Guðmundsson
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