Reykjavík Grapevine - 17.07.2015, Qupperneq 12

12 The Reykjavík GrapevineIssue 10 — 2015
1. EXT. LÆKJARGATA. DAY.
On a cloudy but windless afternoon, six
men and two women stand on the pave-
ment in front of the House of Government
(HoG).
One of the men is easily identified as
Prime Minister Sigmundur Davíð Gunn-
laugsson (PM). He is in his late thirties,
tall, chubby, boyish. The other five men
(M2–M6), aged 33 to 64, remain unidenti-
fied. They all wear black suits, except M2,
sporting a black fleece sweater over his
shirt and tie. One of the men, M4, wears a
coat over his suit.
The two women present (F1 and F2)
are ca. 30 and 50 years old, respectively.
They both wear traditional national at-
tire: skirt, vest, hat, etc., in black, white and
platinum.
All facing HoG, more or less, these eight
people awkwardly mumble and chuckle,
somewhat like kids on a school outing.
They express anticipation. When not
chuckling, the men keep smiling.
No police are present. No decoration is
seen or anything else to indicate an official
ceremony. The surrounding streets, re-
vealed in background, are unusually empty
for the time of day. A hundred metres away,
by conference hall Harpa, the nation’s
flag has been raised. Between Harpa and
HoG, an empty stage faces Arnarhóll, in-
dicating upcoming or bygone celebrations.
Dispersed, one by one, a few people drift
up and down Bankastræti, some carrying
flags, balloons or candies, indicating that
the date is in fact June 17th, Icelandic Na-
tional Day.
Some twenty members of the public
have stopped by outside HoG, a haphazard
audience to whatever might be going on
there.
After hanging around for a while, PM
and M2 gesture towards the concrete fence
on the left side of the steps leading to the
building’s entrance, while mumbling indis-
tinct directions to F1 and F2.
Apparently following the men’s direc-
tions, F1 approaches the fence and bends
down. In one swift, synchronised move-
ment, all the men, including the PM, raise
their smartphones, each proceeding to fin-
ger their screens while aiming the phones’
cameras at the woman. Under these
watchful eyes of the still smiling men, she
starts peeling a black plastic cover from a
plaque on the fence.
M6 moves closer to the woman and the
fence, where he kneels down, smiling, while
keeping his camera fixed at F1.
M6
(Still smiling, intonates as if speaking to a
child:)
“Look here and smile.”
F1 follows M6’s directions, looks to-
wards his phone and smiles, while she
continues to peel off the plastic. M2 feigns
laughter. Already bending, the woman
now kneels down, to peel off the last re-
mains of plastic.
We see the plaque, which reads:
PRIME MINISTRY
THE HOUSE OF GOVERNMENT
CONSTRUCTED 1765–1771
PRISON UNTIL 1813
HOUSE OF GOVERNMENT SINCE
1904
PRESIDENT’S RESIDENCE 1973–1996
FADE TO:
2. EXT. HOUSE OF GOVERNMENT.
DAY.
M3–M6 stand outside HoG, each aiming his
phone at the entrance. PM stands there too,
but has given his phone a rest, while cough-
ing.
M2 stands on the top of portable alu-
minium stairs, right by the door, peeling
the plastic off another plaque. F2 stands on
the ground next to him, holding the stairs.
As before, some twenty members of
the public hang around on the pavement in
front of the building, observing the scene.
Otherwise, the streets remain mostly de-
void of traffic.
As M2 peels away, the plaque is re-
vealed: it’s the republic’s coat of arms.
When PM finishes coughing, he raises his
phone again, and aims the camera at the
entrance, as M3–M6 have done all along.
The men mumble, chuckle and smile. F2
extends her hand to offer assistance to M2.
An offscreen shout from a passerby
makes the men glance sideways:
MEMBER OF PUBLIC (O.S.)
(Shouts:) “Inept government!”
While looking in this sole demonstra-
tor’s general direction, the men hold their
phones in front of them, still aimed at the
entrance —all except the PM who now casu-
ally holds his phone by his side, while cow-
boyishly resting his left hand on his belt
buckle. They all keep smiling.
After some hesitation, still aiming his
phone at the entrance, still smiling, M4
looks to his side and shouts back at the un-
seen protester:
M4
“Celebrating, are we?”
The other men chuckle.
PM puts left hand in pocket, then looks over
his shoulder, at the public. He still smiles.
He takes up his phone again, bites his lower
lip, moves forward and starts shooting
again: first the ceremony, in unison with
the other men; then he turns around and
aims the phone’s camera at the public.
FADE TO:
3. EXT. LÆKJARGATA. DAY.
F1 and F2 now stand on the pavement
again, at either side of the first plaque re-
vealed. The portable stairs now rest against
HoG’s front door. The women wear smiles
as the men have done all along. The men
keep their phones extended in front of
them, aimed at the women and the plaque.
M2
“And then on to the next one …”
The group moves from the left to the right
side of the steps, where another plaque re-
mains wrapped in plastic.
Two boys aged 8-10 have joined the
men, as has an unidentified adult male
(M7), wearing a sports jacket. Other by-
standers remain at a certain distance but,
wearing colourful anoraks, backpacks and
camera-bags, they are now, by and large,
identifiable as tourists.
F2 bends down to unwrap the third
plaque. As before, PM and M2–M6 aim their
cameras at her, as does the newcomer, M7.
Persistently smiling, PM bites his lower lip
again.
Phone extended in front of him, M6
kneels, again, by the side of F2, apparently
to get a better angle on the scene.
M6
“Will you look up for me, over here?”
F2 does so, while peeling off the plastic.
The men all chuckle.
While documenting the peeling, M2 com-
ments:
M2
“This is thoroughly fixed. … You want
scissors?”
The men chuckle again.
M2
(To the men:)
“Hey, should we sing a song, then?”
The men don’t pay notice, still focused on
F2’s efforts. In the background, F1 turns
her back on the ceremony, quietly strolling
around. M4 pockets his phone.
M4
(To woman:)
“Do it rough, this time?”
The men mumble and chuckle some more.
F2 then finishes unwrapping the plaque.
She steps aside, grinning, and gestures to
the plaque as if mimicking an imaginary
brass band’s “ta-da!” PM claps and looks
around. No one else claps. Someone says
bravo. All smile.
CUT TO:
4. EXT. HOUSE OF GOVERNMENT.
DAY.
Five of the men, including PM, have now
moved back closer to the building’s en-
trance, towards which they stand staring.
Having strolled away, earlier, F1 is no-
where to be seen. All the others are present.
This time, only one of the men, M3,
watches through his phone. PM smiles
while holding his phone casually in his
right hand, his left hand again resting on
his belt buckle. He seems very content.
Standing next to PM, M3 seems somewhat
confused by his phone. He points and drags
at its screen while keeping it extended in
front of him. PM pockets his phone.
As before, M2 has climbed the alu-
minium stairs, doing something with the
national insignia above the entrance. F2
holds the stairs.
M4, M5 and M6 all unpocket their phones
and take another aim at the entrance and
the ceremony, smiling, as M3 has been do-
ing all along.
M2 climbs down the stairs.
M4
“Gonna smile for us here?”
The men chuckle.
The coat of arms above the entrance has
now been fully uncovered. M2 and F2
stand on the doorstep, smiling at the men,
who smile back at them and to themselves.
Seemingly light-hearted, PM hops a
couple of steps towards the entrance.
FADE TO:
5. EXT. HOUSE OF GOVERNMENT.
DAY.
All those present are in the same positions
as before. The stairs have been moved
aside, leaving only M2 and F2 by the door,
where they stand and smile vigorously.
M3, M4, M5 and M6 all keep their
phones aimed at the entrance. PM has given
his phone another rest, and moved one step
closer to the door, where he takes his posi-
tion between M2 and F2. After a moment’s
silence, the people open their mouths and
we realise that we have entered the middle
of a singalong:
GROUP
(Singing:)
“Shoot up a flag …”
Their singing is hesitant, somewhat mum-
bled, and they look at each other as if to
verify something, perhaps the lyrics. Re-
gardless, they all smile.
GROUP
(Singing:)
“Bright sounds the brass …”
M4 and M5 pocket their phones, as if to par-
ticipate more thoroughly in the singing.
GROUP
(Singing:)
“Let’s march to Þingvellir and reinforce
our vows.
Forwards, forwards,
never accede.
Forwards, forwards,
men and nation alike.”
That last line was faulty. PM hesitates at
the beginning of the following lines, as if he
were waiting for the others to remind him
of the lyrics. He stares at the ground, then
sideways. Even while waiting for the lyrics
to be untangled, he smiles to himself, ap-
parently content.
GROUP
“Let’s join our forces,
let’s join in peace,
let’s fight to victory for our nation.”
As the song ends, two or three of the people
awkwardly mumble:
GROUP
“Woo-hoo …”
PM chuckles, others follow suit. Offscreen,
an unidentified male voice shouts undeci-
pherable cheers, to which the males smile.
Still standing on the doorstep, F2 takes two
or three dance steps, indicating fun.
As the males start to disperse, mum-
bling, F2 takes six more dance steps, raun-
chier than before, revealing that she knows
how to party. She grins at the men. They
grin back. At the same time, PM steps to-
wards the door, takes his position on the
doorstep between M2 and F2, where he
shakes hands with M2. The handshake is
followed by more handshakes between the
men, while F2 turns her back and walks in-
side.
END.
Words by Haukur Már Helgason
Illustrations by Lóa Hjálmtýsdóttir
Beyond Analysis:
A Short Film
Screenplay by the Prime Ministry
Prepared for print by
Haukur Már Helgason
Politics | Bright?Politics | Non-fiction