Reykjavík Grapevine - 03.06.2016, Qupperneq 51

‘Dreamland’ is a documentary about
the building of the Kárahnjúkar Hy-
dropower Plant in the eastern part
of Iceland in the early 2000s. The
film is based on the best-selling,
Icelandic Literary Award-winning
book ‘Dreamland: A Self-Help Man-
ual for a Frightened Nation’ (2008)
by Andri Snær Magnason, now a
presidential candidate. The book
offers a critical view of the build-
ing of the plant, which was subject
to much criticism at the time. It
suggests that Iceland should opt
to strengthen its international im-
age as an environmentally friendly
country, and, moreover, utilise that
image as a source of income.
The building of the plant took place
in the years leading up to the finan-
cial crisis and was met with much
resistance from environmentalists.
This was not only because of the
serious implications the reservoir
would have on the highlands north
of Vatnajökull, but also because the
main reason for the building of the
plant was to transmit energy to Al-
coa Fjarðarál's aluminium smelter,
built at the time in the nearby town
of Reyðarfjörður.
Environmentalism as
Capitalism?
The film is an interesting study
in Icelandic culture, because it
explores the ongoing conflict be-
tween neoliberalism and environ-
mentalism in the country. In the
early minutes of the film, while the
viewer is being introduced to the
challenges of this predicament, a
scene, or rather a montage, shows
the Kringlan shopping mall. The
scene serves to depict the intense
pattern of consumption that is
driving society to what the film
portrays as unethical use of natu-
ral sources. The combination of
voiceover, music, and imagery is
almost frightening, because of its
allusions to fear-mongering in
mass culture, and suggestion that
a culture of fear ultimately results
in excessive emphasis on cash flow
and consumption.
Ironically, it can be argued that
the message of the film is still
one of the importance of financial
growth. Rather than opposing,
criticising or even undermining
the capitalist ideology that lies at
the foundation of the power plant
and aluminum smelter, the film
suggests we should simply be bet-
ter at capitalism, more ethical
and in touch with nature—that
we should monetise environmen-
talism. Whether this reflects the
mentality of a nation, or not, is yet
to be discovered.
Bíó Paradís is screening a selection of
contemporary Icelandic films in the
next few weeks. They are ‘101 Reyk-
javík’, ‘Heima’ (‘Home’), ‘Draumal-
andið’ (‘Dreamland’) and the more
recent ‘Hross í oss’ (‘Of Horses and
Men’), ‘Fúsi’ (‘Virgin Mountain’),
‘Þrestir’ (‘Sparrows’) and the 2015 Un
Certain Regard winner at Cannes,
‘Hrútar’ (‘Rams’).
SHARE: gpv.is/frozn
Word s by HELGA ÞÓREY JÓNSDÓTTTIR
'Dreamland'
Depicting the pattern of consumption
that drives society to unethical use
of natural resources
Movies Retrospective54
The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 7 — 2016
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