Lögberg-Heimskringla - 01.08.2010, Blaðsíða 13

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Lögberg-Heimskringla • 1. ágúst 2010 • 13
ICELAND “Iceland is a topographical marvel: craggy, desolate, the way you imagine the surface of the moon.”—FRANK BRUNI, THE NEW YORK TIMES“No. 2 on my list is Iceland. They just had their own currency devaluation; it’s now two for one. It’s a great bargain!”
—PETER GREENBERG, NBC’S TODAY SHOW
“Whether for its ethereal rock bands or wind-swept terrain, Iceland has a reputation for cool.”
—TOM HAINES, THE BOSTON GLOBE
northern lights • lavascapes • spas • wild horses • volcanoes • rock clubs • fjords • whales • glaciers • geysers • hot restaurants • waterfalls • midnight sun • puffins
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or IcelandNaturally.com
Europe’s Greatest Outdoors.
So Natural. So Close. So Affordable.
erage company headquartered
in the US but with production
facilities scattered across the
globe. This disturbing film by
the National Film Board’s Ger-
man Guttierrez and Carmen
Garcia delves into the murky
world of kidnappings, torture
and murder that characterize la-
bour relations at Coke bottling
plants in Columbia, Guatemala
and Turkey. With the tag line
“the truth that refreshes,” this
film is both an exposé of work-
ing conditions in parts of the
world far from the soft drink
shelf of your local grocery store,
and a legal drama played out in
court by labour rights lawyers
attempting to hold the Coca
Cola Company accountable for
the human rights abuses taking
place under their watch.
The Living is a different type
of documentary, a somber me-
morial of remembrance to mark
the 75th anniversary of a cata-
strophic event in the history of
the Ukrainian nation: the great
state-imposed famine of 1932-
1933, known as Holodomor. It
tells the story of Gareth Jones,
the Welsh BBC correspondent
who tried to tell an unbelieving
world how millions were dying
of starvation in the middle of
the largest grain belt of the So-
viet state. Through period foot-
age, and interviews with the
few remaining survivors alive
today, it tells with quiet dignity
the story of an indelible scar
on the nation’s psyche that has
marked its relations with the
Russian state to this day.
Icelandic director Friðrik
Þór Friðriksson has, in his
own words, a fascination with
“marginalized people who don’t
quite fit into ordinary life.” Best
known for dramatic films in this
vein such as Children of Nature
(1991), Angels of the Universe
(2000) and his recently released
Mamma Gógó (2010) he has
now turned to the documentary
genre to explore this theme
further in A Mother’s Courage:
Talking Back to Autism. His
portrait of Margret, the mother
of a severely autistic child,
brings us face to face with the
unique challenges that this
developmental impairment
presents, and interviews with
leading figures in autism
research deepen the mystery
of what it means to be human.
This film, surprisingly luminous
in tone for such a dark subject,
features music by Sigur Rós
and Björk and is narrated by
Kate Winslet.
And then, from the very
heart of Canadiana, comes
yet another film about Glenn
Gould – and there can never
be too many, such was the in-
exhaustible fascination of this
uniquely talented eccentric who
captured the imagination of his
audiences as much by his per-
sonality as by his extraordinary
playing. Genius Within: The In-
ner Life of Glenn Gould reveals
the man beneath the image with
a vast array of new material
never before presented publicly
– new photos and film footage,
personal interviews with his
intimate circle of friends, and
excerpts from his diaries. That
this complex yet playful per-
sonality should have grown up
and thrived here in Canada, and
nowhere else, still has much to
tell us about our national iden-
tity and potential.
And finally, Reel Injun lifts
the veil on Hollywood’s dirty
little secret: that Indians as por-
trayed on screen are nothing
like the real thing – and that’s
really quite funny. Told with an
endless supply of good humour
and trenchant observation,
Manitoba Cree filmmaker Neil
Diamond’s documentary about
the bizarre ways in which North
American Indians are portrayed
in film will bring a smile of rec-
ognition from anyone who has
seen a John Wayne western or
watched a TV episode of The
Lone Ranger.
The Gimli Film Festival ran
from July 21-25.
An ingenious addition to
this year’s festival was the shut-
tle bus that ran to Gimli from
Winnipeg each morning and
returned each evening, allowing
film aficionados from the city to
take in the festival as a conve-
nient day trip to the beach.
Genius Within: The Inner Life of Glenn Gould (NFB, Canada)
and Reel Injun (Canada)
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