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44 A T L A N T I C A
i-site FILM❍
Baltasar Kormákur has no reason to apologise.
While some movie-goers have expressed anger
over the manner in which the director’s latest
film portrays life in a small Icelandic fishing vil-
lage, it’s still racking up receipts at the box office.
In fact, The Sea is so popular that producers are
screening the film in Iceland with English subti-
tles, something never before done while the
original version has been in general release.
With so many expats living here, “Iceland’s
become so international that there is a good
market for the English-subtitled version,”
Baltasar says. “This film is also partially about
these people,” he adds, referring to the many
foreigners living in Iceland’s small villages,
employed by the fishing industry.
The Sea is a dark film about a father struggling
to keep his fishing business alive by passing it
on to family members who have no desire to
entrench themselves in the daily mire of the local
village. Despite its comic undertones, the film
certainly destroys the myth of the ideal seaside
village, full of residents at one with the rhythms
of the sea, which provides them sanctuary.
Like the critically acclaimed 101 Reykjavík before
it, The Sea brings to the screen some of the trou-
bles simmering in Iceland’s small towns, paint-
ing a cinematic portrait much different than what the local tourist brochures
propagate.
“I’m not trying to build a negative picture of Iceland,” Baltasar says frankly.
“I’m just trying to be honest.”
But also like 101 Reykjavík, The Sea is hopeful, which might at first glance
seem at odds with the dark cadence of the picture and the hardships the
characters endure.
“When you treat your characters with humanity then you can put them
through hell and they will come out standing. That is uplifting,” the cagey
director says.
It’s this disparate mix of darkness and hope that makes Baltasar’s films so
popular. The current buzz surrounding The Sea is so strong that the film has
already secured US distribution and it will make its US premiere this
January at the prestigious Sundance Film Festival.
So is a possible Oscar nomination on the horizon?
“I don’t really think so because my films are probably too controversial for
those awards. Of course, I would love to have one. They make a nice deco-
ration for your house,” the renegade director says in jest.
Despite all the accolades the film has received, and the various awards it
will undoubtedly collect, a sardonic Baltasar maintains his perspective.
When asked how long the English-subtitled version will show in Iceland, he
says: “We’ll give it a run and see how big a market there is for it. Hopefully
it will run until Christmas, unless nobody comes.”
The Sea is now showing at Háskólabíó.
For more information on show times, contact (+354) 530-1919.
Edward Weinman is a staff writer.
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English Subtitles
Director Baltasar Kormákur stirred up audiences with his first film, 101 Reykjavík. Icelanders are currently flocking to
the cinema in record numbers to see his latest effort, Hafid (The Sea), which is now showing with English subtitles.
So why are some movie-goers so upset, asks Edward Weinman.
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