Iceland review - 2016, Page 25

ICELAND REVIEW 23
heart. “In junior college I had the fortune
of making good friends from Flateyri.
I’ve spent a lot of time there.” However,
the story could have been set anywhere
in Iceland, he says.
To Rúnar, nature isn’t merely a stun-
ning backdrop. “The environment can
also be a character, a symbol or met-
aphor for something. In some scenes,
it can show what is going on inside a
person’s mind. We try not just to have
great pictures that say nothing. The
more of the narrative we can incorpo-
rate into the imagery, the likelier it is
that the message gets across. During
editing, beautiful shots are cut and lots
of good scenes don’t make it to the film
because they don’t support the overall
picture.” The filming of inside scenes
is equally important, and Rúnar and his
crew make creative use of props, such as
mirrors. “We usually look for abandoned
buildings as the main location. About
three months before shooting, we write a
filming script, which is constantly rewrit-
ten—we end up using 40 to 50 percent.
During shooting, it saves time when put-
ting new circumstances into context and
coming up with different narrative solu-
tions. Everything is supposed to support
something else. When something is in
the frame, regardless what detail it is, it’s
there for a reason, to further the project.”
REFLECTION ON GENDER ROLES
AND HARSH REALITIES
Sparrows includes a scene where a female
friend of Ari’s father, a guest at one of
his drunken parties, wakes the teenage
boy up in the middle of the night to
have intercourse with him. Rúnar says
the scene sparked a lively discussion
at the Q&A session after the second
screening at RIFF, about whether the
act should be considered rape or not.
“When showing people the screenplay
and after the film was premiered, about
one-in-five men told me that their first
sexual experience had been with an older
woman. This tends to be viewed differ-
ently than if you reverse the gender roles;
then it would immediately be considered
sexual assault.” In Rúnar’s opinion, no
difference should be made between male
and female victims, or male and female
perpetrators. “Of course this is a viola-
tion; an adult is taking advantage of an
underaged person. This is something
that should be discussed in society. It
may not be as common, but women are
abusers too, of boys, but also of girls.”
Rúnar bases some of the scenes on his
own experiences or the experience of
people he knows, while others are fic-
tional. “This story doesn’t reflect the
reality of everyone, but it reflects the
reality of some. There’s nothing in the
film which could never have happened or
could never happen again.”
The ‘strong silent types’ are promi-
nent in Rúnar’s films, such as Hannes
in Volcano and Gunnar, Ari’s father: men
who don’t discuss their feelings but keep
them tightly wrapped up inside, neglect-
ing their loved ones or treating them
coldly as a result. “There’s a Gunnar or
a Hannes in most people’s lives—the
FILM
From the film Eldfjall.