Lögberg-Heimskringla - 01.02.2019, Qupperneq 7

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Lögberg-Heimskringla • 1. febrúar 2019 • 7
Stefan Jonasson
At a time when the
challenge of what to
do about refugees and
border security is making the
daily news in both Europe and
North America, the Icelandic
film And Breathe Normally
(Andið eðlilega) brings some
of the issues into focus through
its imaginative portrait of a
single asylum seeker and how
her plight affects not only her
own life, but also that of an
Icelandic mother who struggles
to keep herself together. The
movie is currently playing on
Netflix.
Lára (played by Kristín
Þóra Haraldsdóttir) is a single
mother in desperate financial
straits, who we first meet as she
is being quietly humiliated at
the checkout of a grocery store
where not even a combination
of cash and plastic will allow
her to purchase everything in
her basket. When she picks up
her son, Eldar (Patrik Nökkvi
Pétursson), he demands that
she keep a promise to visit
the local animal shelter where
he hopes to adopt a cat. Soon,
Lára, Eldar, and the cat find
themselves living in Lára’s car
after they are evicted from her
apartment.
In the meantime, Lára
takes a position as a trainee in
border security at the Keflavík
International Airport, where she
is training to work in passport
control. Despite the turmoil in
her personal life, she struggles
to do well at work since this is
a real opportunity for a woman
with a somewhat chequered
past. While assisting another
officer in the passport control
booth, she spots a fraudulent
passport that’s presented by
Adja (Babetida Sadjo) a gay
refugee from Guinea-Bissau
who is attempting to get to
Toronto with her daughter and
sister in an effort to seek asylum
in Canada. Adja is arrested,
although her companions get
through passport control, and
she is tried and convicted,
ultimately facing deportation.
These two mothers’ paths
cross again when Adja finds
Lára, along with her son and
the cat, sleeping in the car
along the fence surrounding
the airport. Over time, a bond
develops between the two and
Adja finds herself caring for
young Eldar, sharing her room
at the refugee house with this
homeless family, and saving
Lára from a predicament at
Eldar’s school. In the end,
although Lára is taken on to
the passport control staff at the
airport, which is a branch of the
police service, she contrives
to help Adja escape to Canada
before she can be deported back
to her home country, where she
would face certain violence and
possibly even death.
Throughout the film, the
Icelandic landscape seems
as bleak as the fortunes of
these two women and it is
often raining and cold. Eldar
is the ray of light that shines
through their lives as they
grow to understand one another
and help each other in their
respective misfortunes. The
dialogue shifts back and forth
between Icelandic and English
and, like most Icelandic films,
it is somewhat sparse. Icelandic
filmmakers use visuals to
make their point and Ísold
Uggadóttir, the director of this
film, does the same, even as
she masterfully exploits the
facial expressions and gestures
of her actors. At every step,
And Breathe Normally is
understated but powerful.
I’ve seen the film four times
now – twice on the plane and
twice on Netflix. I’m sure to
watch it again before it stops
playing because it speaks so
powerfully to important issues
of our day, but it does so through
the daily lives of two unlikely
companions. It raises questions
about the ethical choices we
make, especially when we
hold positions of authority that
might otherwise shield us from
wrestling with moral dilemmas,
as well as our judgments about
those who are strangers to us.
At the same time, it reminds us
of the virtues of our individual
actions, large or small, when
we seek to help the strangers
among us – the strangers who
may ultimately prove to be our
best friends.
And Breathe Normally playing on Netflix
Kristin Þóra Haraldsdóttir as Lára with Patrik Nökkvi
Pétursson as Eldar.
At right: Babetida Sadjo as Adja with young Eldar.
PHOTOS: ZIK ZAK KVIKMYNDIR
Terry Fallis will be the featured speaker at
this year’s Iceland Travel Show in Toronto
on Sunday, February 10, 2:00 p.m., at the
Morningside-High Park Presbyterian Church,
4 Morningside Avenue. This popular event is
hosted annually by the Icelandic Canadian Club
of Toronto and draws curious travellers – both
armchair and active – from far beyond the city’s
Icelandic community
The Iceland Travel show is a great source for
information about visiting Iceland, stories about
others’ adventures, and pictures of this strikingly
beautiful land. Coffee and treats are provided.
This year’s featured speaker, Terry Fallis, will
talk about his participation in the Iceland Writers
Retreat and his travels in Iceland.
Terry Fallis grew up in Toronto and earned an
engineering degree from McMaster University.
Drawn to politics at an early age, he worked for
cabinet ministers both provincially and federally.
His first novel, The Best Laid Plans, began as a
podcast and was then self-published, winning the
prestigious Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour. It
was re-published by McClelland & Stewart to great
reviews, was crowned the 2011 winner of CBC’s
Canada Reads as “the essential Canadian novel of
the decade,” and became a CBC television series.
His next two novels, The High Road and Up and
Down, were finalists for the Leacock Medal, and in
2015, he won the prize a second time, for his fourth
book, No Relation. A skilled public speaker, Terry
is also co-founder of the public relations agency
Thornley Fallis. He lives in Toronto with his wife
and two sons, and blogs at www.terryfallis.com.
Admission is $10 for the general public
and $8 for ICCT members. For more
information, contact Gail Einarson-McCleery at
gaileinarsonmccleery@gmail.com.
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L-H. Please send to:
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ONLY
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