There’s a WOW! to WOMAN AT WAR that is so much more real than any wow factor inherent in or associated with Wonder Woman or Captain Marvel.
And that’s because WOMAN AT WAR is so much more real.
WOMAN AT WAR begins with a roar, the woman of the title, Halla, committing electrifying activism in a solo commando attack on a power supply to an aluminium smelter run by Rio Tinto, armed with bow and arrows and gloves to resist electrocution.
It plays out like a pre-title sequence from a James Bond film, with the tension as palpable as the high tension wires she’s endeavouring to short circuit.
To the government and industry, Halla is a terrorist, but she is more like a terra-ist, a lover of the land and committed to destroy anything that will degrade it.
By day, this eco-warrior is a choir mistress, her passion for harmony in music a mirror to her activism for harmony in nature.
Music is a major motif in this movie – a three piece band keeps cropping up in the frame to comment and counterpoint the narrative. It’s playful, precise and pertinent.
In WOMAN AT WAR, an environmentalist becomes the enemy of the state, and being an educated, erudite and meticulous woman, all the more dangerous.
In WOMAN AT WAR, it could be argued that the state is its own worst enemy, allowing the natural and abundant power generated by thermal springs to manufacture polluting substances that will debase and degrade the natural beauty and quality of the land.
An action adventure comedy but with a main circuit cable of of serious economic and environmental concern running through it, WOMAN AT WAR plugs into the zeitgeist with a megawatt force.
Halldora Geirharosdottir is nothing short of sensational in the roles of Halla and her twin sister, Asa, sibling spinsters who are true mother earthers. Determined, disciplined and dedicated, these two women are symbiotic symbols of sincere sisterhood, and Geirharosdottir’s performances radiate the passion and perseverance of these characters
Written by Benedikt Erlingsson and Olafur Egill Egilsson and directed by Erlingsson, WOMAN AT WAR brings to the screen a marvellous Icelandic ninja viking ecologist set against the majestic splendour of the Icelandic landscape.
A must see.