Film review: ‘GODLAND’ by Nick Gardener from ‘Built For Speed’
The glacially paced but grimly compelling existential Danish drama Godland echoes films like The Mission, Martin Scorsese’s Silence and the works of Ingmar Bergman as it explores themes of faith, identity, culture clash and human frailty in the face of a brutal universe.
On-screen text at the beginning of the film suggests a kind of Blair Witch scenario as it claims 12 photographs from the early 1900’s had been found on the southeast coast of Iceland and that these had been used to create a narrative about the experiences of the man who took them. This scenario is actually a tantalising fiction.
Ostensibly, the film’s central character is Danish priest and photographer, Lucas (Elliot Crosset Hove) who has been despatched to Iceland to build a church in a remote township. For the young priest, this means a long journey from the coast across Iceland’s harsh but stunning landscape. Along the way he experiences doubts, tragedies, serious illness and a growing resentment toward the rugged and sharp-tongued guide Ragnar (Ingvar Eggert Sigurðsson).
The real central character in this story, though, is Iceland itself as humans seem secondary to the striking but ominous and unforgiving environment. The film revels in this powerful landscape of sprawling fields, looming mountains and rumbling volcanoes. At times it lingers a little too long on patches of grass but it looks so amazing that’s forgivable. Adding to the film’s striking look is the fact that writer/ director Hlynur Palmason has chosen to present the film in the old square ratio, presumably to evoke the look of the photographs Lucas is taking on his journey.
Rather than action or decisive narrative steps, the film largely relies on mood, in this case tension and threat created by the remarkable but intimidating landscape and bitterness between the characters with outbreaks of violence that recall some of the confronting nihilism of a Cormack McCarthy novel.
Some viewers will be hypnotised by this film’s visual beauty, dour tone and its themes of cosmic angst and barely concealed chaos that rumbles below the surface of civilization like the surrounding volcanoes. Others, though, will struggle with its extremely slow-moving story; there’s probably about as much plot as we would find in a normal 40 minute episode of a tv show but stretched over almost two and a half hours. Unless they connect with its themes, viewers will find their patience tested.
For many, though, this film will refreshingly be unlike anything else released in cinemas this year.
Nick’s rating: ***1/2
Genre: Drama/ Historical.
Classification: M.
Director(s): Hlynur Pálmason.
Release date: 27th Aug 2023.
Running time: 142 mins.
Reviewer: Nick Gardener can be heard on “Built For Speed” every Friday night from 8-10pm on 88.3 Southern FM.