The Sea (2002)

This Movie Can Only Be Described With One Word.

ridiculous rating

Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?

A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

This is a serious fun political and social satire. I only wish I were Icelandic, because I would have been rolling on the floor. On a reality based level, this movie is about a dysfunctional family. The patriarch of the family is an "old school" Icelander trying to run a fishery (while writing his memoirs). He is stoic and practical to a "t". He alienates the younger generation by being totally about the fishery and how it is supposed to be for the good of the community - a small town in Iceland. The son has spent years of schooling in France and has returned home for the holidays (and because he is broke). As one elderly woman in the family quips 'All that education to the younger generation, and what good does it do?'.The women in the movie are supposed to be the submissive females of the Icelandic society, but they are anything but. The women in the family are aggressive, greedy, and downright crazy. The only one with any sense is the Mother and the Grandmother. The Grandmother is the wise matriarch, who knows everything about everything and lives life like an elderly George Burns (whiskey, cigarettes, etc.).There are also funny minor characters. The youngest son is the teenager. He is totally the opposite of what you would expect in Iceland. He is the white hip hopper/rapper, who only wants American cheeseburgers, fries, and to play video games. The modern Icelander has outsiders - Asians, blacks, etc. They are tolerated, but the Icelanders still stick around with their own. There is also the town policeman, who is so disrespected that his only authority left is to arrest the local ram sheep.The movie comes to a fore when the children are all arguing over who will inherit the fishery. They even plot to get their father committed. In the end the factory burns down, and everyone's dreams and schemes come to a crash. I think that a deeper level this movie is a brilliant satire of Iceland in the early 21st Century. You may not know Icelandic, but the English subtitles are enough to understand and laugh about this brilliant satirical comedy.

It's great to go into a film knowing nothing about it before hand. This was the case when I saw "The Sea." While you can easily see it was adapted from a play the themes are consistent and handled cinematically for the most part.The first thing that is apparent is that the casting in this film is ridiculously perfect. No actor feels out of place. Speaking of which neither are any of the scenes. It is rare to watch such a multi-character film and never be left confused about who's who. All the characters are sharply defined and they all illustrate the struggle amongst family, between the generations and the joining or avoidance of a globalized world.The scenes in the pool and the scenes with the black sheep are accessible symbolism that serve comedic or story functions such that the audience is never lost. Another amazing thing is that even though all the characters have undesirable traits they're all funny and identifiable. The only place the film falters in anyway is that the father has a speech that's a little too long at the end. With the way the film cuts the framing of the story is very surprising.The acting all around is great but those who stand out are Gunnar Eyjólfsson, Hilmir Snær Guðnason, Hélène de Fougerolles, Guðrún Gísladóttir and Elva Ósk Ólafsdóttir.Whenever watching a foreign film, especially one from a culture I'm not that familiar with, I always look for two things: 1. does it seem indigenous and not overly influenced by Hollywood? 2. While being indigenous does it communicate a universal message and/or theme. "The Sea" succeeds in both cases.

Second-time Icelandic director Baltasar Kormákur presents "The Sea", a film that, if you have a positive view of people, will make you think a second time about human qualities.As this is only the fourth film I see from Iceland, my view of Icelandic cinema has not changed- it's very good, actually. Kormákur continues where he left off with "101 Reykjavik", and plunges into Ólafur Haukur Símonarsons play with fierce misanthropy. There are two characters with a few positive traits (Morten and the French woman, forgot her name), but these two are outsiders and only supporting characters. I hated each and every member of this family, but that didn't stop me from enjoying the film, which is a peek into the most base instincts of human behaviour: adultery, greed, racism, incest, apathy and hate. "The Sea" is a bit over the top at times, but it is never ruined by digressions or by lack of reality with which it treats its characters.The Icelandic people seem to be treated by their directors (again I'm generalizing a bit since Fridrik Thor Fridriksson and Kormákur are the only directors I know) as a very tough, ruggish people who don't let mistreatment ruin their joy of life. Early in the film, the youngest son of Thordur (the patriarch and owner of the fishing industry), tells his French girlfriend that when his sister was raped as a young girl, their father reacted more aggressively towards her because she became upset, than with the rapist who ruined his only (or is it?..) daughter's life. "An idiot raped by an idiot", their father claimed. This statement is very characteristic of the film. The plot is constructed around Thordur, now an ageing man who wants to gather all his children and their families to tell them something important: They are greedy and they'll get nothing from him. His children with their partners, his wife and his mother are then gathered at his house, and we get to know them bit by bit, until we learn how they became this family and then your sympathy will just decline. The opening hour is extremely funny, which is one of this film's best assets. But it's funny in a cruel way, and the cruelty is just escalating throughout the motion picture, until there is nothing but cruelty left at the end. Thordur's mother, Kata, is portrayed as very funny, but totally ignorant of the world and she is not nice to the people around her. Thordur's three legitimate children were born by a dying mother, and throughout her illness Thordur kept his wife's sister (Kristin) as his mistress, in their house. The children's mother's sister (Kristin) is presently Thordur's wife, and she also has a grown up daughter (Maria), who is in love with Thordur's youngest son (I've forgot a lot of names, even if I saw the film yesterday! sorry), even though they grew up as brother and sister. This theme of incest is perhaps the most sickening theme in the film, but it's nice compared with the greed of Thordur's children and Thordur's inhuman, megalomaniac behaviour towards his kids. This is a film which is at times hard to watch because of the uncomfortable human relationships. But the actors, the direction and the cinematography is impeccable; brilliant. Jean-Louis Vialard has captured Iceland's wild but beautiful nature magnificently: especially when Thordur's daughter Ragnheidur, her Norwegian husband (Morten) and her son drive through the mountains to get home to her father- the photography struck me as superb. The sense of a decaying village is perfectly portrayed by Kormákur. The themes of this film is reminiscient of a master like Rainer Werner Fassbinder, and it struck me as just as misanthropic as Ulrich Seidls brilliant "Dog Days".

This movie is one of the most original films from the arctic north in 2002. Baltasar Kormakur is a directing genious! Its actors are just so amazing and excellent. I just hope this movie goes all the way to be Oscar nominee as the best foreign film of the year.I gave it 9 out of 10. Should have been 10, but I have not given any movie 10, ... yet. I do believe this is the best film ever made in Iceland. And, being from Iceland, I am proud of this new masterpiece.