Quartile rating: 7.5/10 · 1 rating
Halla declares a one-woman-war on the local aluminium industry. She is prepared to risk everything to protect the pristine Icelandic Highlands she loves… Until an orphan unexpectedly enters her life.
Woman at War is a wonderfully singular Icelandic film with a distinctive, playful voice — the on-screen musicians and choir providing the score is a uniquely theatrical conceit that sets it apart immediately. The Icelandic highlands cinematography is breathtaking and integral to the film's environmental themes. Halldóra Geirharðsdóttir delivers a magnetic dual performance. The novelty is genuinely high — few eco-thriller-comedies exist, and none quite like this. The plot, while engaging and propulsive, is somewhat conventional in its broad strokes (activist vs. corporation, maternal instinct vs. mission), and the ending, while emotionally satisfying, leans into a slightly convenient resolution that softens the film's otherwise edgy premise.