directed by Valdimar Jóhannsson
It took me some time to see this film as I hadn’t been in the right mood, if you know what I mean. Icelandic drama about a couple living in the middle of nowhere – that’s the kind of film you watch only when in a certain mood. But the day came and as you can see, I’m recommending the film to you. But let me just say that I wouldn’t be surprised if you disliked it, because for a long time I wasn’t buying the story either. However, the ending made it clear to me that behind the surreal and strange form, there’s a horribly important message is waving at us. At first we meet María and Ingvar (Noomi Rapace & Hilmir Snær Guðnason), a couple living a rather simple life on their farm. Their routine is destroyed at some point when one of their sheep gives birth to a strange creature. It looks like a hybrid of a human and a sheep. Fascinated by the lamb-baby, the couple decide to take it home and raise it as their own child. I know, you may already be frowning wondering what the hell is happening here. I get it, trust me. We also find out that María and Ingvar have lost a daughter, Ada, so this sheep/human creature is like a missing puzzle they’ve been looking for. The family is enjoying their life together, not bothered by their visible differences, until one day they are visited by Ingvar’s brother Pétur (Björn Hlynur Haraldsson), who finds it difficult to accept this situation. To be honest, for the first half of the film I was hoping for it to finish sooner as such surrealism is not my thing at all. I was pretty sure the drama is turning into some intense fantasy, and again, that’s not my thing. But when I finished the film, I realised that even if the form may be discouraging to some people, I see the point of the story. And what I say next is my personal interpretation, which you can consider as a *SPOILER*, so just so you know. To me this is a reminder how spoilt we are as humans in this world. We only care about our own pain and put our own comfort as a priority, even if it means hurting other creatures. However, no matter how superior we may feel to everything around us, Mother Nature is there to give us a lesson. Here I could expand this thought to destroying our planet, polluting literally everything from air to water, deforestation, eating animal products, using animals’ for testing etc., but it would take me days to mention all the fields where we’ve been overusing power. And we can all see that now, all those actions are playing against us. Back to “Lamb”, I’m still not sure about such surreal forms in drama films, but I appreciate trying something unique to spread the message. I’m also a big fan of Noomi Rapace’s acting, which can never let me down. Plus, as strange as it is, I do find the lamb-kiddo adorable, so yeah… Sorry not sorry.
My rating: 6/10
S.
I have nothing to watch 