INTERVIEW: ‘Woman at War’ charts rise of eco-warrior

Photo: Woman at War stars Halldóra Geirharðsdóttir as Halla, a choir director by day and eco-warrior by night. Photo courtesy of Magnolia Pictures / Provided with permission.

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Benedikt Erlingsson’s Woman at War, which was recently released by Magnolia Pictures, follows the story of a woman who is a choir director in Iceland during the day and a secretive eco-warrior at night. In the movie, Halla (Halldóra Geirharðsdóttir) travels the beautiful countryside to take out power lines and fight back against big industry.

The plot might sound like a thrilling drama or action flick, but Erlingsson’s film is more comedic, providing a commentary on the quest to make an individual difference in a fractured world.

“It was the state of the union, the state of the world,” the director said about his motivation for creating the movie. “The world needs saving more than before. Action films are usually about somebody saving the world, so when I thought about the climate change and this very challenging situation here, I think about action films.”

The filmmaker’s twist is that Woman at War is truly a character study in how one person can insert herself into a larger struggle for justice and peace. Of course, she has a Robin-Hood-esque flavor to her actions, and she is willing to ditch the law for her deeper principles.

Erlingsson said he understands the desire to make an individual impact.

“It’s like football,” he said. “Football is cooperation and necessity of individuals working together. … Individuals all over the world are rising up and doing things, brave things, and by doing so they are affecting the group and creating a cooperation and pressing on.”

The director referenced a couple of stories of similar “eco-warriors” around the world who stood up to authority and influenced his script. Of course, Halla in Woman at War takes part in illegal actions (hence the reason for the secrecy), but this interested the director, seeing how far one might go. After all, one person’s form of justice could be another person’s form of eco-terrorism.

To help him bring his thesis to life, Erlingsson had the beautiful environs of his home country of Iceland.

“I think we are schizophrenic in Iceland between Europe and America,” he said. “So we are both very paralyzed in that sense, and yet we are trying our best. We have, of course, a fantastic starting ground with all this thermal power and green hydropower that we have. I think there’s a lot of awareness now, and it’s just changing very fast. I think very soon it becomes shameful in Iceland to have too big [of a] car. To have a big Jeep that you’re not using is getting to be shameful, and that’s the way we should be. To travel too much, it’s getting shameful. … To take part in this wasteful [capitalism], it’s shameful. We are shooting ourselves in the leg, and this is a growing attitude here in Iceland and in Scandinavia.”

Woman at War was filmed over the course of 40 days, and the production team lucked out with decent weather and supportive financing. “I was really dependent on the spirits of the nature, and they blessed me,” Erlingsson said.

And it didn’t hurt to have the celebrated Geirharðsdóttir on his team.

“She is the perfect partner,” the director said of the actor. “She is more an acting being. She does both men and women, and comedy and tragedy. She is very well known. She’s in a way an establishment here in Iceland. She’s a childhood friend, so we have a language together. We have a lot of personal trust between us, so it was good work.”

By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com

Woman at War, directed by Benedikt Erlingsson, is now playing in movie theaters. Click here for more information.