Cinema of ecological anxiety – review of the film “Lamb”

Our little miracle

In his full-length debut, Valdimar Jóhannsson takes us to an undefined Icelandic province. It is there that a young couple, Maria (Noomi Rapace) and Ingvar (Hilmir Snær Guðnason), run a small farm. The rhythm of each day is determined by hard work – cultivating hostile, barren land and caring for a herd of sheep. One day, the lethargic monotony is interrupted by the dog’s squeaking signaling an unusual event. When the couple look into the sheepfold, they find an unusual lamb there. In silent agreement, the woman wraps the baby in a blanket and takes it home, where she will raise it as her own. The apparent peace of an unconventional family is disturbed by the arrival of Ingvar’s long-lost brother Pétur (Björn Hlynur Haraldsson). It seems that nature itself also wants to compensate for the unequal calculation …

At the end of the world, no one will hear you scream

At first glance, Jóhannsson strives for a conclusion as obvious as it is banal: here is a man – the lord and ruler of all earthly things, a shepherd and conqueror, having believed in the anthropogenic position of the alpha predator, forgot about his inextricable relationship and categorical dependence on the rest of the ecosystem that supports him. The relationship has become one-sided – by transforming and using the nature around it, it only takes, disregarding the consequences, and is left behind as sterile, toxic waste. This pride is present even in the extremely unfavorable conditions in which Maria and Ingvar functioned: on a farm right in the middle of nowhere, far from both civilization and natural amenities (the land they cultivate can only produce potatoes) – circumstances, in which, despite the obvious advantage of the raw nature, still trying to impose their own rules on it. So when they finally literally humanize the title lamb (or, as it turns out, its anthropomorphic hybrid – perhaps metaphorically commenting on the unnaturalness of the process of taming and domesticating animals), they give it a human name, dress it in human clothes, and put it to sleep in a human cradle , for a long time it does not seem strange to anyone – just another example of transforming and suppressing wildness according to human whim.

The fairy-tale allegory, however, goes deeper. This is not just another story about the cynical exploitation of natural goods, and Ada (this is the name of the lamb that is humanized) is by no means reduced to the role of raw material. On the contrary – a cherished and cared for animal focuses on itself the couples seeking an outlet, the layers of parental love, thus substituting for the unexplained absence of their own child. The symptoms of the trauma experienced by the protagonists are hidden in small gestures, details and casually thrown half-words, and the peculiar, irrational behavior – completely justified for Maria and Ingvar – clearly suggests the progressing insanity from the perspective of an external observer.

Dead silence

To say that Lamb is a resource-saving film would be a huge understatement. Jóhansson discovers the cards slowly and restrainedly. It is a double-edged weapon in the hands of the debuting director, which works to his advantage when he manages to build an atmosphere of disturbing enigma and a sense of inadequacy with a rudimentary dialogue, suggestive frame or a subtle gesture. The artist can be known here as a visual narrator – just a few shots of raw nature and a restless herd are enough to strengthen the feeling of isolation and being surrounded. The film’s greatest asset is undoubtedly its atmospheric visuals – even if they may sometimes seem like a postcard selected from a key of Western fantasy about oneiric, inaccessible Scandinavia.

On the other hand, however, this narrative restraint results in longer downtimes – perhaps intended to emphasize the existential monotony of a grieving young couple, perhaps normalizing their abnormal situation, and perhaps simply visualizing the brevity of content that could be closed in half. the length of the film and modestly sketched profiles of characters, which with a less dedicated cast (phenomenal Noomi Rapace!) would give the impression of flat pawns. The fact remains, however, that this is not a proposition for impatient people. For the persistent, Jóhansson has prepared a peculiar mishmash in which naturalistic bluntness is intertwined with fairy-tale fantasy, and the macabre hides traces of non-obvious humor.

* The company is the exclusive distributor of the film for the American market.

We invite you to the movie Lamb to the Cinema City cinema network!