HERD IMPUNITY
THE COUNTY I A widowed farmer takes on the establishment in the Icelandic Erin Brockovich.
Iwas preparing to make a documentary, actually,” Grímur Hákonarson, director of 2015’s award-winning Rams, tells Teasers about the origins of his latest cinematic snapshot of contemporary life in rural Iceland. He travelled to Skagafjörður in northern Iceland, where the last of the Kaupfélög still stands strong.
“The co-operatives in Iceland were founded by the farmers themselves, but then they evolved into tools of power for certain individuals within the community,” Hákonarson explains. “The co-op there is often referred to as ‘The Little Soviet Union’. I interviewed all these farmers, but no one was willing to go on the record with their stories... So I made The County instead.”
Based in part on those stories as well as his own experiences as a young man living on a farm in southern Iceland, Hákonarson set about writing the script for The County, a drama with a darkly comedic tinge. Taking place in the fictional region of Erpsfjörður, struggling farmer Inga (Arndís Hrönn Egilsdóttir) finds her life suddenly upturned when her husband dies in a car accident. Comforting support from the boss of the local co-op quickly turns to panic when she discovers the crippling debt their
farm was facing, and the underhand tactics the co-op was employing to keep her living at their mercy.
After attempts to rally support among other farmers the co-op steps up their nasty tactics. With her co-op shop accounts closed, their lawyer breathing down her neck and the debt still mounting, Inga takes her fight public.
“It’s probably a little more dramatic than Rams,” Hákonarson says of the film’s tone, “It’s more serious in that it’s more modern and is about important contemporary struggles Icelandic farmers face. But there is still some comedy in there.”
Following his breakout film, which won the Prix Un Certain Regard at Cannes in 2015, wasn’t as daunting as you might expect. “Rams helped me a lot in getting funding for The County,” Hákonarson smiles. “And we’ve already sold it [for distribution] across most of Europe.”
Also helping the film’s fortunes is the central performance by Egilsdóttir, who plays the determined Inga with considerable gusto. “Pretty soon after the script started to take shape, Arndís emerged as the right actress for the role,” says Hákonarson. “She did need some farm training, though, because she had never done any farm work before. Shovelling hay, interacting with livestock, all of that had to look as natural and real as possible.”
And Hákonarson had one main direction on set. “Just slowing things down. Everything happens more slowly in the country, so it was just about walking slower, talking slower and taking a bit longer to do everything.” Well, except for overthrowing the established order… Erlingur Einarsson
ETA | 22 MAY / THE COUNTY OPENS ON CURZON HOME CINEMA THIS MONTH.