Andið eðlilega
Country of Origin: Iceland
Primary Audio Language: Icelandic and English
Director: Isold Uggadottir
Film Length: 1h 40m
Synopsis: Two women's lives will intersect while trapped in circumstances unforeseen. Between a struggling Icelandic mother and an asylum seeker from Guinea-Bissau, a delicate bond will form as both strategize to get their lives back on track.
Review: The lives of two vastly different but equally struggling women, Lara (Kristín Thóra Haraldsdottir) and Adja (Babetida Sadjo) intersect at Iceland’s Keflavic airport, and inevitably leads to a touching story of two women learning to rely on one another and developing a deep intimate bond that resonates with the loneliest souls in search of true human connection.
Featured on The 14 Best Queer International Films of 2018 link from my previous The Purple Sea review, this movie wasn’t originally on my list of films to watch for this project, but it intrigued me enough to add it to my list, and I was surprised in several different ways. First, the movie’s dialogue takes place in a combination of Icelandic and English, which almost made me reluctant to include it on this list, but there are a good deal of subtitles throughout the film, so I thought it worthy to join my reviews. Additionally, it being featured on a “queer” films list, I was anticipating an actual romantic subplot between the two main women, but it is eventually revealed that Adja is a lesbian and fleeing persecution from her homeland of Guinea-Bissau, and the deep emotional relationship her and Lara develop doesn’t disappoint me.
Beginning the movie, I knew very little of what to expect beyond the brief summary from the previously mentioned list, which only described the film as: “A political asylum-seeker from Guinea-Bissau, Africa crosses paths with a with a struggling single mother in this fine-tuned Icelandic feature debut from writer/director Ísold Uggadóttir. Newly sober, Lára impresses on her first day as a border agent by catching a discrepnacy in Adja’s papers. Through a series of run-ins, and the naive charm of Lára’s son Eldar, the two women forge an unlikely connection in trying circumstances.” But, without a doubt, the movie’s focus on legal injustice, economic uncertainty, the socio-political implications and consequences of what it means to be LGBTQ+ in different countries, and the end message about how we are all able to help each other makes this a worthwhile movie to watch.
Available On: Netflix
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