Godland (2022): Before We Watch
The limits of faith and the faithful
This week’s movie is a slow-mover, no doubt. Heck, behind the scenes, the director took two years to film a real-time shot of a decomposing horse.
But given the pace of world events in summer 2024, it’s probably good to switch, for just a beat, to a more meditative pace.
Anyway, hello, welcome, and thank you for stopping by. For new visitors, here’s what this situation is all about:
With Savor the View, we’ll watch, think, and talk about movies and the things that matter. A special welcome and thanks to our regular crew!
Each Monday, I share brief, spoiler-free remarks and questions to frame viewing a movie on our own.
Each Thursday, I share post-viewing questions to poke at the issues, ideas, quandaries, inspirations...whatever...that movie might have summoned (spoilers, ahoy!).
Paid subscribers can talk it all out in a weekly Discussion Thread.
Overview
Godland (2022): Icelander Hlynur Pálmason wrote and directed this film, his third of three features. Critics received it well; IMDb.com records 57 nominations and 43 wins for awards.
2022 was an interesting year for movies. Following the pandemic’s disruptions (not to mention that of at-home streaming services), movie-theater attendance was…dispiriting. Nevertheless, novel films like Everything Everywhere All at Once revived enthusiasm for originality, while blockbusters like Top Gun: Maverick jolted the industry back to life financially.
The universal/general
Be prepared for contrasts and mismatches! What differences among the characters do you notice, particularly in terms of beliefs, judgments, experience, status (especially Danes vs. Icelanders), landscapes, and treatment of animals?
The specific/unique
What risks is Lucas (Elliott Crosset Hove) told to expect at the outset, before he departs for Iceland? Do subsequent events justify or complicate this initial setting of expectations?
There won’t be a ton of dialogue. And even when there is, not everyone understands each other’s language. How do characters communicate? How well does that work out for everyone?
The viewer is always present
Not a spoiler alert: an erupting volcano will have, let’s say, a minor role in this film. How does this volatile natural occurrence in the background inflect what occurs among the people on the screen?
What do you expect of the film, based on the suggestion that the film tells the fictional story of “real” photographs from the past? How does this expectation shape your sense of the story?
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