Woman at War (12A)

(Subtitled) Infrequent moderate injury detail

An Icelandic eco-warrior with a difference is the unlikely heroine of this distinctive light/heavy drama about our warring relationship with nature.

Halla (Halldóra Geirharðsdóttir) is known to her friends as a quiet upbeat choir mistress. However, her seemingly unadventurous life covers up a dark secret. Halla is also ‘The Mountain Woman’. The environmental activist waging a one-woman war on an international industrial giant to protect her bleak-glorious Icelandic rural landscape. When the chance comes to grasp her family dream, she finds herself with a difficult life-decision.

Director Benedikt Erlingsson’s first film, Of Horses and Men, was one of the most startlingly original, audacious features of the past decade. While Woman at War has a different dimension, its breathtaking central wonder woman and rousing theme offer a more focused and driven story. (research Chris Coetsee)

After the plastic cartoon antics of Avengers and Captain Marvel, Halla is morning sunshine, and all in a sensible cardigan. As for the live score - priceless.

The very opposite of those soft-as-shit spandexed digital heroes. In her own knitting, this flesh-real woman unstunts unstinting, actually running around Iceland with a bow and arrow, over the hardest terrain. She will be back until you have all seen her - twice.