Halla, a choir conductor and eco-activist, plans to disrupt the operations of a Rio Tintoaluminium plant in the Icelandic highlands, purposely damaging electricity pylons and wires to cut their power supply.
One day, a long-forgotten application to adopt an orphan child from Ukraine is approved. At the same time, the government ramps up police and propaganda efforts in order to catch and discredit her. The film revolves around her attempts to reconcile her dangerous and illegal activism with the upcoming adoption.[6][7] All the while, the film's soundtrack players, consisting of a three-man band and Ukrainian traditional singers, interacts with the plot and characters.[8][9]
Galyna Goncharenko, Susanna Karpenko & Iryna Danyleiko plays the trio of Ukrainian singers. The band is played by Magnús Trygvason Eliassen (drummer), Omar Gudjonsson (sousaphonist) and Davíð Þór Jónsson (accordion & pianist).
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 97% of 117 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.8/10. Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 81 out of 100, based on 25 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[14]
Peter Bradshaw, for The Guardian, praised Halldóra Geirharðsdóttir's "attractive and sympathetic performance" as Halla, and called it a "well-turned, well-tuned" film that was "confidently and rather stylishly made".[6]
Jay Weissberg, for Variety, called the film "a delightful follow-up to Of Horses and Men", and praised the director for "arranging beautifully shot picaresque episodes around a central figure who lives the ideals of the heroes she has hanging on her wall, Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela".[7]
Remake
On 11 December 2018, it was announced that Jodie Foster was to direct and star in an English remake.[15][16]
