Icelandic Films and the Metaphysical and Supernatural

It has become very apparent that many of the residents of Iceland and those of Icelandic culture are deep believers of spirituality, the metaphysical and the supernatural world. Films like, Cold Fever, Noi the Albino, and Investigation Into the Invisible World are clear portrayals of the beliefs of many Icelanders in the director’s depictions of the spiritual world, deeply ingrained into the themes of each of the films. Although it may not always be practical, many of these beliefs are respected and explored through out the presentation of the films. The audience is pushed deeper into the minds, thought processes and beliefs of the Icelandic people. The icy cold landscapes add to the nature of spirituality of the residents. There is a significance to the conviction of the Icelanders, which can be used to modify non-believers beliefs into the deeper meaning of the spiritual world.

In Fridrik Thor Fridriksson’s Cold Fever, the film’s main character, Atsushi Hirata encounters many bizarre and difficult situations and people during his travels. He is guilted out of his vacation to Hawaii and into going to perform a ceremony to honor the seventh anniversary of his parent’s death in Iceland. The location of Hirata’s parent’s death occurred in the most implausible setting: in the city of Reykjavik, where they were drowned in a river, already dipping our toes into the many peculiarities to come. On his journey to Reykjavik is where the catastrophes begin. Hirata is assured that most Icelanders speak English, although we learn very early in the film that that is not the case. The following is a series of unusual, eccentric and sometimes supernatural events and people that Hirata encounters on his journey to Reykjavik.

Hirata steps onto t...

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...nce when his grandmother suggests a psychic reading, hoping Noi would hear good news that would put his life back on track. The psychic tells Noi that he has death in his future and Noi gets upset and leaves. He descends into his bastion of safety, the basement, and soon after experiences an avalanche. When he is rescued from his refuge, he finds out that the psychic had accuracy to her words: Noi’s father, grandmother, the bookshop owner and Iris were all killed in the avalanche.

Noi the Albino too explores humor with undertones of tragedy in this quintessentially existentialist film that features a bereaved, disconnected protagonist. But, the universe offers Noi the opportunity to run away and never look back at the town that only offers him entrapment; the town that he has such a perturbed relationship with, that once held him back, and arguably ruined his life.