The Deep

IMDB
First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: Yes

Not to be confused with The Deep. Another Revelation Film Festival title, the true story of an Icelandic fisherman who survived for many hours and a long swim back to shore after his boat capsized and all his colleagues drowned. It's not just a survival story, it's a survivors story and the film continues on after  the harrowing event to show the aftermath of such an incident and what effect it has on him and his town.

What was great was I didn't know any of that going into the film. The beauty of festival films. The scenes out on the ocean are superbly put together. It's an inhospitable landscape and you really feel the ice cold temperatures. Perhaps surprisingly the most tense moment for me was our hero, poor Gulli, having made it to shore, just trying to get out of the water without being pummelled into the sharp rocks.

The drama in the second half is understated and much of the mystery of what happened is left unexplained but poses some interesting questions. My tastes prefer the survival story of the first half but overall it was a pretty neat experience. I think this is the first Icelandic film I've seen too, so that was fun.