The Icelandic word “heima” means at home in English and it is also the title of the Sigur Rós film/documentary, world premiered at Reykjavik International Film Festival 2007. No word is more appropriate for the title, since the film brings up the feeling of being back home after an extensive world tour of their acclaimed fourth album “Takk”. In the summer of 2006, the Icelandic quartet (Jón Þór Birgisson, Georg Hólm, Kjartan Sveinsson and Orri Páll Dýrason) marked the return to their homeland with seven unannounced free concerts at various remote corners of the country, culminating with a concert in Reykjavik attended by one tenth of Iceland’s population - the biggest concert in Icelandic history.[1]
The Oscar-nominated director for Lilo & Stich, Dean DeBlois was responsible for bringing to the screen all the feelings of those concerts, music numbers done only for the camera and interviews with the members of the band and their co-performers and close friends Amiina (Hildur Ársælsdóttir, María Huld Markan, Edda Rún Ólafsdóttir, Sólrún Sumarliðadóttir). According to DeBlois: "Their ambitious gesture of playing free, unannounced concerts in every corner of Iceland struck me as noble and beautifully strange - something unheard of in our jaded world. I wanted to present an intimate view of the band and their country from my own wonder-filled, foreign eyes."[2] To record the band at work, the director was in command of a crew of over forty people at fifteen inspiring places.
The cinema photography of Heima deserves attention, taken in high resolution and capturing the colours of Iceland. Although it is known that the Icelandic dramatic landscape looks good on the big screen, the way the frames were put together is very special and unique, showing not only the group on stage, but also various aspects of Icelandic culture. As a result, the look of the scenes and its content flows like an extension of Sigur Rós music. The quartet chose to play in different and exotic places, like the abandoned fish processing plant at Djúpavík, in the northwest , that was built in the big herring boom during the fifties but lasted only two years and hasn’t been used since ; a cave and a protest camp where they played an acoustic set because the people in the camp were protesting the building of a dam in Kárahnjúkar, the “grand canyon” of Iceland, that’s going to produce electricity for ALCOA aluminum smelter. In the film, the musicians clearly care about nature and its preservation without taking it to a political discussion about Icelandic environmental and development policies .
The intention of Sigur Rós to have concerts in the country side of Iceland was to demonstrate their gratitude for the local support and bring life to areas that there isn’t much activity on a regular basis. As a foreigner living in Reykjavik, the film gave to me an opportunity to understand better the Icelandic culture, looking back to traditions and the life at these remote and desolate areas. The scenes in the film were full of nostalgia.
On the other hand, while the film is an ode to Iceland, Sigur Rós and their friends speak in English with Icelandic accent, which, in my point of view, breaks the mood of the film. For me, the language is the strongest aspect of Icelandic culture and should be in the documentary as the main language. It was clearly difficult for them to express themselves in a foreign language, although they were very comfortable in front of the camera. Another aspect concerning the language is that the songs in Icelandic were without subtitle, which is unacceptable for an English- Icelandic production. But probably they were more concerned about not distracting the attention of the public from the breathtaking images.
For a quartet known across the globe[3], Jónsi, Goggi, Kjarri and Orri are definitely unassumed and not arrogant. In Heima they show that they are not only great musicians, but also in touch with other realities. The film is about this Sigur Rós, that most people don’t know, and about Iceland- its nature, its people and their children. An Iceland that I didn’t know, the modest “Iceland of Sigur Rós”.
Technical Information:[4]
A Klikk Film (Iceland)/EMI Records (U.K.) production, in association with the Icelandic Film Center, Truenorth Prods.
Produced by John Best, Dean O'Connor.
Executive producers: Jon Thor Birgisson, Orri Pall Dyrason, Georg Holm, Kjartan Sveinsson, Kari Sturluson, Terry Felgate, Paul Baines, Stefan Demetriou.
Directed by Dean DeBlois.
With: Jon Thor Birgisson, Orri Pall Dyrason, Georg Holm, Kjartan Sveinsson, Hildur Arsaelsdottir, Maria Huld Markan, Edda Run Olafsdottir, Solrun Sumarlioadottir.
Camera (color, HD): Alan Calzatti
Editor: Nick Fenton;
Music: Sigur Rós
Sound (Dolby Digital): Birgir Jon Birgisson, Ken Thomas
Assistant director: Hjorthur Gretarsson.
Reviewed on DVD, Chicago, Sept. 27, 2007. (In Reykjavik Film Festival -- opener; Rome, Athens film festivals.)
Running time: 97 MIN.
[1] Sigur Rós Official Web Page. (http://www.sigur-ros.co.uk/media/press/heima.php ) Consulted at 06. oct. 2007.
[2] COLOTHAN, Scoth. Sigur Ros: 'Heima' - A film by Dean DeBlois. http://gigwise.com/contents.asp?contentid=36563 Consulted at 08. oct.2007.
[3] Sigur Rós Official Web Page. (http://www.sigur-ros.co.uk/band/) Consulted at 08. oct. 2007.
[4] SIMON, Alissa. Sigur Rós: Heima. Variety Web Page. (http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117934930.html?categoryid=31&cs=1) Consulted at 06.10.2007.
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