RAMS : Friday 15th April 2016.

'RAMS' which I saw over a week ago now was a winner in the 'Un Certain Regard' category at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival in May 2015 where it won the top prize. This Icelandic drama comedy was Written and Directed by Grimur Hakonarson and was entered in the Best Foreign Language Film category at this years Academy Awards but failed to get a nomination. That said, the film has gained much critical praise for its well told yet very simple story.  The film cost 1.75M Euros to bring to the big screen.

Set in a secluded Icelandic valley brothers Gummi (Sigurour Sigurjonsson) and Kiddi (Theodor Jullusson) live side by side on their own farms where they breed an ancestral sheep-stock that is considered to be the best in the country, winning numerous accolades repeatedly for their prized rams who carry an ancient lineage. Although the two brothers live side by side, share the land, raise the same award winning sheep, they haven't spoken to each other for forty years or more, the reasons for which are never divulged. Instead they communicate with each other by hand written note which is carried from one farm door to the other via Kiddi's sheep dog.

As the film opens we see the two farmers preparing the best specimen of their respective flocks for a local judging, and when Gummi's ram comes runner up to his brother Kiddi's, the suspicions are raised by the former believing that his are far superior, and that in fact his brothers ram may be diseased. He conducts his own inspection later that night under cover of darkness, and suspects that his brothers flock is suffering from 'scrapie' - a fatal degenerative disease that effects the nervous system of both sheep and goats. In the village where they live we learn that there has not been such an outbreak for many years, and whilst not eradicated it was thought to be under control - this could have catastrophic impacts on the whole valley, and ultimately we see that it does, and even more so with Winter drawing in.

Gummi takes it upon himself to alert the local authorities who conduct tests, and when Kiddi learns that his brother has gone behind his back and brought his precious prized flock into question he is none too pleased. Their relationship seems then to go downhill still further with warning shots fired through bedroom windows, and a fight breaking out in the barn. Gummi is taking the whole matter very seriously, but Kiddi seems intent on drowning his sorrows. The disease is confirmed a few days later and the whole valley is ordered to cull their entire flock, burn their hay supplies, and disinfect their barns. Gummi does so, but Kiddi spends most of his time in a drunken stupor to engage in such trivialities. In the end it is he who is the last to follow the letter of the law, which only irks the local authorities and delays any claim to compensation that he may have from his seemingly willing and understanding insurance company.

With both flocks culled - Gummi's by his own hand, and Kiddi's by the authorities, we gradually learn of a hidden agenda that Gummi is harbouring, that might just be his saviour and that of his family farm. We also learn that Kiddi is living on the farm that is in fact owned by Gummi, and unless Kiddi abides by the legal requirements imposed by the authorities to clean and disinfect his barn, Gummi is in fact responsible. This in turn could mean no compensation for either party, and with the prospect of two years without a flock, that would be far from ideal financially. So Gummi decides to take it into his own hands and clean Kiddi's barn, but not before he has sent over a note explaining the whole matter, via the trustee dog.

Things come to a head when Gummi's hidden agenda is discovered by the authorities, leaving him no choice by to confide in his estranged brother and seek his support. His brother does so willingly, realising that all is perhaps not lost as he had thought and that perhaps his brother's intentions are genuine and not something to be treated with suspicion. By now it is the depths of an Icelandic Winter and a thick blanket of snow covers the ground around the hills where the farms are located.

The two brothers venture out on a quad bike with the dog in tow as night falls, and get deeper into an oncoming blizzard as they venture up the hill side. They become separated from each other and their dog, and stumble around as the wind howls all around them in what is almost a white out. As morning comes Gummi is discovered by Kiddi lying prone on the ground face up almost half frozen. Kiddi digs an ice hole in the hill side and pushes in his unconscious brother, cuddling up close to warm and revive him offering words of reassurance and reconciliation.

'Rams' is an engaging story bordering on the absurd almost. It is a plain simple story well told, that at times slows down to such a meandering pace that makes this tale all the more riveting. Essentially a story of two feuding brothers and the animals they love perhaps more than anything, and a series of events that draws them at first further apart and then brings them together ultimately. It is well worth a look, but I would have liked a little more back story as to why the brothers chose not to speak to each other for over forty years, yet still share so much. The scenery is harsh and breathtaking, the performances nuanced and grounded, and the story predictable but thoroughly engaging.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-