Godland

Godland is a 2022 drama film written and directed by Hlynur Pálmason. Set in the late 19th century, the film stars as Lucas, a Lutheran priest from Denmark who is sent to Iceland to oversee the establishment of a new parish church, only to have his faith tested and challenged by the harsh conditions of rural life, including his inability as a monolingual Danish-language speaker to communicate with his assigned Icelandic guide, Ragnar (Ingvar Eggert Sigurðsson). The film premiered at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival on 24 May 2022, and was nominated for many and won several awards in 2022, including the Gold Hugo for Best Feature Film at the Chicago Film Festival. Plot In the late 19th century, Danish priest Lucas is tasked with traveling to Iceland (which at the time was a remote Danish territory) and building a church in a Danish settlement. He takes a camera to document the land and travels by boat with several Icelandic laborers and a translator, who is Lucas's only ally and connection to the rest of the group. When they arrive, they meet their guide, Ragnar, who harbors a distrust of Danes. While traveling, the group encounters a deep and raging river that, despite Ragnar's warnings, Lucas insists they ford. Both the translator and a large cross fall off his horses, and the translator drowns. They bury him in a shallow grave that is soon unearthed by the rising tide. Grief-stricken Lucas becomes withdrawn and sullen, praying for God to allow him to return to Denmark. He faints from exhaustion and falls off his horse, and the group has to carry him the rest of the way on a makeshift stretcher. Later, the group is shown to have arrived at the settlement where Lucas is nursed back to health by a man named Carl and his daughters, Anna and Ida.