Devil's Island

1996
Devil's Island
7.2| 1h44m| en| More Info
Released: 12 March 1999 Released
Producted By: Zentropa Entertainments
Country: Norway
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
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Synopsis

Devil's Island is a bitter sweet tale of Iceland in the fifties. Life is rough in Reykjavik's post-war slum of Camp Thule, where the abandoned US military barracks have been turned into makeshift homes. Struggling wives and their hard-working husbands try to make ends meet. The younger generation dreams of dollars, Rock'n'Roll and the American way of life. To celebrate or to drown their misery - they're never short of a good reason to booze. Devil's Island vividly depicts the everyday life of a wacky family, their neighbours and friends and shows how some of their dreams come true and others don't.

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Reviews

El_Sordo I saw this movie in a university class. First, I felt it was somewhat loose in storyline and editing, and it took me a while to get me into the story. but then I got accustomed with the characters and was fine after all.The story is about a family that lives in some come-down US-barrack-shelters in the early 1950ies. It covers a couple of years of time. It's built up like a classic Icelandic saga - about a family in Iceland, with one character, Baddi that is, in the middle, and the problems Baddi causes. But that might also make the story a bit boring.Characters are odd and funny. Cinematography is excellent. If you like Scandinavian cinema and and story lines you can't predict, this is a movie you should watch.
Thaaddios This movie is a good, 'gritty' film, about a lower class family going through major cultural shock. Chances are you don't speak icelandic (I don't) but subtitled it flowed very well. It's not hollywood like, it goes a bit slower than your average film, but they use that time to develop the characters and to get you emotionally involved.
monkey-51 Alright so I may be biased since I played "Dick" in the movie (2 lines, Woo Hoo!!) but I definitely liked it. Although the characters sometimes seemed like caricatures you have to remember that they were trying to distill an entire nation's attitudes down into a few people. The movie is not exactly uplifting but it is well done. The acting is quality and Fridrik Thor's directing is on par with his Oscar nominated "Children of Nature."
ads-12 This film features a lot of drinking, a lot of shouting and a lot of fighting! But this isn't enough to make it a good film. I never cared about the people in the story.