Lee Eisenberg Iceland has historically been seen as one of the most pristine, idealistic places on Earth. The island's economic collapse in 2007-2008 threw water on this perception, but it rebounded by prosecuting the bankers and essentially bailing out the people. It's safe to say that the country has regained its positive stereotype.Not if you watch Olaf de Fleur's "Stóra planið" ("The Higher Force" in English), though. This movie depicts a debt collector. I'm talking one real lowlife. I've seen a number of movies from the Scandinavian countries - yes, I count Iceland in that number - which depict people's lives as lowly and miserable, or depict nasty individuals. This stands in sharp contrast to the stereotype of the Nordic countries as immaculate utopias. I suppose that there's bound to be something gritty below the surface.About half the movie is in Icelandic, half in English, with a little bit of Chinese. Most of the cast won't be recognizable to US audiences, but Michael Imperioli of "The Sopranos" plays a supporting role. I guess that I recommend the movie as an alternate look at Iceland, beyond the stories of the economic meltdown and the images of geothermal springs. Not a great movie, but OK in a pinch. Ísland lifa að eilífu!

stefbriem I did have a good time the first 45 min. or so, but then suddenly it was all down hill. The suspense somewhat started to get thin and the jokes somewhat the same all over. What kept it going were the good actors.But the problem with this film is that it is trying to be cleverly funny,like Tarantino and god is that outdated stuff. Tarantino being a bit overrated sometimes, this movie comes ten years too late. At best it is for teenagers, and I am sure many of them find the character of Johann funny, which he is for the first 30 min. The other problem I have with it is that the story fades away towards the end more and more, thou I tried to find a recovery point. Maybe it didn't recover because the lack of passion comes with the effort of trying to be cleverly funny. Also, like in many movies, sure, good actors who can afford it don't seem to demand a better dialogue, or just turn down the script.

aldawonder I like this film very much. I had no expectations because Icelandic films are not that good or great. It's a good comedy but the drama in it is kinda a weird, but I somehow liked the film overall. I does not seem to have a strong direction of where it's going but in a weird way in enchanted my and my friends. At least we laughed most of the time.I think Erpur and Benedikt were extremely good in their roles, but we all love Petur and his work. I like the music very much, it comes from all over the world and is not as dark as usual Icelandic film music is. The twist with the school teacher being a crime boss is very funny.Also the Wolfi character is adorable.Cool, lovely film.

hgumundsson It's not every day that I see as unusual film as this here in Iceland. It's something guaranteed to be different for anyone who sees it. The pointlessness of being seems to be the core theme of this film based on a book by an Icelandic author.The acting is good, but what won me over was the characters. Petur Johann, our (in my opinion) most promising actor holds the film up with even tempo. All others do well - I especially liked Eggert Thorleifsson as the grumpy teacher but most of all, from the side characters Micheal Imperioli did a great job. He could have been too big for this film but he manages to fall with the Icelandic cast. And of course I have to mention Stefan Schaefer as the adorable Wolfi.The editing, filming was good, a little to gritty at times, but kept a nice overall look, and locations were great. Almost no nature shot, which is was Icelandic films often thrive on.Unusual, but great stuff.