And Breathe Normally - The Cold Warm
Thoughts On: And Breathe Normally (Andið Eðlilega, 2018)
A struggling single mother encounters a moral impasse as a trainee boarder security officer.
Simple and direct, And Breathe Normally is an Icelandic film depicting humanity and friendship worth risking a life for. Understated, perhaps slightly unremarkable in an honest way, it captures a moment of faith between two strangers who recognise in each other struggle and motherhood. This faith and bond, its humanity, is depicted as morally superior to law - mere paper and documentation in the face of family and life. Such sits at the basis of the narrative's commentary on the steadily increasing influx of migrants and refugees to the small nation in recent years; furthermore it speaks to the persecution and censoring of homosexuality among women. Quite Nordic, hushed and impartial, but nonetheless sensitive and earnest, And Breathe Normally is a poignant glimpse into a non-scenic side of Iceland through controlled and subtle social drama.
