In the bleak and beautiful "Godland," a 19th-century Danish priest named Lucas (Elliott Crosset Hove) makes the long, arduous trek north to Iceland, where he seeks to build and lead a church in a small coastal settlement.
Lucas also happens to be an amateur photographer, and the heavy camera equipment he carries on his back suggests he isn't the brightest or most practical of ministers. Rather than simply sail to his destination, which would be safer and faster, he decides to travel on foot and horseback over miles of harsh, unforgiving terrain, taking pictures of the Icelandic people and landscapes he encounters along the way. It's an artistic impulse and an arrogant, imperialist one, and it will have severe consequences for Lucas and those accompanying him on his journey.
Lucas is of course an unwitting camera subject himself, namely that of the gifted Icelandic writer-director Hlynur Palmason and his cinematographer, Maria von Hausswolff. "Godland," stunningly shot on 35-millimeter film, mimics the look of old photographs with its square frames and rounded corners — a visual choice that initially suggests we're discovering Iceland and its natural wonders through Lucas' eyes.
