The Sea (2003-09-30)

Widescreen DVD

King Lear on ice. Such is The Sea.

A bleak and atmospheric family drama set against the backdrop of a modernizing Iceland, The Sea, at its heart, is a small story about a big family. Here, filmmaker Baltasar Kormakur tells the tale of Thordur, the patriarch of his largely dysfunctional family and the owner of a profitable and well-known fish factory. That the factory is profitable at all drives the main conflict of the film; the timeless struggle between the stubborn old and the selfish young, ever manipulative in their familial deceptions. And, of course, as with all family dramas, the secrets of each individual member are revealed in a steady, almost musical, timing. Infidelity and incest, rape and murder, each beat upon each other in a hopeless, crumbling cadence, marking the one true success of The Sea. That we care at all, despite our distaste, is proof that the film's steady direction and developed performances all make for an intriguing, albeit overly dramatic, film that is as static as it is successful.

The scenery itself is the film's great character, brilliantly underling the themes of struggle and change, as the cold ocean breaks madly on the shore and new industry grows among the graveyard of the old.

The features here fine, considering, including a director's commentary, a "Making Of" presentation, a music video, and an adequate, though underused, 5.1 surround sound. And while none of these are done to any particular quality, they are, at the very least, there to be seen.

The Sea is a film for those who appreciate a polite mixing of visual metaphor and heavy-handed drama. For those with more whimsical tastes - stay away.