Iceland. What do you think of when you hear this country’s name? Perhaps the Northern Lights, fjords, book-giving at Christmas? Andið eðlilega, or And Breathe Normally as it’s dubbed in English, takes a look at Iceland in a way you might never have seen before.

Like many of the Nordic nations, Iceland has a sort of aura around it as being some kind of perfect place to live. We see studies about Nordic nations being happier, more equal, but of course there is no country that is pristine and perfect. Every place has its issues and this film chooses to dig into a few of them. Full disclosure, I don’t know anywhere near enough about Iceland to say how many single mothers there are struggling there, or what conditions asylum seekers are placed in if they’re caught trying to travel illegally, but this film feels like a purposeful commentary on society in some way, so we can only assume these problems do exist in some form. What’s important about this film is not where or if those issues exist in Iceland, but more the issues themselves.

The plot of the film follows a single mother, Lara, who is barely scraping by, trying to hold her life together as she fights her previous drug addiction and also navigate a complicated same-sex relationship that is marred by the fact her lover is actually married to a man. She is raising her son, Eldar, simultaneously trying to hold down her job, stay out of debt and stay out of trouble, all without him being any the wiser, and you know what, she does a pretty amazing job of it. The clever thing about this film is the way you’re dropped these breadcrumbs bit by bit, rather than through some big reveal. Piece by piece, you start to understand the troubles of Lara and why her life is such a mess.

Added to the puzzle is Adja, caught by Lara trying to reach Canada on a fake passport. She’s hauled off to temporary accomodation, proud and humble throughout her ordeal though she’s repeatedly given no answers as to when she can leave. We see her try to figure out what to do next, even almost trying to flee in dangerous circumstances in a shipping container, only to change her mind at the last minute. All while she’s desperately trying to find a way out of Iceland, her daughter and sister are waiting for her in Canada, and this is where Lara and Adja’s lives intertwine. Both seem to be single mothers, both have been separated from their children (Lara prior to the film’s timeline), both are LGBTQ+ individuals, and both are just trying to do what’s best for their children. We shouldn’t have to really humanize asylum seekers or people at the fringes of society, but I think at its heart that is what Andið eðlilega attempts to do. As each woman fights her way through the world, people around them are blissfully unaware of their hardships. This is the raw beauty that exists in holding it together, but at the same time is the tragic part about the way certain groups of people are viewed and treated in almost any society.

Andið eðlilega is currently on Netflix UK. I would recommend this film if you’re interested in socio-political matters and would like to see a story that deals with LGBTQ+ matters and immigration, but ends relatively happily for a change. This film looks at Iceland through a pretty rough lens, with shots of wide white expanses dotted with rugged rocks and tiny apartments crammed with the lives of people just trying to make it one day at a time, but it’s not a story about Iceland, it’s a story for the times we live in and one I think almost any of us can relate to on some level.

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆