Despite being set against the paralyzing beauty of the Icelandic
coast, "The Sea" is nothing more than standard family reunion
drama. We've all seen this movie before whether in high form
"Celebration" or the more banal "Home for the Holidays." Although
"The Sea" shoots for the high form, it fails to surpass the banal. In
Baltasar Kormakur's sophomore feature (he also directed the
critically acclaimed 101 Reykjavik), he explores the explosive
relationship between parents and children. The plot revolves
around an aging owner of a small-town fishing business, more
specifically, his narrow vision of the future and the forces of
progress and time that stand in his way. While Kormakur's
themes are explicit and the tension apparent, the transitions
between moods and the dramatic arc are confused and sloppy.
The film begins by introducing us to the perils facing the mom and
pop store equivalent of the fishing industry: technologically inferior,
inefficient and out-performed by the corporate competition. In the
face of outstanding loses and potential bankruptcy, the stubborn
aging owner who built the enterprise and consequently the town
that has grown from its existence refuses to sell out. Instead, the
weak man calls upon his children in hopes that they will be
inspired by a duty to family and home, resurrect the dying industry
and restore the business to the father's imagined version of its
glory days. The children, who have long abandoned any sentimental connection with home land, have different ideas. The
reunion and father's request only reminds them of the years of
suffering and mistreatment they endured while under his roof and
the repressed anger they harbored after all of these years.
The film undergoes a major transition as it shifts between the first
and second acts. The first is designed as some light introduction
to the backward ways of the Icelandic rural society and the
incompatibility between the coca-cola city kids and the coarse
nature of the unruly outback. However, as the film shifts from perils
of the practice to perils of the past, and as the comic relief is
substituted with explosions of anger, the emotional outbursts and
the venomous shouting matches seem ill-explained. The cause
lacks the force to bring about the ensuing eruptions, which in the
end seem almost farcical on account of their extreme nature.
Nevertheless in light of several outstanding shortcomings,
Baltasar does shoot some very beautiful scenes and framed a set
on par with poetry. Unfortunately, there was no bite to the
provocative premise.
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