The County (2021)

AVAILABLE TO STREAM AT HOME!

After the global success of Rams, director Grímur Hákonarson returns to his native Iceland with another humanist farmland fable. Bitterly funny and deeply affecting, The County plays out a timely political allegory against a jaw-dropping natural landscape, aided by a brainy, tenacious anti-heroine and Hákonarson’s dry Nordic humor.

When we first meet Inga (Arndís Hrönn Egilsdóttir), she is midwifing a calf, in the middle of another back-breaking day on the small, nearly bankrupt dairy farm she shares with her husband, Reynir (Hinrik Ólafsson). She is one of many hard-working farmers in her region who work under a bureaucratic co-operative that, having fallen out of the control of its farmers, operates as a monopoly, pushing her and her community deep into debt. After Reynir’s sudden and suspicious death, Inga learns the true extent of both her powerlessness and her late husband’s involvement with the co-op’s schemings. With an eye to the future, and with no other option, she aims to chip away at the co-op’s domination.

Cinematographer Mart Taniel captures Iceland’s famously stunning countryside, lending a lush pictorial grandeur to The County’s social realist ethos, recalling the best of Ken Loach. The County cuts deep, putting a human face on an all-too-likely conflict, along with suspense, charm, and a touch of Scandinavian zaniness.

Icelandic w. English subtitles

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PS… ignore the showtimes at right. We have to put something in there to make this show up on our home page! – TT Team

The film’s distributor, Dekanalog, will be splitting the revenue with Tampa Theatre. Please note that this arrangement, in these unprecedented times, means that we are unable to offer Member pricing for virtual screenings. Thanks for your understanding, and THANK YOU FOR CONTINUING TO SUPPORT TAMPA THEATRE!