Trapped: The village against nature

Submitted by Matthew on 2 March, 2016 - 12:56 Author: Les Hearn

Followers of Nordic noir will have been enjoying this new treat on BBC4. It has the typical features of the flawed policeman confronted with gruesome murders; but a dominant character in the drama, sometimes it seems the dominant character, is nature.

It is set in a remote Icelandic fishing village, Seyðisfjörður, at the end of a fjord and surrounded by mountains. Shot in a similar fishing village, Siglufjörður, it is in Icelandic with English subtitles. The Icelandic language is a very soft sounding tongue, somehow reminiscent of Welsh, and not at all how one would imagine descendants of Vikings speaking. The names have an ancient feel to them, as do those of the cast and crew: Andri Olafsson, Agnes Eiríksdóttir, Þórhildur, Hjörtur, Ásgeir, Sigurður Gudmundsson... surnames are “son of” or “daughter of” (the letters Þ and ð are the sound “th” in “thin” and “this”, respectively).

The writing credits, while mostly Icelandic, hold a surprise: joint screenwriter is the award-winning English screenwriter and contributor to Solidarity Clive Bradley. It starts, pre-credits, with a scene from the recent past, a tragedy in which a romantic tryst in a deserted factory between Hjörtur and Dagný Eiríksdóttir (police chief Andri Olafsson’s sister-in-law — in a small village of under a thousand inhabitants, many are related) ends with her death and his survival, though traumatised and scarred.

Forward seven years and a vehicle ferry from Denmark is landing in winter when a fishing boat hauls in a torso. The local police take control until a team can arrive from Reykjavik. They suspect the body has come from the ferry, so prevent it disembarking and leaving. Curiously, the captain is unco-operative. Then nature starts to play a role: blizzards block all land and air connections and the local police, Andri and his staff of Hinrika and Ásgeir, are forced to try and solve the mystery with their meagre resources.

At the same time, there is a Lithuanian people trafficker on the ferry with his terrified captives, two young Nigerian sisters; somehow, the ferry captain is involved. In the village, the local MP is trying to force through a deal to sell much of the land to a Chinese consortium, with the connivance of the mayor (and former police chief) Hrafn but against the suspicious old fisher and hunter Guðmundur who refuses to sell (“over my dead body”).

The police are honest, essentially kind, and thoroughly wedded to their duty. They arrest the people trafficker but he escapes through Ásgeir’s naivety; Hinrika takes in the trafficked girls and is horrified at the details of their ordeal. Andri is overweight and unhappy that his ex-wife has arrived with her new partner, intending to take their two daughters back to Reykjavik. Nevertheless (or perhaps because of this), he throws himself into the murder hunt and everything else that is going on. Hinrika discovers through a wheelchair-bound resident with a state-of-the-art telescope a lot of disturbing facts (her husband grows his own dope; Hrafn is involved in the murder and is also a wife-beater...). Ásgeir, who vomits at the sight of the body, is an artist and computer buff, whose skills advance the
inquiry.

Then an avalanche cuts off the power (and nearly kills Andri). But the weather improves and at last the police from Reykjavik can board their helicopter and set off to Seyðisfjörður. Will Andri and his team be able to solve the mystery before the “experts” arrive and unceremoniously shoulder them aside? You have until 13 March to watch the first two episodes on BBC iPlayer. Well done, Clive!

This website uses cookies, you can find out more and set your preferences here.
By continuing to use this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions.