‘Of Horses and Men’ (original title Hross í oss) is one of those rare Nordic films that manage to be deeply local and quietly universal at the same time. Directed by Benedikt Erlingsson, the film is a darkly comic, gently surreal portrait of rural Iceland where humans and horses share not just the land, but an almost equal narrative weight. In a remote Icelandic valley, the lives of villagers unfold around their horses. A public incident involving two horses leads a man to act out of shame, while other residents face tragic or absurd fates: an alcoholic dies seeking vodka, a land dispute ends in two deaths, and a lost outsider survives the cold in a shocking way. Amid hardship, isolation, and dark irony, new relationships form, and the community carries on.
A village seen from the saddle
Set in a remote Icelandic farming community, the film unfolds through a series of loosely connected episodes. There is no single protagonist: instead, Of Horses and Men observes a small society where pride, loneliness, desire, and stubbornness play out against vast landscapes and unforgiving weather. The horses are not symbols in the abstract sense—they are presences. They watch, judge, resist, obey, panic, and endure. Often, they seem more lucid than the humans trying to master them. Erlingsson’s genius lies in never anthropomorphising the animals, while still allowing them to frame the emotional logic of the film.
Nordic humour at its bleakest—and warmest
The tone is unmistakably Nordic: dry, restrained, occasionally brutal, and unexpectedly funny. Tragedy and farce coexist in the same frame. A man’s quiet despair can turn, within seconds, into absurd physical comedy; a moment of masculine bravado may end in humiliation, injury, or silence. This is humour born from climate, isolation, and centuries of living close to nature. It will resonate strongly with anyone familiar with Icelandic—or more broadly Nordic—storytelling, where understatement often cuts deeper than drama.
Nature as an active force
Few films capture the Icelandic landscape without romanticising it. Of Horses and Men refuses the postcard view. Snow, wind, lava fields, and open plains are not scenic backdrops but forces that shape behaviour and fate. Nature here is indifferent, sometimes cruel, sometimes absurdly beautiful—much like life itself. This approach aligns perfectly with ATN’s perspective on the North: a region where beauty is inseparable from hardship, and where human life is constantly negotiated with the environment.
Why it belongs in the ATN canon
Of Horses and Men is not a film to “watch for the plot.” It is a film to inhabit. It captures a specifically Icelandic rhythm of life while speaking to broader Nordic themes:
• the fragility of human control
• the tension between pride and vulnerability
• the thin line between dignity and ridicule
• the quiet companionship between humans and animals
It is also a reminder that Nordic cinema does not need grandeur to be powerful. A horse, a rider, a storm, and a moment of silence can say more than pages of dialogue.
ATN verdict
A strange, poetic, and darkly funny masterpiece of modern Nordic cinema. Of Horses and Men is essential viewing for anyone interested in Iceland, rural Nordic life, or films that trust the intelligence—and patience—of the viewer.
ATN Rating: ★★★★☆
Best watched on a winter evening, with the lights low and the wind howling outside
Watch the trailer on YouTube
