Metalhead (Ragnar Bragason, 2013): Iceland

Reviewed by Angela Yago. Viewed at the Metropolitan 4 theatre, Santa Barbara.

I was really surprised how good this movie was. It had so much feelings, it really touched my heart and it amazed me how much power it had, like -from being at the lowest point in your life to rising all the way to the top- kind of thing.

Metalhead is a drama directed by Ragnar Bragason. Thora Bjorg Helga has the leading role as Hera, a troubled Heavy Metal loving teenager.

The movie starts off by showing a farm in Iceland and Hera at a young age, playing with her friends until dinnertime. She goes to the field to tell her brother that dinner is ready, he’s on a tractor cutting the field, when something horrible happens. He falls off the tractor and hurts himself so bad that he doesn’t survive. Hera is standing on the other side of the field, seeing her brother die. After the accident, Hera blames herself for his death. Everything changes, her parents changes and so does she, she becomes very troubled when she grows up. She finds some kind of peace during her grief, in a form of dark music, Heavy Metal. She knew her brother wanted to be a rock star, he always played on his electric guitar, so she decides to pursue that dream for him. She starts playing on his guitar until she gets her own, and she plays it good. The years go by and she continues to practice and pursuing her dreams, Hera wants to form a band. She still lives at the farm with her parents who make their own alcohol and has a bunch of cows, she is in her early twenties and is still dreaming of a life outside that little farm. Her dreams continue to be dreams because of her rebellious and troubled personality and actions, she drinks a lot of alcohol and drives vehicles she is not aloud to touch, especially when she’s drunk. She starts working at a meat factory, and that job ends when she puts her dark and loud music on the speakers and pisses off her boss. Hera realizes that she has to wake up from her dreams and grow up when her childhood friend returns to their hometown and expects her to marry him. A new young priest moves to the community and Hera starts hanging out with him, she realizes he’s a bit like her. He loves Heavy Metal and has a tattoo, not a typical priest. He talks sense into her and makes her think about her life, that she should do something about her life, not just run away from every little thing that comes her way. She needs to do something for herself, and make her brother proud.

Metalhead is a really deep and dark film, it’s not just the feeling that’s deep and dark, it’s the atmosphere itself. It’s been edited that way, they’ve chosen those colors and ways to shoot it. The snow also helps a lot, because snow and the cold is pretty depressing. The dark lighting creates tension and depression, that’s exactly what the family is feeling. Heavy Metal music also creates emotions of madness, anger, sadness, but it also can make people feel better. The movie really sticks to its topic, music and pursuing your dream. Heavy Metal music appears on many places in the movie, for example on the walls, there are a lot of posters of bands, and on clothes like t-shirts. The color black is all around in the movie, to me that color represents that specific music style, but it wasn’t only that color that was shown on a lot of subjects, the color red was also very popular. You could see red on so many things: red cars, red mirror, red prints on clothes and walls.

I loved this movie, it doesn’t have to be a movie for only Heavy Metal loving people – it can be for whoever. For those who are fans of the drama genre, for those who are into deep and dark stories, and for those who just love movies. Two thumbs up!