The Damned

Writer: Jamie Hannigan and Thordur Palsson

Director: Thordur Palsson

The Damned, co-written by Jamie Hannigan and Thordur Palsson and directed by the latter, is a film strong on atmosphere but weak on narrative. In the 19^th century, an Icelandic fishing community in a remote location faces a bleak future with provisions running low. Leadership is divided between the aggressive Ragnar (Rory McCann) who leads the fishing expeditions and young widow Eva (Odessa Young) who inherited the only fishing boat from her late husband. The community spend their time singing sea shanties and, in an unfortunate example of foreshadowing, tell ghost stories about ‘Draugur’ – reanimated corpses seeking revenge.

A moral crisis arises when a ship is wrecked upon the rocky shoreline surrounding the village. Daniel (Joe Cole) – to whom Eva is becoming attracted – argues the community is obliged to help the shipwrecked sailors while Ragnar feels they have barely enough food to feed themselves let alone survivors. Eva breaks the tie by agreeing with Ragnar (Odessa Young’s subtle performance suggesting Eva is aware she has to tread cautiously in such a masculine environment). Opinions change, however, when a barrel of food from the wrecked ship washes up on shore. A salvage, rather than a rescue, mission is launched to see if anything else can be recovered but goes badly astray when desperate survivors from the wreck try to board, and threaten to capsize, the fishing boat.

The fishermen manage to repel the invaders but Daniel is forced to kill one to save Eva. As the community comes to terms with events first Eva, then others, begin to notice a shadowy figure lurking in the background and fear the drowned sailors have returned as ‘Draugur’.

The Damned is not a ‘morality movie’ as the moral quandary that opens the film, and draws possible parallels with present-day attitudes to immigration, is not developed. There is a possible theme of guilt as the community endures a type of post-traumatic stress because of their abandonment of the sailors and Eva copes with becoming attracted to one of her late husband’s shipmates. However, the audience gets little information on the background of the characters so it is not easy to understand why, in response to the supernatural events, they sink into paranoia and become suicidal / homicidal.

Director Thordur Palsson borrows the Yūrei, longhaired dark dressed ghost, from Japanese folklore to provide a visual image of the creature tormenting the community but ignores other traditional ghost story features. The common approach of supernatural events exacerbating tensions, which are already present between the characters, does not arise despite there being a degree of resentment between the fishermen and Eva who rations the use of her boat. There are examples of grim gallows humour appropriate for people in a desperate situation- there is a tradition of nailing the feet of corpses into their coffins to prevent them from dancing in the dreams of survivors.

The Damned works best as a study of humans against inhospitable and hostile elements. The opening sequence – Odessa Young in rough garments struggling against a howling wind through the skeletal structure from which the fishing boat is launched – would suit a dystopian science fiction movie. There is a striking image of Eva with blood stained hands against the white snowy background. When the characters attempt to escape over the nearby mountains, the screen regularly goes blank to illustrate how the snowstorm limits their vision. Apparent signs of life in a corpse are due to live eels lodged in the stomach. The discordant score by Stephen McKean adds greatly to the eerie atmosphere.

There are good performances in The Damned but despite the gory deaths, little tension and slight emotional impact. The twist ending is certainly a surprise but not very credible making the film a triumph of atmosphere over story.

TheDamned will be available in UK Cinemas from 10th January.