Of Horses and Men - Film review

Of Horses and Men - Film Review

Of Horses and Men (2013) or Hross í oss as it’s called in Iceland, is a darkly comical (mostly dark) portmanteau anthology drama by Icelandic director Benedikt Erlingsson who actually started off as an actor – Of Horses and Men is his first feature film.

The film opens up with the character Kolbeinn played by Ingvar Eggert Sigurðsson (the only recognisable actor in the film) who is madly in love with the elegant Grána who just happens to be a horse. The feel of the film at this point is very lighthearted and playful – the score is a jolly mix of strings that really personifies the rural Icelandic horse community. The feel of this film soon changes when things go wrong as a large black stallion is let loose near darling Grána and the consequences are shocking. It’s then known that the film is actually an anthology of around 6 different short deadpan stories about different horses and owners – however all of which are connected and belong to the same community. None of the stories have a particularly joyful outcome – they all seem to be pretty depressing and melancholy.

The cue on which the audience knows that a new story is about to begin is a close up of a horse’s eye and that horse is then the main character in that story! What’s great about this film is that the horses actually have character! They really are the stars in this film, the way the camera gets so close without it looking too intrusive really is something special.

You can really tell the film is made by people who love horses that know them inside out, it really depicts how humans actually depend on horses, rather than vice-versa in other films – they are not just pets.

It’s a really niche film – not for a mainstream audience…however; I wouldn’t actually recommend it for horse lovers as there are some really brutal scenes in here that are heartbreaking and I am not particularly a horse lover! It really is a unique piece of film with stunning visuals, however, the humans definitely lacked. Salute the horses!