Many societies objectify women and compare them to monsters whenever they go against the will of some man. This was true in Iceland, especially during the 1970s when the feminist Red Stocking movement started holding serious ground. The female subjects of this documentary narrate about the time men and some women compared the Red Stockings with trolls. And of course, everyone who reads this knows by now that I like juxtapositions that surprise me. The one in this documentary is no exception, as it combines that narration with images of rocks looking like giants. Weak men fear women who saw themselves as weak, laughing off the chauvinist attacks against them. But eventually, even when these women were having fun, they were also breaking traditions when women did grunt work. A lot of women realised that enough is enough, and The Day Iceland Stood Still depicts their awakening.

There’s a version of Pamela Hogan’s The Day Iceland Stood Still that may be more depressing than the one we got. Documentaries have that tendency – the past few days of covering this festival gave several bad vibes. I have been watching a week’s worth of cinematic displays of the suffering of all kinds of women. So is it fair to say that maybe this documentary swings in the other direction towards too much levity? Sure, I mean there is a scene here where men remember a time when they had to do their own dishes. The troll scene and the animation has that effect, making women’s political awakening as cutesy. But I can live with cute levity, as well as the fact that most of the interview subjects spoke in English. Western women have come a long way, but there are more ceilings that need some breaking.