The Last Farm (2004) User Reviews

Intensely moving short with an ending which I'll never forget

[llltdesq · 8/10 · 30 December 2006]

This short is a deliberately paced character study, following an older, clearly independent and very stubborn man as he shuts down his farm. His daughter has prevailed upon her parents to move into a retirement home, likely more because she thinks they should rather than because it's the best move for them. No doubt she means well, but good intentions are paving material. Because I can't talk about this without giving some details, even obliquely, consider this a spoiler warning:

The short opens with the old man, who says only what he has to (to call him "taciturn" is putting it mildly) finishing his meal as the phone rings. It's his daughter, checking on the planned trip to a retirement community her parents are making that weekend. Their farm is on an island and they are finally going to move from their home, go off the island into a home. The man's feelings are clear by his facial expressions and his reactions. He finishes talking to his daughter and goes about his day.

Quickly, it becomes clear with each task that something is going on. The man's activities are focused and he is intent on a purpose. I got the impression that this single-mindedness was second nature to the man. To fix on a goal and push through until it's completed would be standard behavior for this fellow and we watch him complete each task he has set for himself, mentally checking each off before moving to the next on on his list.

With each scene, as the short progresses, a comprehension of certain realities begins to dawn on the viewer, as pieces drop into place and you are slowly figuring out just precisely what the old man's plans are and the ending becomes clearer as the short slowly, methodically and inexorably reaches the climax.

This is a beautifully rendered and very well-crafted cinematic dagger and the director pushes it frame by frame into the viewer's brain. It is included on a compilation DVD which holds eight of the ten shorts nominated for the Academy Award in the Animated Short and Live-Action Short categories in 2005. The compilation is very good and it and this short are highly recommended.

The Last Farm is not long enough.

[st-shot · 7/10 · 9 November 2009]

The harsh foreboding landscape of an Icelandic farm is beautifully photographed and conveyed in this bleak little tale about an independent and proud farmer and his dead wife. With his back against the wall, his support gone and a daughter trying to get him into a nursing home farmer Hran devises his own exit with Rube Goldberg tenacity.

Last Farm is a stoically grim meditation on rugged individuality at ropes end. The dignity, loyalty and courage displayed by Hran is moving and unsettling as he faces death in the same way he faced life, with stoic resignation.

The film's major drawback is that it is much too short. The entirety of this film would have made for a stunning climax to a more fully explored feature film about the Last Farm since the lead and the cinematography show in its brief running time they have more than the ability to go the distance.

Well made, but extremely unsettling

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 17 February 2008]

WARNING--To parents out there, think twice about having your younger kids see this film. While it might be good for older kids, be sure to watch it with them as it has content that is very adult and controversial.

This short film was nominated for Best Live Action Short Film for the 2006 Oscars--losing to SIX SHOOTER.

This Icelandic film stars an old man who is very, very terse and withdrawn. He obviously doesn't want people about him on his isolated farm as he goes about the day to day routine. During all this, you only get a glimpse of his wife--who is either asleep or dead.

Where all this leads didn't surprise me at all. However, the violent ending to the film was just plain creepy and sad. While I respect a person's right to live their life any way they please, I certainly hope this film isn't meant to encourage the sort of behavior you see in the movie--though I assume it probably does--at least to a degree.

While the other reviews were all so super-positive, I liked it to a much less degree. Well made, yes, but also pretty terrible in its implications.

Visually beautiful, restrained and with a strong vein of pathos

[bob the moo · 12 April 2007]

An old man lives with his wife on an isolated farmstead along the Icelandic coastline. His whole life spent there, raising his family and tending his land, he has no wish to give it up and move to the comfortable retirement home that his children have set up for him. However as preparations are made around him, he makes his own plans.

A touching and simple film this one, nothing earth shattering in the emotions it delivers and the plot "twist" is not really going to take anyone by surprise – but then that is not the intension. Instead it is a thoughtful and genuine look at the treatment of the old within modern society by looking at this one farmer in particular. Although extreme, I found it easy to understand his emotions and to relate to them, despite not having any frame of reference for this. The credit belongs to Runarsson for this because he made it so accessible and easy to engage with. The script is minimal but the development of the main character is well done without many words, to the point where we understand the man and who he is (independent, old fashioned, proud and certainly not someone who is ready to be lost into an easy place for the convenience of others).

This is matched by a solid and dignified central performance as well as beautiful cinematography which helps us visually make the contrast between his life and his fate in a nursing home. I'm sure some viewers will bemoan the simplicity of the message but to me they are being overly critical – it is not rammed down our throat so much as it is just simply laid in front of us. Run through with pathos and emotion, it is a great little short film and worth seeing.

A Beautifully Photographed and Acted Stark Look at An Old Man's Choices

[noralee · 10/10 · 3 March 2006]

"The Last Farm (Síðasti bærinn í dalnum)" is a moving visualization of Dylan Thomas's admonition of "Do not go gentle into that good night."

Amidst beautiful cinematography of rural Iceland, we see an old farmer methodically go about his plans. Through physical pain and the determination of a craftsman, he is very intent and serious.

For most of the film we think his monosyllabic interaction with friends and family is about closing up to resettle in a retirement community, though he certainly doesn't look happy looking at its colorful brochure.

In contrast to the preternaturally cheerful way that younger folks speak to him, this is one old wily independent isolate who chooses to live his life in his own distinctive way.

What at first seems macabre and shocking becomes a frank look at dealing with old age. With very minimal dialog, this stark film is very sympathetic to the farmer's unusual choices.

This film was viewed as part of a commercial screening of Oscar nominated shorts.

Oustanding

[xxrotini · 10/10 · 4 March 2006]

This film is the best movie nominated for an Oscar this year, and I have seen them all now. There is more to this short 17 minute piece than there usually are to most two hours movies. We get the sense of where this old man's life is headed, how his relationships and his family has formed, his attachment to the land.

The film has one of the oddest combinations of imagery as it combines some of the most disturbing: a woman dead in bed, a man burying himself alive, his daughter (along with his son in law and grandkid) seeing him bury himself alive--mixed with some of the most romantic images: a couple dying together, preserving the life on the farm avoiding an old person's home. The movie is very human, dying with dignity. The acting and directing and scenery are also amazing.

Heartbreaking yet Heartwarming

[engstrar-308-920037 · 9/10 · 4 March 2012]

This film is the story of Hrafn and his beloved wife Groa who live on a secluded farm in Iceland. Surrounded by peaceful sea and grand mountains, their modest farmhouse fits perfectly into its surroundings. The film follows Hrafn's routine as he finishes his chores, preparing to leave the farm, the last farm in the area. Through a phone call with his daughter Lilja and a conversation with a deliveryman, the audience learns that the couple is finishing their last chores before moving to "the lap of luxury." However the audience is subtly enlightened to something more going on. Hrafn, in both conversations previously mentioned, says Groa is napping and not available to visit. Also, Hrafn makes sure that his daughter is not visiting until the weekend is out. We soon find that all his preparations are for the burial of his wife. While the phone is ringing and Lilja waits on the other end of the line for her father to pick up, Hrafn places a bible on his wife who is laying in the coffin he built for her. He lowers her coffin into a grave he dug himself, lies next to her in the grave and finally releases a truck to dump dirt onto the pair, burying himself next to his beloved wife just as Lilja arrives in the driveway.

While the summary may seem detailed for a movie review, it is in the details that short films find their stride. Runar Runarsson's use of various techniques sets this film above many others. The first thing viewers notice is the use of camera angles and the differentiating of shots that add depth to the film. Shots of Hrafn standing peacefully in the center as the camera pans the scenery around him accentuate how alone and abandoned he is. Many close ups of his worn hands, especially focusing on his left hand, bring the audience's awareness to his many labors, labors of love for his beloved wife. Shots never focusing on his wife, always placing her in the dark, until her burial, indicate to the audience that she has passed. Since the film has very little dialog, the camera work does a lot of the talking.

The sound editing of this film is phenomenal, another detail that sets this film apart. For such a short film, the film score by Kjartan Sveinsson is on par with a score for a major motion picture. I do not think this film would be what it is without the score. First of all, the score helped to supplement the dialog and tell the story along with the camera shots. The foreboding and solemn music is absent during many parts of the film but creeps into the scenes involving Hrafn and his wife whether it is when he lays down to sleep next to her body, his work on her coffin and digging of their grave, or his final laying down next to her before the burial. The music is absent when outsiders break into his sacred world and threaten to make themselves privy to his secret. The exaggerated sounds that Hrafn makes through his routine underscore that this is the last time he will be doing this routine. The constant, labored sound of his breathing indicates to the audience that this could be the end for him too. In the scene where he is laying down to bed next to his wife, the magnified sound of his clock ticking subtly hints to the audience that this is the end for them both, that their time is running out. Besides being blown away by the technical aspects of this film, the story line is compelling and full despite the fact that this is a short film with very little dialog. It shows more skill on the part of the director and other crew workers to create such a gripping film with so little. With less than twenty minutes, the film captured my heart and I found myself aching along with Hrafn as he labored through his final acts of love for his wife. Though never seeing them alive together, there is no doubt to the audience what kind of love the two shared in both life and death. Their story is poignant and makes the audience question whether they have known them for twenty minutes or twenty years. The theme of abandonment in the film is heartbreaking to the audience. Hrafn is the last farmer in the area and we sense that Hrafn and his wife have also been, in a sense, abandoned by not only the other farms in the area and their friends but their daughter too. Hrafn is then abandoned by his wife as she passes away first. Finally, Hrafn abandons his farm and the life he once had to move on and join his wife in death. However strong the theme of abandonment may be, its sadness is overpowered by the heartwarming theme of love in this film. Throughout the film, every action Hrafn takes is through love. Taking care of his farm for the last time, ensuring his daughter would be spared the pain of seeing her parents both die, taking care to give his wife a proper burial, and joining with her in death are all actions he did out of love. This film, though under twenty minutes long and with little dialog, is as rich and full as a full- length feature film. The expert use of film techniques underscores the themes and enlightens the audience to the secret being keep by the main character without the use of so many words. The director knew how to not only let the sound direction and camera angles speak but also how to balance out the themes, heartbreaking and heartwarming, so that the audience feels whole at the films completion. The director gives audiences a chance to fall in love with the characters the way Hrafn and Groa fell in love with one another.

The Nature of Pride

[hansonkd · 8/10 · 5 March 2012]

The Last Farm is an excellently executed interpretation of a dying culture and the people who keep it alive. The film is set in rural Iceland at a small farm that time has left untouched for several decades. Vast emptiness, filled with serene beauty, surrounds the farm that is so remote that groceries and mail are only delivered once in a while. The story follows Hrafn, whose solitude is emphasized by the manual labor set against the somber music of a violin. He is very ingrained in his cultural beliefs; even though he is completely alone he is reluctant to answer the phone because it is rude to call during dinner. We learn through his phone call that he will soon be moving to a retirement community and nothing in the conversation foreshadows his later intentions of burying himself alive next to his recently deceased wife's coffin. He tells his daughter that her mother is taking a nap and is not ill. This conversation is practically the only dialog in the film and sets the theme of the film; the quiet ending of an era.

On the surface, this film could be portrayed as a film about love. His undying love for his wife superseded his duty as a father to inform his daughter of her mother's death. Perhaps he was so grief stricken that he simply couldn't bear to admit it and simply wanted to die alone with the woman he loved. However, the film is much more than that. It is about dying culture, values, and way of life.

The film is timeless. We really don't have any indication of what year it is in the film. Nothing is new. Everything is worn with a layer of patina indicating its age. The film could be set several years in the future, a few years ago, or the present. This combined with the title of the film, "The Last Farm" indicated that the story is about the last true farm in Iceland. Regardless of when this last farm disappeared, the story's purpose is to invoke the emotion of being the last. The last memories of how things were and how people saw their role in the context of the land and the people they interacted with.

Hrafn is a man of the land. He is a farmer without many modern tools. About the only machinery that he uses is his tractor. He gathers wood from the beach (no trees are present in the film), manually cuts and planes the wood, and even digs the large grave by hand. He is one man living alone building what he needs with his own hands. The music that plays while he is doing all this labor is a sole violin. This sets the mood of him not being exuberantly motivated to do this labor, but doing it because it is his duty.

What he sees as his duty is lost on his daughter who wants to take him away from the only life he has ever known and thrust him into a senior living facility. While she thinks that she is doing something good by allowing her parents to relax, it is not his life. We know that Hrafn knows that his daughter will not understand the important values that he keeps from the complete lack of any indication that he is about to kill himself. He knows what he is doing is right in his mind and doesn't want anyone to stop him. So at the same time he is building his wife's coffin, he calmly talks to his daughter to make plans for them to come.

His somber death is preceded by one final survey of the land he loves. The surrounding landscape is untouched by people with his farm being the only building for as far as the eye can see. He realizes that what he has is vanishing and his daughter who now lives in an urban area no longer values this great beauty. Due to the relentless march of modernization, his only chance to die the way he lived (by the land) is to silently die by his own hand. While others see his life as laborious and strenuous, he sees it as simply living. The self-recognition of his cultural death is powerful in the film. "The Last Farm" reminds us that the cultural beliefs we hold and try to force on others under the hope of helping them kills a culture.

Exotic does not equal good

[Horst_In_Translation · 4/10 · 12 May 2016]

"Síðasti bærinn" or "The Last Farm" is an Icelandic 17-minute movie from over 10 years ago that got writer and director Rúnar Rúnarsson some popularity as he was nominated for an Oscar here. I personally was not impressed by this film. The emotional moments felt only included for the sake of it and I personally did not feel as if they had an authentic touch to it. The story felt too little in terms of quality and quantity, even for a movie under 20 minutes. I am a bit baffled by the awards attention this got and also by its IMDb rating. The acting wasn't too memorable either. It may be good for a country like Iceland to reach such a success and also for the filmmaker as it guaranteed him possibly a career in the industry, but I hope he can step things up in the future. This short movie is not worth watching. Thumbs down.