Köld slóð (2006)

Baldur, in his mid-forties, is a rough-edged journalist for a tabloid newspaper in Reykjavík. One day, a short newspaper article changes his life forever. In a photograph of a security guard who died the previous day in what was said to be a workplace accident at a power plant in the north of the country, his mother happens to spot Baldur’s long-lost biological father. Curious, Baldur sets out to learn more about his birth father, whom he has never met, and the mysterious circumstances that ultimately led to his death. The journalist travels undercover to the remote power plant and gets hired there as a security guard. Amid a wintery landscape blanketed in snow, he gets to know his taciturn colleagues, led by security chief Péter, who openly reject him after just a few days. The three men and the cook, Ásta, are guarding a secret: they are secretly running an illegal trade in reindeer meat. When Baldur is unmasked as a journalist, the tight-knit group fears their operation could be exposed, unaware that the reporter is merely trying to solve his father’s murder. As a result, things gradually become more difficult for Baldur. Only the presence of Freyja, a farmer who supplies the power plant with provisions, offers him some comfort amid the darkness and isolation. A tender romance begins to blossom between Baldur and Freyja, who runs a nearby farm with her sick, dependent mother. When Baldur investigates Freyja’s past and identifies security chief Péter as a possible perpetrator of an assault and rape committed years earlier against Freyja’s mother, the accused man completely loses control of his actions. Afraid of the possible consequences, he tries to murder Baldur, but his plan fails. After another attempted attack, Péter, fearing he will be exposed, turns against the other power plant workers as well. Ultimately, he is killed in a violent struggle. At the end of the film, Baldur travels briefly to Iceland’s capital, but returns to Freyja, whose mother died some time later. Shortly after the funeral, Baldur accidentally discovers the circumstances that led to his father’s death. Freyja had once killed his father, who had cancer, in self-defense when he cornered her after she confronted him about his involvement in the assault on her mother. Baldur is horrified and leaves the farm for a short time, but returns soon afterward.