Rams

There are two brothers who live near one another but have different outlooks on life. They have not spoken a word to each other word for forty years, and their lives are marked by petty envy and jealous competition. What happened is not the issue; what is important is that they cannot communicate with one another. Dramatic convention requires they be brought together by tragedy. Their flocks of sheep succumb to a deadly disease, and they have to join forces to save the few that were unaffected. Rams was advertised as a light Scandinavian comedy, which in itself sounds like an oxymoron. Although ultimately the film has plenty of warmth and humor, director Grímur Hákonarson is not interested in the sort of jokes that result in spasms of laughter; rather, he reflects on the meaning (or the lack thereof) of the weakness of human nature that prevents us from reaching out to another human being that we have fallen out with. It takes an extreme situation to lead to a possible reconciliation.