A rustic comedy featuring the quirky Icelandic horse breed, Of Horses and Men is a delightful account of human and horse life interaction as has never been depicted before or since.

It has been said that Icelanders like to eat sour rams’ testicles and that many believed in elves. How true that is today we will never know. What we do know is that it is impossible for non-Icelanders to pronounce Icelandic surnames; that Iceland developed a uniquely gaited horse; that Vigdís Finnbogadóttir became the world’s first democratically elected female president in the 1980s; and, of course, that Iceland is the birthplace of Björk, who defies description. (She will be performing at the Perth Festival later this year.)

Of Horses and Men director Benedikt Erlingsson is not as famous as Björk, and wears plainer clothes, but as a writer and director he is talented and innovative. He both wrote and directed this 2013 feature that won the prestigious Golden Iris Award at the 2014 Brussels Film Festival.

The direct translation of the Icelandic title Hross Í Oss is “Horse in us” and the picture is described “as a darkly comic country romance about the human streak in the horse and the horse in the human”. Action takes place in a remote valley inhabited by horse breeders who spend a lot of time prying on each other through binoculars.

Early in the film their curiosity is rewarded when they witness a mare allowing a stallion to mount her while the rider is still in the saddle. The director described it as the “sandwich”, claiming the scene was easier to shoot than initially thought. “And the fear the stallion would bite the rider was unfounded,” he said. “The mare had to be ready and there are one or two days in her cycle when she gives off the hormones – then nothing will stop her or the stallion. It was all about the timing.”

Many film directors have little equine awareness, relying instead on experts for advice. Erlingsson benefited from his own experience, and relied on veterinarians and a knowledgeable cast and crew. He also benefitted from the fact that Iceland’s horses are not only prevalent in Icelandic culture, they are a breed unique to Iceland.

Known simply as the Icelandic Horse, they are one of the world’s purest horse breeds, having had no crossbreeding for 1,000 years since being introduced by Norse settlers then mixed with other European and Scandinavian ponies centuries ago. They are registered as horses even though they are small. Suited to riders of all abilities they are capable of five gaits – walk, trot, canter, gallop and the tölt – and for some even, the flying pace! Renowned for their sure-footedness and gait over snowy and stony terrain, they provide a uniquely gentle and balanced ride.

Iceland preserves their purity by preventing horses exported from the country being returned, and by requiring that all equine equipment taken into the country be either new and unused or fully disinfected.

“Icelandic Horses are one of
the world’s purest horse breeds.”

“You don’t have to be an aristocrat to have a lot of horses in Iceland so there are a lot of actors who have them,” Erlingsson explained. “When I tell my European friends I have five they think I’m a very rich man but it’s a cultural difference.”

Erlingsson had his first horse when he was 16 and working in the country. “Her name was Roshildur and she was part of my salary from the farm. She was my life companion for 30 years before I had to put her down one winter.

TRIVIA:

“To work with horses was amazingly easy. And, of course, they aren’t in any union and that made the producer very happy.” – Benedikt Erlingsson

“Bergsteinn Björgúlfsson, the cinematographer, and I are both trained horsemen. On the first day there was much more trouble working with the tractor,” recalled Erlingsson, “and I was criticised throughout filming because I was always congratulating the horses for good performances but didn’t say anything to the actors.”

The ocean scene is another sequence of striking images. A character rides his horse into the ocean to buy booze from a French schooner. The horse stays in the water while the alcoholic boards the ship before swimming back to shore with the cognac.

“Veterinarians were always with us. The horse was swimming for maybe two or three minutes and the vet was measuring his lactic acid. Too much can be in your muscles if you exercise too much. The swimming horse had only seven in his blood after two to three minutes, but after running 250 metres with a man on his back he would have 12 or 13, so it wasn’t as hard for the horse as you might think.

“If there was something even a little bit dangerous, we always had a vet on set; the horse owners and the six trainers were there too. If anything had happened everybody would have known, and it would have been a brutal catastrophe!”

Erlingsson feels horses are more interested in other horses than in human beings, so you can manipulate their focus. “If you can put one behind the camera, the horse in front is more interested in him than the crew. In that sense you can control the action. But, of course, it’s the audience that’s actually linking what’s happening on screen, assuming what the horse is thinking – that’s the beauty of movie making. We can’t direct the horse specifically, but you can expect something if the horse is put in the right situation – it’s all about preparation.

“We have good trainers and an excellent equine culture here in Iceland,” added Erlingsson. “Other cultures tend to break them, we train them. Directing the horses was the easiest part of this whole procedure. It’s the homo sapiens who are always the problem.”

TRIVIA

“Tom Cruise was doing ‘Oblivion’, Ben Stiller was making ‘The Secret Life of Walter Mitty’ and Russell Crowe and Aronofsky were in the country doing ‘Noah’. They’d hoovered up the most professional crews in Iceland, so we were working with the rest. A lot of us were beginners and it was hell in some sense but, in the end, they turned out to be the best. We learned a lot. We tried to have as many people in the crew that were also horsemen.” – Benedikt Erlingsson

The arthouse critics loved it. “Erlingsson gets up close and personal with horses in a way that is earnest and romantic rather than erotic or ironic; in particular, he has a montage of horseflesh surfaces, close-up shots that allow you to appreciate the texture and feel of a horse’s hide – clearly the work of a connoisseur,” wrote The Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw. “It is a love story about horses, with horses, almost like a silent movie with words. Horses are the language that allow the human characters to speak to each other. This film deserves its cult status.”

Of Horses and Men is an 80-minute feature available on DVD and Blu-ray. Next month, the films of Francis the Talking Mule. EQ