Woman at War(2018)
dir. Benedikt Erlingsson
A choir leader sabotages the power grid, deadpan.
Where to watch: Netflix ($8.99/mo with ads, $19.99/mo standard); free: Kanopy; free with ads: Tubi, Philo; Magnolia Selects Amazon channel $4.99/mo; rent $2.99 Amazon/Fandango At Home/FlixFling, $3.99 Apple TV; buy $9.99 (JustWatch US, checked 2026-11-03). Verify.Letterboxd ↗
Halla is a middle-aged choir conductor in Iceland who spends her nights cutting the power lines that feed an aluminum smelter, in a one-woman campaign against the industry that is eating the highlands. When the police close in, an application to adopt a Ukrainian child arrives at the worst possible moment. The film is a dry, funny thriller with a live band and choir that sit inside the frame and play along.
Why it’s here
It's a film about an ordinary person deciding that obeying the law is no longer enough. What's punk is the sabotage and the deadpan, with a hero who is a choir leader, not a hardened radical. What's pedagogical is the question it leaves open: when is breaking the law a moral act, and what does it cost the people close to you? Pairs with How to Blow Up a Pipeline and the Climate bundle. Note: a comedy with light violence and some language; Halla's sabotage puts others at risk and the film does not hide it. Icelandic, Spanish, English and Ukrainian with subtitles.
Where This Film Lives