Blackport

There are cultural touchstones that are particularly important to a nation's identity. For Australia, for instance, there's bodyline bowling and cricket. For Iceland its Cod Wars* and fishing. Over a series of three confrontations, the newly independent country of Iceland skilfully leveraged its strategic importance in the Cold War to resist the bulling tactics of Britain (and Germany) and expand its fisheries. In the following years the people of Iceland lost control of their fisheries to small number of wealthy, politically connected families.

Set in the 1980s, Blackport (Verbúðin) charts the rise of a fictional 'Trawler Baron' family from Westfjord, a small fishing town in the north west of the island. Considering the subject matter ,it's unsurprising that this offering from RÚV (Iceland's public service broadcaster) had high viewing figures in its native country. This is probably more a reflection of cultural importance than quality.

The deal struck by Jón Hjaltalín (Gísli Örn Garðarsson), the mayor of Westfjord, to buy a dilapidated trawler, is on the verge of collapse. His clandestine lover Harpa (Nína Dögg Filippusdóttir), her husband Grímur (Björn Hlynur Haraldsson) and their married friends Freydís (Unnur Ösp Stefánsdóttir) and Einar (Guðjón Davíð Karlsson) step in. Having acquired both the trawler and a fish processing plant, they all then embark on a business venture characterised by shady dealings and underhand political moves.

Over the eight episodes of Blackport they engage in strike breaking, tax evasion, quota busting and alcohol smuggling, amongst other things. There are gory workplace accidents and deaths, family disputes and affairs, and sex and drugs and bad Icelandic pop music. It should add up to a fast paced, racy show, but it's all a little lacklustre. The first couple of episodes are overly slow. Things start to pick up but the finale feels like it has run out of plot. The acting is middle of the road and the actors lack chemistry with each other where it's needed.

Cinematographically, Blackport leaves something to be desired. Nothing the camera does really speaks well to character, environment or plot, nor does it afford any kind of visual spectacle. Iceland has so many environments that can be exploited by the camera.

Blackport does a good job of portraying a working class version of the 1980s. Westfjord is a perfect combination of dilapidated, cheap and grim. The interior set dressing captures the period perfectly. As a slice of nostalgia, it's a piece of sponge cake from a seaside café with a red jam filling (strawberry?). It's not some golden new romantic dream or capitalist extravaganza. There is no penthouse here; it's all pavement.

RÚV made Blackport for its home audience. It fictionalises events of cultural and economic importance to that audience. As such they have an automatic affinity with the programme. Without those cues, the viewer will find Blackport less engaging.

*Technically they weren't wars, they were 'militarised interstate disputes'.

Blackport is now streaming on Topic.