Part of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association’s mission is to foster greater understanding through world cinema. This year 72 Foreign Language films were submitted for Golden Globes consideration. Here is an overview of one of them.

The name of this film by Icelandic director Grimur Hakornarson probably has a double meaning. Of course the rams are featured properly since Iceland has a lot of sheep and two main characters are sheep farmers. But the term could easily also apply to the stubbornness exhibited by the two protagonist brothers.

The brothers live close to each other on bordering sheep farms in quite a remote corner of Iceland. It happens that siblings, both advanced in age, haven't spoken for forty years. But now they have to overcome a decades-long animosity in order to save their livelihood: their flocks. The animals on both sides of the fence dividing the brothers’ properties start to fall victim to an epidemic.

The brothers have no other choice than to start the process of healing the wounds in their souls in order to save what is dearest to them – their animals. But the film is not simply about their heroic fight to save the sheep. The fight is about the restoring of long-lost human connection.

The director uses the austere beauty of rural Iceland to its full effect as the backdrop for showing rugged local people who are rough outside but warm inside.

The author knows the people he is featuring very well. He spent a long part of his childhood on a sheep farm. So it is not surprising that the screenplay he wrote for Rams is based on his own experiences.

The director says that many farmers in Iceland are so connected to their sheep that they would almost sacrifice their lives for these animals: “Rams is about this connection but also about the importance of family ties and brotherhood in a moment of crisis.”

Rams won the Prix Un Certain Regard at the Cannes International Film Festival this year and has since been awarded an additional nine festival prizes, amongst them the Golden Eye for Best International Feature Film at the Zürich Film Festival, Best Narrative Feature at the Hamptons International Film Festival and the Grand Prix at the European Film Festival, Palic.

Rams was part of the official selections for the Telluride, Toronto, Karlovy Vary and Busan International film festivals. It has been sold for distribution in over 40 territories including the United States.

Serge Rakhlin