Anyone considering seeing a film entitled Woman at War could be forgiven for surmising that it is yet another action movie making a nod in the direction of political correctness by boasting a woman as heroine tackling the forces of evil.

Though this is certainly not true, the film does actually depict a female protagonist combating what to her (and perhaps to many) are the forces of evil – in this case, those whom she considers as doing irreparable harm to the environment.

In fact, Woman at War is essentially about a woman, Holla, waging a one-person assault on an aluminum plant which she regards as a threat to the beauty and integrity of her native Iceland. On this level, the narrative is worthy of a comic book classification – though without the usual elements of fantasy. She single-handedly brings down a power line with the aid of a bow and arrow and efficiently blows up an electricity pylon. Since her main job is to be a choir director, she is not a likely suspect in the police search to discover the saboteur. Thus the film, with a couple of effectively surprising plot twists, does offer a satisfactory and involving action narrative.

If it were content to work only on this level, the film might be dismissed as yet another low-budget female action film. However, Woman at War is a film which is richly textured, beautifully photographed, and magnificently acted, thanks in large measure to writer-director Benedikt Erlingsson. Not only does he give his tale suspenseful treatment, but he layers it with impressive dramatic devices and rich symbolism.

So, for example, in a manner which seems to owe much to Fellini, many scenes feature a three-piece band and a trio of singers dressed in Ukrainian costume (visible and audible only to the protagonist and the audience) which provide an emotional and dramatic comment on the action; the result is both humourous and dramatically effective.

A minor complaint is that in the film, which uses subtitles to convey the meaning of the Icelandic dialogue, the songs are not translated for either the people of Iceland or any others not fluent in the Ukraine language, but this is a small complaint. It also perhaps justified by the fact that the heroine herself cannot understand the singers, even though they are presumably products of her imagination and stimulated by the fact that she has applied to be an adoptive mother of a Ukrainian war orphan.

As the heroine continues her journey, much too is symbolically made of the traditional four elements: earth, air, fire and water, in keeping with the environmental theme.

Not only is the heroine symbolic of all those individuals who are willing to take a revolutionary step (Gandhi and Mandela are pointedly referred to) to bring about change, but the bystanders who might get caught up in the movement are symbolized by a hapless Spanish tourist – providing yet another comic touch – as well as others who are drawn into her plotting in a series of unexpected developments. This is indeed a tightly constructed film with the symbolism naturally arising from the narrative – hence the singers arising from her imagination.

All these elements conspire to underline the main theme of the film: that a dedicated individual is all that is necessary to bring about a goal – a lesson for all of us.

That the film works on so many levels is not only because of the superb direction and writing, but in equal measure to the performance of Halldora Geirhardsdottir, who not only registers the daunting range of the experiences of Holla, the protagonist, but also plays her sister Asa effectively and convincingly thanks to clever trick photography. This is indeed a memorable and moving performance.

Woman at War is a film which not only addresses the topics of environmental destruction and displaced persons which many regard as the greatest crises facing humanity today, but it also underlines the message that every individual needs to play a part in reaching a solution (though perhaps not quite so extreme a role as that depicted). It does so in a way which is entertaining, cinematically inventive, and a superb example of film at its best. Woman at War is a film not to be missed.