With Batman Begins, Svínafellsjökull (Pig Mountain Glacier) finally gets its time in the spotlight. Fans of the glacier, including much of the Grapevine staff, are glad that this oft-overlooked glacier finally gets its props.
Not that Vatnajökull didn’t deserve the attention it got. Fans of the glacier may remember it for its starring role in the James Bond pic Die Another Day, in which its lagoon, Jökulsárlón, competed with Halle Berry in the category of best thing in the world to look at. Unfortunately, in that case, there was some enhancing: the James Bond crew actually dammed the sea water to freeze Jökulsárlón over entirely.
Jökulsárlón also made an appearance in Tomb Raider, next to Angelina Jolie. Not to mention the many Icelandic films that feature it, and even the earlier James Bond film A View to a Kill. Soon, you can expect to see Vatnajökull in the most expensive film ever produced by Iceland, Beowulf.
Until then, give Svínafellsjökull its props. In a movie that will revive a dying franchise, the small glacier provides the eye candy necessary to allow viewers to get over mind-numbing Star Wars-inspired guidance lectures by Liam Neeson, which are luckily easy to forget in an otherwise fine film.
And to the credit of the crew of Batman Begins, if you visit Svínafellsjökull you will see no damage or sign of a visit by the crew whatsoever.
Batman Begins now playing in theatres. For information on Vatnajökull, visit their English-language website: www.vatnajokull.com. Svínafellsjökull doesn’t have a website yet.
See also Batman Begins review on page 44, and Jökulsárlón visit on page 50.
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