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[spacy music]
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[wind roars] [lava crackles]
[volcano explodes]
[volcano rumbles]
[volcano explodes]
[wind roars]
[magical building melody]
[music continues]
[wind rustles]
[foosteps crunch] [birds chirp]
[breathes deeply]
[match clicks and hisses]
[inhales]
[fire crackles] [wind whistles]
[cars rush]
[brakes whine] [car horns]
[people chatter]
[crane rumbles] [chain jingles]
[jackhammers]
[water rushes]
[gentle wind]
[cat meows]
[TV show chatter]
[vocalizes]
[gasps]
[glass clinks]
[giggles]
[door squeaks]
[wind rustles]
(developer)
[relaxed music]
[tourists chatter]
[geyser rumbles and explodes] [water drips]
[Ragga hums]
[footsteps crunch]
[developer hums]
[footsteps]
[laughs]
[wheels scrape gravel]
[ravens call] [crows caw]
[magical uplifting music]
(Ragga) It really feels like the elves and huldufólk
have been preparing me for something.
They asked me if I was willing to talk on their behalf,
because the humans seemed not to hear them very well.
It was in October 2012. Elves and huldufólk came to my home.
Some of them I knew and some of them I'd never seen before.
But it was a big group, and they were very serious, and worried.
And they said to come to this lava field,
you, know, right at this moment.
And I didn't have my car at home,
so I asked my oldest son to drive me out there.
It seemed very urgent.
They showed me this big lava rock
and said it was a very holy place.
When we entered that place
there was this, like, chanting all around.
They were saying this area can not be destroyed.
This cannot be destroyed.
And it was sounding from all around there,
and it really stuck in my heart.
I said I'll do what I can.
And they said you will do it,
you will do it.
[music fades into wind]
[fire crackles]
[melancholic music]
[fireworks whine and burst]
[people chatter distantly]
(Ragga) In the year 930, the first law was made in Iceland.
It said that every ship that came to shore
had to take down the dragon head at the front of the ship,
so as to not disturb
the beings of the land.
[explosion]
But that law has been forgotten.
Machinery has rolled in to the country
like modern dragon heads
and scared many elves away.
[machines rumble]
Now, only half the country believe that elves exist.
(Embla) Yeah!
[men chat in background]
[mixture squelches]
[Birkir Máni mumbles]
[Ragga and children laugh]
[quiet building music]
(Ragga) All my life, I have been in contact with elves.
I don't remember how it started.
I think it's just always been like that.
My parents, they were understanding.
They decided when I first started
talking about my invisible friends,
that I was too young to make up stories like that.
So they just allowed me,
without encouraging
or without discouraging anything.
[pan sizzles]
Soon I figured out that not everyone could see my friends.
So I had to have this kind of double..
I talked with the human children
and then I had to
and then I had to practice to talk
with my elf or huldufólk friends
telepathically
so that no one would know that I was
also talking with them or playing with them.
[laughs]
My secret life.
[laughs]
I asked them for help also.
And they always, always help.
So I guess we learned to trust each other.
[family laughs and chats]
Hello!
(Lárus) I’m a local, I would say.
I've lived here for almost all my life.
When we started the amateur theater,
we had our first meeting at the school
and I was the first there to, you know, to meet the people
and she was the first to come.
So, we shook hands
and I said “Hello my name is Lárus”
and she said “Hello my name is Ragnhildur”
and from on there, you know, it was just,
I loved her from the beginning.
[warm music]
I always get this question: “Do you believe in elves?”
Even from my friends.
And I would say, yes, even if I don't see them, you know,
I can believe them.
Because, you know, people believe in God
and, you know, all kinds of things without seeing them.
(Ragga) Since I can see into a world
that not everyone can see into,
it's selfish not to tell other people about it.
I decided, now, I'm coming out of the closet, sort of,
and I will talk about the elves out loud.
So, I'm sort of trying to open that gate between the worlds.
But I sense there is more coming.
I just have to wait and see what that is.
[protestors chat and laugh]
[gentle wind]
(Lárus) In the beginning,
the road symbolized connecting the country.
[cheerful strings]
150 years ago the only transport in Iceland
was, you know, horse cart, or else by sea.
Then, in the past 20 years,
some of the road-making has been to the benefit
not of the communities,
but benefiting the companies that make the roads.
We are building things that are not necessary,
not only since
the huge economic crash in October 2008,
but one of the reasons for the collapse
is that kind of thing.
The road in Gálgahraun will do nothing
to increase the safety of the old roads.
[music grows tense] It will do nothing
for the increase in population in the area.
So there is no reason to make that road.
It is not necessary.
[melancholic music]
(Ragga) The environmental groups had filed a petition
with the court to stop the work
in Gálgahraun lava field.
But the court hadn't answered.
So we were forced to keep protesting
for about two months.
There were lots of people.
Four environmental groups.
And everyone there was on their own reasons, of course.
There are many reasons to protect nature.
But I was there on behalf of the elves.
[man mumbles] [camera rustles]
[protestors mumble]
[door shuts]
[machinery rumbles]
[police radio crackles]
[machinery rumbles]
[truck roars]
[woman yells] [footsteps]
[crowd clatters]
[Lárus yells]
[woman speaks]
[police speak over loudspeaker]
[machinery growls and rumbles]
[driving music]
(Ragga) While we were protesting in the Lava Field,
the elves and huldufólk had all the families
that lived there in the way of the road plan,
they had moved away.
Elf children from a very large area had been moved to other
places.
Um...
[breathes shakily]
But to see them…
[gasps]
[sniffs] Yeah...
Many of the elves homes went
under the bulldozers
and farms that had been there for many generations…
of elves.
So, yeah, it was hard to look at.
[wind roars]
After the destruction,
it was like they were crying.
They were trying to sing healing
for themselves and for the land.
[crowd chatters] [cars rumble]
[cheers]
[chants]
[crowd sings]
[gentle wind]
[energetic bells]
(Ragga) In Iceland there are places so quiet
you do not even hear the birds.
Absolute silence.
You hear nothing but your own breathing
and the breathing of the earth.
It's through listening to the silence
that it becomes possible to see the elves.
[music builds] [sea wind rushes]
We need these silent places.
It’s more valuable than anything else.
To hear ourselves,
to see life itself.
[music fades into bird cries]
[truck rumbles]
[dump truck whines]
Being in the lava field and watching
how these man-made machines
cut through the land.
They took these beautiful lava cliffs,
that were home to so many,
and pulverized it.
Now it looks like a scar.
[Ragga sighs]
[mysterious rumbling]
[playful music]
I was convinced that
all the homes there were destroyed.
But to our surprise
an elf chapel was still standing,
But it’s in the way of the new road.
The elves have been keeping me awake every night.
I can hardly sleep.
And instead of giving up
the elves want me to try to save the elf chapel.
It's like, how can I do that?
I'm just one little person.
A human person.
But they keep telling me
this is just part of a bigger picture.
[gentle wind]
[sighs]
[car horn]
[car horn] [laughs]
(Lárus) We're up against a government
that's really anti-nature,
and really for development for development’s sake.
I think the road symbolizes that.
And Álftanes, this small town where this road leads to,
I think it’s very typical of many before the crash.
[driving bells]
[driving bassline]
In the beginning of the century,
I think Icelanders wanted to become rich like the Americans
and like most of the European countries.
So Icelanders decided to take
free-market thinking as their main model.
The government deregulated the financial markets
and the valuation of the krona went up.
Foreign investors came here to Iceland, because, you know,
the banks here were paying 12 percent interest,
so it was very lucrative to invest in Iceland.
So there was a lot of money flowing in.
Everybody was making so much money.
I had never made any money.
So I decided to work for my brother-in-law
in his investment company,
you know, find out what this
great thing was, you know, the financial world.
Access to credit was unprecedented
and the debts skyrocketed.
The banks were offering you loans to do everything,
you know, buy cars, you know, houses, and everything.
And this is a dream come true for many people.
[music continues]
[applause]
We had the president cheering it on,
you know all the politicians,
they were saying, “Oh yes, we’re doing so great.
This is just in our blood, as Vikings,
to be, you know, the best businessmen in the world.”
And people believed it.
At that time, we had all those communities
around Reykjavik, and Reykjavik of course itself,
competing for people.
They wanted to, you know, get as many people,
you know, that they could get.
So they built all those attractions.
And Álftanes, it's this small town,
where this road leads to
they decided, oh yeah,
let's build the fanciest you know,
swimming pool in Iceland,
you know with the biggest slide ever.
That's what they did.
And all on borrowed money.
They also created some roads
and houses that they hoped that people would buy.
But then after the crash nobody bought those lots.
[music calms]
And they had this huge swimming pool
and the biggest slide in Iceland.
And the community almost went bankrupt.
[music fades]
[storm clouds rumble]
[thunder]
[waves roar]
[wind whistles]
[Embla whistles]
[staple gun burst]
[laughs]
[vocalizes]
[people chatter]
[snow swishes]
[drill whines]
[men mumble] [drill whines]
[snow crunches]
[woman yells]
[classical music from car speaker]
[car clicks off] [mumbles]
[crowd mumbles]
[applause and cheers]
[classic rock instrumental]
[vocalizes] [laughs]
[Ragga laughs]
[cheers] [claps]
[crowd claps along]
[yells]
[cheers] [applause]
[machinery rumbles distantly]
Oh my god, Ofeigskirkja.
The elves and the huldufólk,
they are afraid of course.
And it is very close to this holy place.
That’s the worst part,
because the whole lava field shakes
and it’s really scary.
They’ve done, you know,
work with explosives all the way through.
And it was even a close call
when something went wrong
when they were beginning to use explosives in this area.
So rocks flew all over the human houses.
And then of course all the humans got scared.
And I thought, yeah
and you’re not thinking of all the elf houses.
But they didn’t listen to that.
[trucks whir in distance]
[melancholic tones]
[machines rumble]
[rocks crunch]
(Ragga) If a place like Ofeigskirkja is destroyed,
it’s like humans turning off the light for the elf world.
Can we imagine just darkness there
instead of light.
[foreboding violins]
And of course there are many elves
very angry that humans even have the thought
of destroying this area.
It's a dangerous thing to mess with.
When we were protesting,
there was some kind of army
of dwarfs and trolls.
I had never before seen trolls in the towns.
You know they're usually up in the mountains.
And I was afraid what they would do...
Hurt the humans.
And so I was trying to negotiate.
But sometimes I think maybe
I should just have let them do their job.
[music fades]
(Ragga) I should start with: my name is Ragnhildur
and I grew up in the next street.
So when I was a kid, this was...
This park was my playground.
And of course I played with human children,
but I also played with the elves of the park.
And now when we go on this walk,
I am going to tell you how I see this world.
I am of course not trying to convince you of anything.
But while we walk
and while you listen to the stories,
if you would open up your hearts
and let your inner child out to play
and listen with the ears of your inner child.
It’s much more fun
and no one knows what you’re thinking,
and you can use the grown up logic later.
Okay.
(Ragga) The friendship of elves is very interesting.
It's a lot of fun.
But also what they show me
is sometimes very difficult.
[bird calls]
I feel like, you know, when you know something,
it’s a responsibility.
You have to do something about it.
It doesn't leave you alone.
I wish I could just download
what I see in the elf world.
What does an elf house look like on the inside?
What does an elf church look like?
I want to make this world visible
for humans that don't trust their own inner eyes.
The beings that live here in the park,
they want to be in touch with humans.
They say it's very important that we all work together.
If we're going to live on this planet,
we really need to work together.
All of us.
(tourist) Here here.
So uh...
Well, they just try.
And if we don't listen
they might try again.
Sometimes, you know, they..
(tourist) Ok I didn't know they had a sense
and kept themselves when they knew they weren't welcome-
- Yes. Yeah- - whether they...
- Yes. - Where they had a sense
of who was receptive.
Yeah, well. Yes.
They also, if-It's impossible to talk with people.
But when humans are making roads,
and they are not listening,
you know you're going to take this road
through my house
or through this elf church,
they might do something to the machinery
and, they have their stories of elves hurting people.
But it's better to talk.
Try that first. [laughs]
(Ragga) If you only knew how shy I am.
Cameras all around; it’s just…
(reporter) Do you get a lot of media attention
and visits for the elves?
- Yes
Um...
there’s so much more interest
in the elves and huldufólk all around the world,
much more than I thought or even could imagine.
When you see the rock,
how do you recognize that it’s an elf place,
not just a rock but a place where elves live?
Um...
I just see it.
Okay you see it, but how can we recognize?
(Ragga) All humans have this sense.
I mean we all know all kinds of things
that we have sensed through the years.
Maybe we don’t always recognize it.
But if you sit down in a lava field,
and close your eyes
and really just listen
and nothing else,
then you will know
there’s something there.
(reporter) Do they get angry or jealous?
They can get angry if...
I mean, if you want to destroy their home
or their church,
they can be very angry.
But, uh...
You don’t do that to a friend, so...
But, uh...
Most Icelanders would do whatever they can
to protect an elf home
or...
especially elf churches.
Um...
But of course we are not all the same,
we are a whole nation
with many types of humans.
I mean, some think it’s very important to make a road,
even if it goes through elf homes.
And, uh...
I’m sure they really tried
to talk to some people,
but of course not everyone listens.
And maybe we humans just had to go through this,
because we are already forgetting.
And doing the same mistakes again.
[foreboding music]
[waves roar]
(Lárus) In early 2008, when the foreign banks
realized that there was something wrong
with the Icelandic bank,
they started to withdraw their investment.
When the foreign capital vanished,
the Icelandic krona, of course, collapsed.
The magic of this credit bubble burst.
And now everybody, and even now,
everybody is feeling the repercussions.
(reporter) Iceland's economy entered an apparent death spiral
plunging for 10 straight quarters.
(reporter) Economists say it is the so-called Viking bankers
who inflated Iceland’s debt to over 850%
of the country’s GDP
and caused the stock market to fall by 97%.
According to writer Andre Magnusson,
the invisible hand of the free market
has turned into an invisible guillotine.
And now thousands face the prospect of losing everything.
[tense music continues]
(Lárus) Many people went bankrupt,
lost their houses,
lost their homes
lost their livelihood.
You know, I had a loan in my house,
a foreign loan of three million Icelandic krona.
It went up to six million over two days,
which was a horrible time for everybody.
[police whistle] [glass shatters]
(Ragga) I think actually that this collapse
taught some people the real value of things.
If you take a thousand krona today
and buy milk and bread
and then a week later
you need five thousand to buy the same thing,
it doesn’t make sense at all.
What actually is that money?
I think it’s even more invisible
than the elf world.
I hardly ever see money,
but I see a lot of elves.
[people yell]
(Lárus) When this belief in credit,
belief in the money system,
when that goes away,
it’s similar to if you lose your faith.
For many people it's seldom that
there was something wrong with the system.
The belief in money is based on trust.
You have to trust that you loan somebody,
he will pay you back.
But after the economic crash,
that trust is almost gone.
And if you don't believe in money, it doesn't exist.
[saddened bells]
The world of humans and the world of the elves
seemed to grow farther and farther apart.
[people chatter distantly]
It’s like we humans have made a monster
that we constantly have to feed
and it’s never full.
[water bubbles]
I have this elf friend that said once that
he thought humans are an impossible species.
And I often think of that,
you know, when you hear the news of the world that,
very strange weather patterns,
the glaciers melting,
very warm summers,
fierce storms,
all this is happening
because of what we humans have been doing.
It really feels like Mother Earth is fighting back.
[wind roars]
[mystical strings]
[music fades]
(Ragga) In the winter time,
elves thank for the light that is coming.
But they also thank for the darkness
that they've been through,
because that's a time for learning.
And I've tried to keep it that way myself.
It's not easy,
in the human world.
[gentle wind]
[horses huff]
[steam bubbles]
[trucks roar]
[hopeful music builds]
(Ragga) The mayor of Garðabær answered the letter
and he actually talked to the Road Administration
and they decided to move the Elf Chapel
out of the way of the road.
Many of the environmentalists
are also very happy about this.
At least something will be saved.
Of course not all of them believe in elves,
and some might even feel that
I was talking to the enemy.
But all I can do is just follow my heart.
This is the elf chapel Ófeigskirkja,
the one the elves and huldufólk called me to protect.
And...
The road administration,
they will narrow the shoulders here
and they will move this rock, Ófeigskirkja,
and put it down here.
And the elves and huldufólk are already preparing
the energy of the area for this move.
So they are ready.
I mean,
of course I will never be happy with this road,
but we cannot go back in time.
So, this is the best we could do.
[keys jungle]
[machinery roars]
[crane rumbles and creaks]
[crane squeals]
[footsteps crunch]
[crane roars]
[crane whirs and rumbles]
[machines beep]
[machinery rumbles]
[warm, triumphant music]
[silence]
[door squeaks]
[map crinkles]
[traffic rushes]
[footsteps crunch]
[hopeful music]
(Ragga) The way a person sees the land
determines how they relate to the land.
[water bubbles]
There are many ways of looking at a waterfall.
Some people would see this beautiful waterfall
that you can paint a picture of.
Or you can dam it
and make a lot of money
selling that electricity to aluminium factories,
not thinking about the water.
It has a purpose going through that waterfall
to the ocean or stream where fish live.
It’s not just a tree standing there
or just a grey rock.
I think if we could see
all the very complicated life that is there,
I don’t think people would destroy it
so easily as they do today.
[music fades]
[footsteps] [birds chirp]
[matches scrape]
[match hisses]
[breathes deeply]
[mimics seagull cry] [seagulls cry]
[vocalizes]
[raindrops]
[cheerful music]