Network / Projects
The Raven
Participated in:
MIDPOINT Intensive Iceland 2016
Naaja is a young Inuit girl. She lives alone with her father who abuses her. He and
the other villagers don´t see eye to eye, so he decides to leave with his young
daughter and head out into the wilderness. He is wounded while hunting a
walrus and later dies of his wounds. Naaja blames herself for his death because
of her violation of Inuit taboos. She goes back to the village and is soon married.
She has trouble getting pregnant which is unforgivable in this society. She is
certain that the reason is her taboo violation but doesn´t dare tell anyone. The
village shaman is given the task of getting her pregnant but he discovers that she
has supernatural talents and wants her to become a shaman. Her husband has
taken another wife and reluctantly gives his approval. When she then admits to
her violations she is banished from society. In the outback/wilderness she sees
white men, Icelanders, fighting a polar bear. One of them, Kolbeinn, is killed by
the bear but she manages to kill it and save the other man´s, Mikjál´s, life. He is
badly injured but she gets him to a hunting hut and nurses him. They do not
understand each other and regard each other as barbarians. They stay at the hut
through the winter. They become attracted to one another and end up sleeping
together the day before he leaves to go back to his people. That makes her his
wife according to Inuit traditions. They go to the Icelander´s hunting lodge where
six men have been isolated during the whole winter. Moral is low and tensions
mount with the arrival of the young barbarian woman. One of the men tries to
rape Naaja when Mikjáll is absent but she manages to defend herself. She is well
received by Mikjál´s family when they finally arrive at his village but regarded as
an emissary of the devil by the priest. She fosters the orphaned children of
Kolbein, Mikjál´s foster brother, but has a difficult time understanding the white
people´s way of thinking. The priest denounces Naaja as a witch after an incident
where a raven attacks him. Naaja is consequently tried at the site of parliament,
in the adjacent fjord and convicted to burn at the stake. Mikjáll manages to set
her free under cover of night and they escape along with his family. A black mist
encircles them on their way back and they see a large slave ship approach. They
turn back to warn the people but lose their way in the fog and end up at their
home. They find that the village has been pillaged and burnt so they turn back to
the boats and head north.
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