Lutheran priest Lucas has been assigned by the Church of Denmark to establish a parish in the barren wilds of Iceland. Undeterred, Lucas begins his work, but finds the locals less than receptive to his spiritual advances. All the while, Lucas remains both in awe of and unsettled by the beauty and indifference of the natural world. Just as he understands language to be a barrier between him and his potential congregation, so Lucas sees the landscape as a wildness he must tame.

With Godland, Pálmason creates a world of transcendent beauty that is nevertheless unforgiving to those who attempt to live in it. The solemnity of the filmmaker’s style matches his story. It is framed within a square Academy ratio with rounded-off corners which, rather than revelling in the vastness of this open landscape, increases the uneasiness one can feel in a world with no visible boundaries.