The Battle For Iceland

Documentary

The global financial crash in 2008 was the worst since the Great Depression. All over the world, companies were going bust and millions lost homes and savings. Despite the enormous costs for society, most governments chose as usual to bail out the banks, letting their CEO’s to keep bonuses and fortunes – only one country did it differently.

The Battle For Iceland

The Battle For Iceland

Instead of saving the banks, the small nation of Iceland decided to investigate and prosecute bankers, financiers and politicians. This makes Iceland unique globally. No other country lifted the lid of bank secrecy to the extent Iceland has. What did they find? And did the investigators discover the truth?

We are investigating how Iceland came to be this unique example of enormous financial crash and recovery – the third largest bankruptcy in the world – as well as transparent reckoning of what had taken place and what measures were taken to ensure this would not happen again.

Told by the key players, the film is set in today’s Reykjavik which has recovered spectacularly economically. As the country – and the larger Western economic system – is feared to be heading to yet another crash, the film is pointing toward the future rather than being a historic exposé.

Director Bosse Lindquist
Producer Margrét Jónasdóttir
Produced by Sagafilm for BBC, SVT, DR, VPRO and RUV
Release 2021
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