Far North deals with a human drama set in the glacial ice of the wild and inhospitable Svalbard islands, between Norway and the North Pole. An ice desert of solitude and hostility where nature is enemy to civilization: here, Saiva leads a sincere and peaceful life, but at the same time is isolated and out of time, after she and a new born baby girl survive the massacre of her tribe by a group of soldiers. Saiva brings up Anja and they build up a deep and dependent relationship, totally removed from other human beings. Every day, they both struggle to survive in the vast and dry icy lands. The arrival of a stranger in the two women’s lives brings, as a consequence, progress, civilisation, but above all a disturbing male presence. This presence, within a completely self-sufficient female universe, breaks the unhealthy balance built up over the years by Saiva, thus creating tragic consequences.
Taken by Sara Maitland’s short story, "True North", the third film by the English director of Indian origins, Asif Kapadia, is a silent and dramatic parable of human nature, made even more intense by the harsh Nordic moonscape, that since the beginning seemed to mercilessly assist in this pronounced tragedy.