Fire on Ice: The Saints of Iceland

The steady expansion of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has brought with it the opportunity to explore in a more in-depth fashion the cultural, social, and political context that has framed the men and women who joined the Church in the nineteenth century and were consequently willing to leave behind kin and country to settle in the southwest of the United States at the behest of Brigham Young.

On account of the growing feeling that the European contribution to the reestablishment and strengthening of the Church ought to be analysed and increasingly acknowledged—if only to curtail the prevailing assumption that it is an “American” religion—the narrative of the people from the northern-most parts of Western Europe is of particular relevance (one is reminded of Joseph Smith’s assertion that much blood of Israel has been scattered in such places as Great Britain, Scandinavia, and western Europe in general). This is particularly true when one becomes acquainted with the history of the first generation of Icelandic members who left their beautiful land of fire and ice; for as the many testimonies heard throughout the documentary attest, to leave their homeland was akin to treason: a near unforgivable rejection of their national heritage and their very identity.

It is also relevant to note that historically, the first converts to the Church to leave their land as a homogenous group and settle in Western America starting in September 1855 were Icelandic. The travails and vicissitudes endured by these early Saints, the long journey by “sail, rail, and trail”¹ to reach and settle in Spanish Fork, 60 miles south of Salt Lake City, was beautifully captured in a book written by Fred E. Woods, professor of Church history and doctrine at BYU, called Fire on Ice: The Story of Latter-day Saints at Home and Abroad, which was published in 2005 on the occasion of the sesquicentennial dual commemoration of the arrival of the first Icelandic Saints in Utah and the earliest settlement of Icelanders in the United States.

Directed by Ethan Vincent, this 28-minute documentary shot in Denmark, Iceland, and Utah was screened during the January 2007 LDS Film Festival in Orem, Utah, and subsequently shown in Brussels, Belgium, as part of the first Mormon Film Festival outside of the U.S. It is the result of the collaborative efforts of the Mormon Historic Sites Foundation, Kaleidoscope Pictures (Charly, Howard Hunter: Modern Day Prophet), and the LDS Motion Picture Studio.

Vincent’s filmic style may indeed reflect the template of the traditional documentary format (archival footage, still photographs, talking heads, testimonies, and voice-over) but he has shown in the past—primarily as a writer and editor—the rigor and sincere commitment he brings to bear to his informative projects. Here he proves that he can not so much transcend the genre as to use it as a sturdy plank from which to elicit genuine feelings of kinship and empathy with the subject at hand. One might even be tempted to assert that the Mormon documentary genre, fledgling though it may be, distinguishes itself from mainstream educational documentaries by incorporating elements that are clearly meant to elicit a strong empathy for the personal or collective narrative of Latter-day Saints. While this approach might be easily dismissed in some quarters as a subtle form of manipulation at best or whitewashing at worst, the director eschews the trap of using the documentary as simply a vehicle to “accentuate the positive,” even if one cannot help but notice that the geopolitical situation of Iceland post World War II—when the U.S. occupation to protect the country against Germany evolved into a policy meant to counter the Soviets, sowing seeds for a period of social disquiet—is skipped altogether. Still, given the stated goal of the piece, the end product is characterized by a pervasive sense of intellectual and factual honesty that cannot be readily dismissed.

Fire on Ice represents for Vincent an important stretch in his career, since it allows him to hone his skills as a director and thus complement his writing skills, which were fully displayed in the remarkable work he did as a writer on Truth and Conviction: The Helmuth Hübener Story (2002), a film that I have often had the opportunity to show in my rhetoric classes—in a decidedly non-LDS environment—when tackling the subject of World War II propaganda and religiously inspired resistance. Obviously the very nature of the subject explored in Fire on Ice precludes Vincent from generating the same type of harrowing and heartfelt response from the viewers as arguably Hübener does, but the sincerity and respect he shows for his subject matter are plain to see.

The documentary starts with the history of the first missionaries to preach in Iceland and explains why it was not the capital city of Reykjavik that would prove to be fertile ground for spreading the gospel, but the tiny fishing village on Westmann Island, representing less than one percent of the entire landmass.

Ultimately, two hundred inhabitants would leave this island, making up more than half of the total number of Icelanders who eventually joined the arduous trek to America. The documentary begins by recounting the works and efforts of the first missionaries to preach the restored gospel in Iceland in 1851, starting with Gudmundur Gudmundsson, whose stint as a goldsmith apprentice in Denmark a few years earlier had set the scene for his encounter with Thoranin Haflidason and his eventual conversion, which was brought about after having listened to Brother Erastus Snow’s powerful, if haltingly delivered, testimony. The untimely death of Haflidason would pave the way for John Lorensen’s arrival in 1853 and the resumption of missionary work. Their initial tentative successes, which were followed by the inevitable persecutions forcing the Saints to assemble in secret, are recounted via telling excerpts from their journals and letters.

Between 1855 and 1914, over four hundred Icelanders immigrated to Utah to settle there permanently. In turn, twenty-three native Icelanders then left the state and were called to return to their homeland as missionaries. Eventually the war would forced the closure of the mission.

The second half of the documentary recounts how, starting in 1974, missionary work resumed in Iceland, thanks in particular to the efforts of Byron Geslison and his supportive family. Their efforts led to recognition and acceptance of the Church in the country, in spite of the relatively small number of members.

As to be expected, the technical and production values are first-rate; the stark geological contrasts of volcanoes and ice fields as well as the mountainous areas are beautifully, if fleetingly, captured by cinematographer Brian Wilcox. In fact, the bulk of “beauty shots” of the country are shown in the “Scenes from Iceland” section in the bonus features.

It is said that the quality of the production can also be assessed by the footage that did not make it in the final cut and that is now readily available on any standard DVD release. If this is the case, Fire on Ice does not disappoint. In fact, some deleted scenes contain nuggets of significant information, such as the encounter between David B. Timmins, the then U.S. Vice Consul in Iceland, and the country’s premier author Halldor Laxness in the late fifties. That meeting would prove useful for the Nobel Prize Laureate, who at the time was actively researching the Church in view of writing a book that would revolve around the experience of Icelandic Saints.

The novel, based on a true story, was published in 1960 and was eventually translated into English under the title Paradise Reclaimed. With the benefit of hindsight, Paradise is seen as a significant stepping-stone towards the reopening of the mission in Iceland.

Also of particular interest are the comments made by Olafur R. Grimsson, the President of Iceland, who openly commends the devotion and integrity of these early Saints by stressing their faith-based (as well as culturally driven) willpower and determination, and the shots of President Gordon B. Hinckley speaking in Spanish Fork at the dedication of a monument honoring the first 410 immigrants, wherein he praises the descendants of the first Icelanders for their fortitude and spirit of sacrifice.

The DVD also contains what qualifies as a true special feature in the bonus section: a homemade film shown in its entirety shot by Finnbogi Guomundsson, an Icelander who travelled through Canada and the U.S. to capture and document the descendants of Icelandic immigrants on film. He completed his documentary, 100 Years of Western Icelanders, and the DVD includes the footage he shot during the 1955 celebration in Spanish Fork. Since the sequence is lifted from the original negative, the quality of the footage is remarkably pristine and should be seen as an invaluable snapshot of an event that, though somewhat mundane in nature, underpins the main thrust and raison d’être of the whole piece, namely, celebrating the strong sense of duty Icelandic Latter-day Saints feel to preserve their ancestral history. As such, the documentary helps audiences better understand the healthy pride Icelanders openly display towards their homeland and common ancestry. As Ethan Vincent puts it: “The documentary tells a little-known story of a unique group of Saints who have stuck together and kept their culture alive over the years. The descendants of those early pioneers know their heritage very well and can identify their ancestors by name and face. That is better than many of us can do.”

Viewers can look forward with reasonable confidence to Truth and Treason, the dramatic feature based on Hübener‘s life, which Vincent wrote in collaboration with director Matt Whitaker and is due to be released in 2009. The quality of the screeplay bears the hallmarks of yielding superior entertainment. Fire on Ice, along with Vincent's other works, is poised to strengthen emerging contemporary LDS cinema while giving the movement a most welcome "internationalist" slant.

Claude Bernard (who can be reached via email at byu_studies@byu.edu) is a lecturer in the communications department at Vrije Universiteit Brussel. He is a member of the Church’s public affairs committee for Brussels and has written film reviews for such publications as Bulletin, Wall Street Journal, and Cinémotions.

1. Fred E. Woods, Fire on Ice: The Story of Icelandic Latter-day Saints at Home and Abroad (Provo, Utah: The Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 2005), xiii.


Fire on Ice: The Saints of Iceland - July 08, 2009 by Ethan Vincent reviewed by Claude Bernard External Links Buy The steady expansion of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has brought with it the opportunity to explore in a more in-depth fashion the cultural, social, and political context that has framed the men and women who joined the Church in the nineteenth century and were consequently willing to leave behind kin and country to settle in the southwest of the United States at the behest of Brigham Young. On account of the growing feeling that the European contribution to the reestablishment and strengthening of the Church ought to be analysed and increasingly acknowledged—if only to curtail the prevailing assumption that it is an “American” religion—the narrative of the people from the northern-most parts of Western Europe is of particular relevance (one is reminded of Joseph Smith’s assertion that much blood of Israel has been scattered in such places as Great Britain, Scandinavia, and western Europe in general). This is particularly true when one becomes acquainted with the history of the first generation of Icelandic members who left their beautiful land of fire and ice; for as the many testimonies heard throughout the documentary attest, to leave their homeland was akin to treason: a near unforgivable rejection of their national heritage and their very identity. It is also relevant to note that historically, the first converts to the Church to leave their land as a homogenous group and settle in Western America starting in September 1855 were Icelandic. The travails and vicissitudes endured by these early Saints, the long journey by “sail, rail, and trail”¹ to reach and settle in Spanish Fork, 60 miles south of Salt Lake City, was beautifully captured in a book written by Fred E. Woods, professor of Church history and doctrine at BYU, called Fire on Ice: The Story of Latter-day Saints at Home and Abroad, which was published in 2005 on the occasion of the sesquicentennial dual commemoration of the arrival of the first Icelandic Saints in Utah and the earliest settlement of Icelanders in the United States. Directed by Ethan Vincent, this 28-minute documentary shot in Denmark, Iceland, and Utah was screened during the January 2007 LDS Film Festival in Orem, Utah, and subsequently shown in Brussels, Belgium, as part of the first Mormon Film Festival outside of the U.S. It is the result of the collaborative efforts of the Mormon Historic Sites Foundation, Kaleidoscope Pictures (Charly, Howard Hunter: Modern Day Prophet), and the LDS Motion Picture Studio. Vincent’s filmic style may indeed reflect the template of the traditional documentary format (archival footage, still photographs, talking heads, testimonies, and voice-over) but he has shown in the past—primarily as a writer and editor—the rigor and sincere commitment he brings to bear to his informative projects. Here he proves that he can not so much transcend the genre as to use it as a sturdy plank from which to elicit genuine feelings of kinship and empathy with the subject at hand. One might even be tempted to assert that the Mormon documentary genre, fledgling though it may be, distinguishes itself from mainstream educational documentaries by incorporating elements that are clearly meant to elicit a strong empathy for the personal or collective narrative of Latter-day Saints. While this approach might be easily dismissed in some quarters as a subtle form of manipulation at best or whitewashing at worst, the director eschews the trap of using the documentary as simply a vehicle to “accentuate the positive,” even if one cannot help but notice that the geopolitical situation of Iceland post World War II—when the U.S. occupation to protect the country against Germany evolved into a policy meant to counter the Soviets, sowing seeds for a period of social disquiet—is skipped altogether. Still, given the stated goal of the piece, the end product is characterized by a pervasive sense of intellectual and factual honesty that cannot be readily dismissed. Fire on Ice represents for Vincent an important stretch in his career, since it allows him to hone his skills as a director and thus complement his writing skills, which were fully displayed in the remarkable work he did as a writer on Truth and Conviction: The Helmuth Hübener Story (2002), a film that I have often had the opportunity to show in my rhetoric classes—in a decidedly non-LDS environment—when tackling the subject of World War II propaganda and religiously inspired resistance. Obviously the very nature of the subject explored in Fire on Ice precludes Vincent from generating the same type of harrowing and heartfelt response from the viewers as arguably Hübener does, but the sincerity and respect he shows for his subject matter are plain to see. The documentary starts with the history of the first missionaries to preach in Iceland and explains why it was not the capital city of Reykjavik that would prove to be fertile ground for spreading the gospel, but the tiny fishing village on Westmann Island, representing less than one percent of the entire landmass. Ultimately, two hundred inhabitants would leave this island, making up more than half of the total number of Icelanders who eventually joined the arduous trek to America. The documentary begins by recounting the works and efforts of the first missionaries to preach the restored gospel in Iceland in 1851, starting with Gudmundur Gudmundsson, whose stint as a goldsmith apprentice in Denmark a few years earlier had set the scene for his encounter with Thoranin Haflidason and his eventual conversion, which was brought about after having listened to Brother Erastus Snow’s powerful, if haltingly delivered, testimony. The untimely death of Haflidason would pave the way for John Lorensen’s arrival in 1853 and the resumption of missionary work. Their initial tentative successes, which were followed by the inevitable persecutions forcing the Saints to assemble in secret, are recounted via telling excerpts from their journals and letters. Between 1855 and 1914, over four hundred Icelanders immigrated to Utah to settle there permanently. In turn, twenty-three native Icelanders then left the state and were called to return to their homeland as missionaries. Eventually the war would forced the closure of the mission. The second half of the documentary recounts how, starting in 1974, missionary work resumed in Iceland, thanks in particular to the efforts of Byron Geslison and his supportive family. Their efforts led to recognition and acceptance of the Church in the country, in spite of the relatively small number of members. As to be expected, the technical and production values are first-rate; the stark geological contrasts of volcanoes and ice fields as well as the mountainous areas are beautifully, if fleetingly, captured by cinematographer Brian Wilcox. In fact, the bulk of “beauty shots” of the country are shown in the “Scenes from Iceland” section in the bonus features. It is said that the quality of the production can also be assessed by the footage that did not make it in the final cut and that is now readily available on any standard DVD release. If this is the case, Fire on Ice does not disappoint. In fact, some deleted scenes contain nuggets of significant information, such as the encounter between David B. Timmins, the then U.S. Vice Consul in Iceland, and the country’s premier author Halldor Laxness in the late fifties. That meeting would prove useful for the Nobel Prize Laureate, who at the time was actively researching the Church in view of writing a book that would revolve around the experience of Icelandic Saints. The novel, based on a true story, was published in 1960 and was eventually translated into English under the title Paradise Reclaimed. With the benefit of hindsight, Paradise is seen as a significant stepping-stone towards the reopening of the mission in Iceland. Also of particular interest are the comments made by Olafur R. Grimsson, the President of Iceland, who openly commends the devotion and integrity of these early Saints by stressing their faith-based (as well as culturally driven) willpower and determination, and the shots of President Gordon B. Hinckley speaking in Spanish Fork at the dedication of a monument honoring the first 410 immigrants, wherein he praises the descendants of the first Icelanders for their fortitude and spirit of sacrifice. The DVD also contains what qualifies as a true special feature in the bonus section: a homemade film shown in its entirety shot by Finnbogi Guomundsson, an Icelander who travelled through Canada and the U.S. to capture and document the descendants of Icelandic immigrants on film. He completed his documentary, 100 Years of Western Icelanders, and the DVD includes the footage he shot during the 1955 celebration in Spanish Fork. Since the sequence is lifted from the original negative, the quality of the footage is remarkably pristine and should be seen as an invaluable snapshot of an event that, though somewhat mundane in nature, underpins the main thrust and raison d’être of the whole piece, namely, celebrating the strong sense of duty Icelandic Latter-day Saints feel to preserve their ancestral history. As such, the documentary helps audiences better understand the healthy pride Icelanders openly display towards their homeland and common ancestry. As Ethan Vincent puts it: “The documentary tells a little-known story of a unique group of Saints who have stuck together and kept their culture alive over the years. The descendants of those early pioneers know their heritage very well and can identify their ancestors by name and face. That is better than many of us can do.” Viewers can look forward with reasonable confidence to Truth and Treason, the dramatic feature based on Hübener‘s life, which Vincent wrote in collaboration with director Matt Whitaker and is due to be released in 2009. The quality of the screeplay bears the hallmarks of yielding superior entertainment. Fire on Ice, along with Vincent's other works, is poised to strengthen emerging contemporary LDS cinema while giving the movement a most welcome "internationalist" slant. Claude Bernard (who can be reached via email at byu_studies@byu.edu) is a lecturer in the communications department at Vrije Universiteit Brussel. He is a member of the Church’s public affairs committee for Brussels and has written film reviews for such publications as Bulletin, Wall Street Journal, and Cinémotions. 1. Fred E. Woods, Fire on Ice: The Story of Icelandic Latter-day Saints at Home and Abroad (Provo, Utah: The Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 2005), xiii.		What's Most Popular? Top Reviews Most Recent Reviews
© 2007 BYU Studies