Cold Fever - Martin Konkel

During the first few minutes of the movie, cold fever, I just couldn’t see how this movie would turn out. A Japanese man going to Iceland seemed like a fairly interesting plot for a good cheesy comedy form the 1980’s, but as I soon found out this was by far a comedy, no, this movie was meant to have a deeper meaning then some random Eddie Murphy film.
Our main character starts out as fairly timid Asian man who blends into the hustle and bustle of (then) modern Tokyo; the typical young businessman, trying to get on with life. He meets up with his grand father who tells him he must lay his parents spirits to rest but in this scene, along with a few others in his native country, there is a strong split between new values and old customs. It wasn’t until his dead parents called out from him in the TV (via VCR tape). For whatever reason, this changed his mind, and off he went to the Iceland.
It quickly became apparent that Iceland was going to be quite the bizarre place and that the main character was not going to fit in too well. From the go, the Icelandic people seemed far different from what Hirata was used to back in Japan. First was the Taxi driver who made a pit stop to participate in a Nativity scene. This angered Hirata, so he started to walk down the cold deserted road, something that we see throughout the movie. He meets up with another weirdo, this time one those dark metal hippy chicks you usually only find in Europe. She sells him a Citroen DS, which he promptly calls a hunk of junk. The Citroen DS is a quirky little French car that was quite innovative for the time it was produced. One thing that jumped out to me was when the Citroen had a flat tire. The Citroen DS uses a hydro pneumatic independent suspension system which has adjustable ride heights (as evident when the car rose when he turned it on to drive it away for the first time). The suspension setup is quite unique, and in case of a flat tire the other wheels can be adjusted down (raising the body) while the one flat tire can be raised up towards the body taking it off the ground. Had he known this, he could have easily driven the car until he found help instead of wandering around in the cold and almost dying of hypothermia. Luckily some nice native people took him in for the night and took him back to his Citroen in their Willys wagon. For me, that car became like a character in the movie, although I do not think it was meant to be considering it didn’t last too long after the stereotyped rude robbing Americans jacked it.
Coming to the Axioms, the first, the most obvious of them all, is that sacred place is not chosen, it chooses. This is pretty obviously considering the Hirata had a trip planned to Hawaii and he ended up going to Iceland. He didn’t choose Iceland, more or less Iceland choose him.
Second Axiom is that sacred place is ordinary place made extraordinary through rituals. Iceland is a pretty bleak place, and quite awful during the winter months. While unique geographically, it’s not a place many people would get excited about. The locals talked of fairies hidden in huge rocks by the ocean and spirits that roamed the wasteland. Also, most sacred places are considered dangerous, and he wandered into dangerous territory at a fork in the road. Here the Citroen broke down, but a fairy appeared, exploded some snow in a few places by making this awful sound, and then somehow fixed his French car.
The third Axiom is that sacred place can be tread upon without being entered. Hirata never seemed really engulfed in the landscape that surrounded him. He had a goal, and he did everything to fulfill that goal and didn’t let much stand in the way. He frequently wandered down the road himself, traveled the landscape in his Citroen, and in the end crossed it by horseback and then even foot. However, he never showed great excitement for the place, granted, he stood back and looked at it a few times, but not once during the movie did Hirata ever become really excited, upbeat, or emotional. Perhaps he was being portrayed by an awful actor, but I’m guessing this is how the character was supposed to be. It wasn’t really until the end that he seemed to “enter it” when performing the rituals.
The Fourth and Final axiom is that everything is centered. This does not relate as easily to the movie as the other axioms, but you can say that Hirata grew more spiritual through his wilderness journey, although really the final destination does not center on much in the movie. I honestly thought it was going to be a village or so, but instead it was some random river in a place that seemed to be nowhere. The goal centers on his spiritual ness, and eventually he is pulled into it at the end.