SBS On Demand
Benedikt Rikhardsson (Olafur Darri Olafsson) is a big man and a political leader with big ideas. “I just want to have great ambitions,” the iconoclastic chairman of the Independence Party explains to his colleagues.
Icelandic political TV drama The Minister, starring Olafur Darri Olafsson as Benedikt Rickhardsson, is screening on SBS on Demand.
But is he a visionary – a breath-of-fresh-air idealist, devoid of cynicism and unencumbered by the conventional ways – or is he a hopeless naif and a potentially anarchic force?
That’s the question at the heart of this eight-part Icelandic drama series. As it begins, on the eve of an election, Benedikt makes his first radical move, announcing the formation of a partnership with the Social Democratic Alliance during a live TV debate. He then declares that, if they prove successful in the election, he won’t accept the results and lead a government unless 90 per cent of the country’s eligible population votes. One