Struggling wives and their hard-working husbands try to make ends meet. The younger generation dreams of dollars, Rock'n Roll and the American way of life. To celebrate or to drown their misery - they're never short of a good reason to booze.

Devil's Island vividly depicts the everyday life of a wacky family, their neighbours and friends and shows how some of their dreams come true and others don't.

Old Karolina, an eccentric fortune teller, and Thomas, her kind-hearted husband, stay in the camp with their grown-up grandchildren when their daughter Gógó goes off in search of a better life in the USA. Hopes are high when charming Baddi, Karolina's favourite grandson, follows his mother.

Upon his return from the States, Baddi is welcomed as a local hero. He cruises through the mud in his big American car - like an Icelandic Elvis, King of the Gutter. But his glory soon fades, and his slow decline deeply affects the family.

His introverted younger brother Danni still pursues his secret dream. Eventually, the dream comes true, but ends in tragedy. Against all odds, their sister Dolly and her husband try to keep up appearances in the midst of the chaotic household.

Life goes on, more often bitter than sweet.

Divorced from her GI, Gógó returns to ,Devil's Island', where nothing has really changed. Still her hopes never die, and she soon sets off for new adventures, this time with a fabulous Norwegian.

Old Karolina has to face her biggest defeat in life, when the families are forced to move from the freedom of their barracks into the drabness of flats in a social housing block. Often hopeful, sometimes miserable, yet always high in spirits, they live their unique lives in the very North of Europe, where winters are bleak and summers are bright.

The score features Rock'n Roll classics: ,Hound Dog', ,Rumble', ,Harlem Nocturne', ,Read River Rock', ,Trouble', ,He'll Have to Go', ,All Shook Up', ,That's Alright Mama', ,Whole Lotta Shakin', ,Let It Be Me', ,Great Balls of Fire' and Verdi's ,La Donna e Mobile'.

Many years ago I read DEVIL'S ISLAND by Einar Kßrason and was fascinated by the characters. I decided to make a film about them. As in my first and second feature films White Whales and Children of Nature, I was motivated by my interest in these outsiders, their particular status in society, their apathy and their contradictions. The characters obsessed me. That was why I encouraged the author to transform the book into a screenplay. We had worked together on the script for White Whales and my trust in our collaboration was implicit.

The story mirrors the turbulence which a small isolated society goes through during wartime, and describes the cultural changes in Iceland which occurred due to external (American) influences, as well as the unavoidable conflicts which resulted.

Fridrik Thor Fridriksson was born in May 1954 in Reykjavik and shot his first film at the age of fourteen (in Super-8). In 1973 he was one of the founding members of the first film school club (Fjalakötturinn) and remained on the executive committee until 1978. He was the founding member, and from 1980 to1983 the managing editor of the first monthly Icelandic film magazine (‘Filmbladid'). He was the founding member of the publishing house ,Svart ß hvitú' (‘Black and White'), which publishes books about Art and Culture and runs an art gallery. He was the initiator and the first leader of the Reykjavik film festival in 1978. Since 1981 he has been making documentary films.

He has made documentary films on such various subjects as an old blacksmith (Eldsmidurinn, 1981) which was screened in 1983 at the Nordische Filmtage in Lübeck; Rock in Reykjavík (1982) or the Country and Western music scene in Kúrekar Nordursins (1984). In his experimental film Kringurina he shows, in one single take, a long journey around Iceland in twelve seconds. For his first feature film White Whales he received the ,Filmlens' prize in Lübeck and a Special Mention by the jury at the Locarno film festival.

1975: Nomina sunt odiosa (shortfilm). 1980: Brennunjalssaga (Njalbrandsaga, shortfilm). 1981: Eldsmidurinn (Der Schmied). 1982: Rock í Reykjavík (Rock in Reykjavík). 1984: Kurekar Nordursins (Cowboys of the North). 1985: Kringurina (The Roundtrip). 1987: Skytturna (Weiße Wale). 1991: Börn Nßttúrannar (Children of Nature). 1996: DJÖFLAEYJAN (Devil's Island).