A fighter in the mountains: Irony and eco-sabotage in Woman at War.

This article analyzes the role of irony in the 2018 film *Woman at War* (Icelandic title *Kona fer í strið*), directed by Benedikt Erlingsson, through the theoretical framework of Paul de Man’s concept of irony as a permanent parabasis—a self-conscious narrative interruption derived from Attic comedy. The film’s recurring, non-diegetic appearances of musicians and Ukrainian chorus singers serve as structural breaks that disrupt narrative immersion and highlight the tension between ecological urgency and political inertia in the context of late capitalism. The protagonist Halla’s eco-sabotage reflects a shift from peaceful protest to clandestine direct action, embodying ambivalence and exhaustion in the face of climate crisis, while the film’s ironic interruptions invite viewers to critically engage with the representation and efficacy of environmental resistance. The article concludes that irony in *Woman at War* functions politically and aesthetically to problematize climate activism and state negligence, culminating in a final scene where irony gives way to an unmediated depiction of environmental catastrophe.