The NorthmanVengeance is a cold fire, burning you from the inside out. The Northman is a menacing and violent action movie about a man named Amleth (Alexander Skarsgård) who commits his adult life to getting revenge on his uncle, Fjölnir (Claes Bang), for the murder of his father, Aurvandill (Ethan Hawke), and the abduction of his mother, Gudrún (Nicole Kidman). After fleeing his homeland as a child and becoming a berserker, he learns that a shipment of slaves--including a young Slavic woman named Olga (Anya Taylor-Joy)--is bound for his uncle in Iceland, so he poses as a slave and awaits the opportune time to strike.
|
|
Directed by Robert Eggers--who co-wrote the film alongside Icelandic poet, Sjón--The Northman is a bleak and intense film, drawing inspiration from the Norse story of Amleth, which in turn inspired William Shakespeare's famous play, "Hamlet". The overall plot of The Norseman is nearly identical, so fans of "Hamlet" will see nods to it all over the place...albeit with a lot more screaming and violence in this film. Reminiscent of Eggers's breakthrough horror film, The Witch, The Northman is steeped in a look that feels like it was plucked from history, albeit one that is heavily stylized, drawing from legend. Amleth has made himself into a paragon of physicality, nearly invulnerable it would seem. Consider when he and his fellow berserkers pillage a Rus settlement. A defender on the wall hurls a spear at Amleth, who manages to catch it and throw it right back; now that's talent! We are first introduced to young Amleth (Oscar Novak) who practically beams when his father returns home from raiding, even with slaves and loot in tow. His father dotes on his boy, and gives him a necklace which he comments he ripped from the neck of a prince. Vicious, yet Amleth is over the moon for the present. Later, Aurvandill takes young Amleth to a secret rite with a fool and shaman named Heimir (Willem Dafoe), where the two of them engage in primal behavior like dogs. It is a primitive bonding moment for the father and son, but it also establishes that Amleth sees visions of his future and of his family via the metaphor of a great tree. These visions occur to him periodically in The Northmen, alongside others of a valkyrie (Ineta Sliuzaite) carrying him off to Valhalla--the great feasting hall of the afterlife in Viking religion. Hallucinogenic drugs sometimes help.
The film is packed full with esoteric nods to Norse mythology and life among the Vikings during the Dark Ages. The berserkers engage in totemic and savage rituals to awaken the fierce animal inside themselves prior to battle, which gives them an unmatched ferocity. Amleth loses himself in the killing, and holds with his father that the greatest destiny for him is to die in battle. But the Viking culture is one founded on reaving; it is inherently unsustainable, and--as the film suggests by way of Amleth--somewhat childish, full of fantasy. He consults with a witch (Ingvar Eggert Sigurðsson) who tells him that he must seek out what is essentially a magic sword named "Draugr" to claim vengeance. So it isn't enough to just slay his father's killer with any old sword, but a special one is needed, apparently. What makes this seem all the more like a kind of delusion is how he imagines his confrontation with an undead knight when he goes to claim the blade, only to realize that when he takes the sword, that the fight was all in his head. Amleth has molded his perception of the world around vengeance and has allowed the fantasies of his childhood and his culture to drive him all the way to a kind of neurosis. His greatest shock comes when that perception of reality is challenged by Gudrún, who informs him of his forced conception and her original relationship to his father (as a slave) when Amleth comes to try to "save" her. Amleth's world is a cruel and brutal one; yet it is one that he is forced to confront after Fjölnir commits regicide and fratricide in front of his young eyes. The terrified boy returns home only to see his mother carried off screaming, and is wise enough to disguise himself before stealing a boat and reciting an oath to avenge his father, save his mother, and kill Fjölnir. It is the oath of a child, but one that he holds to with his core being. It may have been born of bravery, but it has become an all-consuming fire of wrath over the years.
Amleth is in a state of arrested development; part of how this is explored is through his blossoming relationship with Olga. Despite his background as a raider and slaver, he and Olga become friends over his shared secret (as a northerner posing as a captive) and his newfound understanding of what it means to be treated less like a prince and more like a slave. He watches in suffering as his mother and uncle dote on their children, notably the one they conceived together, the young Gunnar (Elliott Rose). During a sporting match--a game of knattleikr, which is something between soccer, baseball, and rugby all on steroids--Amleth saves the overzealous Gunnar from a player who has lost himself to a rage; his reward is being made into a foreman of the other slaves and to watch his mother cry over the unconscious Gunnar until he regains consciousness. Amleth remembers his mother this way--doting on him, loving him--not the woman she has "become". The most subdued moment in The Northman comes after Amleth learns of this form of betrayal and Olga convinces the crestfallen Amleth to come away with her and be done with his vendetta. It is the first moment in all of The Northman where Amleth seems contemplative. Amleth is not a stupid man; far from it. He is cunning enough to devise a scheme to assassinate his uncle, secretly terrorize him and his clan into abject fear and paranoia, and choose his moments carefully (for the most part) to attack. But despite his intellect, he remains a fool, because he believes that in order to reclaim his stolen life from his childhood, all he has to do is kill his uncle. Perhaps it is no surprise then that in Icelandic, Amlóði (Old Norse for "Amleth") roughly translates as "fool". Amleth's quest is one full of anger and hatred; he never realizes that his old way of life was never righteous in the first place, so justice isn't even a blip on the proverbial radar for him. So there is a lesson about parenting in The Northman, then. His father spent all of his time out raiding, and his mother was comfortable to shelter the boy who looked on with awe at the father who he saw as brave and kingly. Yet his birthright was forged in blood, fire, and suffering; how tragic then that it should end the same way.
Recommended for: Fans of a violent action movie about a classic tale of vengeance and betrayal. Additionally, fans of Eggers's immersive level of recreating the time and people of the 9th century is a treat and a draw in and of itself to seeing The Northman.
The film is packed full with esoteric nods to Norse mythology and life among the Vikings during the Dark Ages. The berserkers engage in totemic and savage rituals to awaken the fierce animal inside themselves prior to battle, which gives them an unmatched ferocity. Amleth loses himself in the killing, and holds with his father that the greatest destiny for him is to die in battle. But the Viking culture is one founded on reaving; it is inherently unsustainable, and--as the film suggests by way of Amleth--somewhat childish, full of fantasy. He consults with a witch (Ingvar Eggert Sigurðsson) who tells him that he must seek out what is essentially a magic sword named "Draugr" to claim vengeance. So it isn't enough to just slay his father's killer with any old sword, but a special one is needed, apparently. What makes this seem all the more like a kind of delusion is how he imagines his confrontation with an undead knight when he goes to claim the blade, only to realize that when he takes the sword, that the fight was all in his head. Amleth has molded his perception of the world around vengeance and has allowed the fantasies of his childhood and his culture to drive him all the way to a kind of neurosis. His greatest shock comes when that perception of reality is challenged by Gudrún, who informs him of his forced conception and her original relationship to his father (as a slave) when Amleth comes to try to "save" her. Amleth's world is a cruel and brutal one; yet it is one that he is forced to confront after Fjölnir commits regicide and fratricide in front of his young eyes. The terrified boy returns home only to see his mother carried off screaming, and is wise enough to disguise himself before stealing a boat and reciting an oath to avenge his father, save his mother, and kill Fjölnir. It is the oath of a child, but one that he holds to with his core being. It may have been born of bravery, but it has become an all-consuming fire of wrath over the years.
Amleth is in a state of arrested development; part of how this is explored is through his blossoming relationship with Olga. Despite his background as a raider and slaver, he and Olga become friends over his shared secret (as a northerner posing as a captive) and his newfound understanding of what it means to be treated less like a prince and more like a slave. He watches in suffering as his mother and uncle dote on their children, notably the one they conceived together, the young Gunnar (Elliott Rose). During a sporting match--a game of knattleikr, which is something between soccer, baseball, and rugby all on steroids--Amleth saves the overzealous Gunnar from a player who has lost himself to a rage; his reward is being made into a foreman of the other slaves and to watch his mother cry over the unconscious Gunnar until he regains consciousness. Amleth remembers his mother this way--doting on him, loving him--not the woman she has "become". The most subdued moment in The Northman comes after Amleth learns of this form of betrayal and Olga convinces the crestfallen Amleth to come away with her and be done with his vendetta. It is the first moment in all of The Northman where Amleth seems contemplative. Amleth is not a stupid man; far from it. He is cunning enough to devise a scheme to assassinate his uncle, secretly terrorize him and his clan into abject fear and paranoia, and choose his moments carefully (for the most part) to attack. But despite his intellect, he remains a fool, because he believes that in order to reclaim his stolen life from his childhood, all he has to do is kill his uncle. Perhaps it is no surprise then that in Icelandic, Amlóði (Old Norse for "Amleth") roughly translates as "fool". Amleth's quest is one full of anger and hatred; he never realizes that his old way of life was never righteous in the first place, so justice isn't even a blip on the proverbial radar for him. So there is a lesson about parenting in The Northman, then. His father spent all of his time out raiding, and his mother was comfortable to shelter the boy who looked on with awe at the father who he saw as brave and kingly. Yet his birthright was forged in blood, fire, and suffering; how tragic then that it should end the same way.
Recommended for: Fans of a violent action movie about a classic tale of vengeance and betrayal. Additionally, fans of Eggers's immersive level of recreating the time and people of the 9th century is a treat and a draw in and of itself to seeing The Northman.