Valhalla RisingWhen men are compelled to enforce their will under the guise of loftier themes than themselves--be it religion, nations, or just plain greed--it invariably leads to bloodshed and death. Set like a sentinel against the swirling tides of ambition, a mute, partially blind warrior called "One-Eye" (Mads Mikkelsen) escapes his captivity by slavers who use him for bloodsport, only to get carried along with a group of Christian vikings, determined to set sail for Jerusalem on a holy crusade. When their journey brings them to the untamed wilderness of North America, the strange environs cause them to believe that One-Eye has guided them to Hell itself.
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Although never expressly stated, it is evident that Valhalla Rising is set over a thousand years ago, around the time of Leif Eriksson, and his father, "Erik the Red". In fact, the Christian vikings in Valhalla Rising share some parallels with the seemingly paradoxical explorers, one-time reavers turned evangelists. The majority of the evangelical Norse adventurers which One-Eye finds himself accompanying are more interested in their own personal glorification, riches, and so forth, and do little more with their purported religion than preach and erect a cross. When One-Eye makes his bloody escape from his slaver captors, he spares a young boy (Maarten Stevenson), who acts as One-Eye's mouthpiece, speaking for him, although making no claim that his words are, in fact, those of the taciturn warrior. When the two cross paths with the crusaders, the boy claims that they will accompany them on their journey in the hopes of returning "home". And just where is home, and whose home is the boy referring to? His, or One-Eye's? Shortly after setting out on the sea, the boat is beset by a dense, everlasting fog, and the boat seems to remain stagnant in the water. Although the boy was brought along under the auspices that he would provide luck, attitudes turn for some of the crew, and the belief is that the unspeaking One-Eye is leading them into Hell, where they presume the grave fighter must be from. The boy says as much prior to the beginning of the expedition, although it is likely the boy is referring to the fighting pits from whence One-Eye was forced to battle for his life everyday in the blood and the mud, but that suggestion still stirs some of the more imaginative, religious-minded adventurers. One-Eye says nothing, offering no advice nor admonishment. What little we glean from his inner thoughts comes through in the vivid visions which visit him, predictions of the future in burning, magma hot images of orange and red, key points in his destiny, favorable or not. Even One-Eye's expression is as still as stone; he prefers to let his blades do the speaking for him when pressed into mortal combat. It is not long before the Christian vikings begin to lose their composure in the New World. Starvation sinks in, plaguing them with madness and violence, their resolve tested and snapped like twigs underfoot. One-Eye finds himself confronted with the same kind of bloody choice which he was forced to make in the face of his prior captors. The message is that no matter the ethos or banner one waves or uses to justify one's actions, people will fall prey to their own egos when they allow their sense of humanity to collapse under the weight.
Although the opening titles suggest that the spread of Christianity pressed the pagans of Scandinavia into the fringes, the theme of religion is represented less so in the crusaders than in One-Eye himself. One-Eye's message is one not communicated through words but through his actions. He acts as a guardian for the meek, like the boy, and defends the boy and himself when assaulted by those who would subjugate him. He is stoic and unbending, and even though brutal, when the time comes to leave the shores of the New World and move into the forest, he leads the procession. His expression is nearly unchanging, at times reminiscent of the blank expression of a statue, possessing an intractable evenness. And like martyrs like Jesus Christ, he predicts the inevitable sacrifice and accepts it as though it were itself a covenant. Even the title of the film--Valhalla Rising--evokes the mythical local where Norse warriors were said to feast in halcyon delight for eternity as a reward for their valor, their faith. One-Eye might be viewed as a scion of the old gods, a warrior who has been tasked to show the message of his faith by his actions. Similarly, he represents a Christ-like figure--albeit a far more violent one--with the boy as his sole apostle. As the crusaders seek their New Jerusalem, and pray for the fog to pass, their pleas rise up to a god as silent as One-Eye.
Like other films by director Nicolas Winding Refn, Valhalla Rising is a film which feels more like a dream than a factual accounting of a time in history. The mountainous land which is the setting from the start is a location where roving bands of vikings contemplate their situation, where there is no actual shelter or permanent encampments, as though the very concept of civilization is as ephemeral as the heavy mists which roll down from the looming mountains. It is a cold, savage place, where time is passed by setting men like One-Eye against others to beat each other to death. When One-Eye escapes this brutal tribe, there isn't even anywhere for him to go, as though he were merely changing out one circle of Hell for another. The vikings speak to one another as though they were thinking aloud, at times sounding as though they were philosophizing--even meditating--on their situation in the New World or the old one. At times, scenes flow like tree sap running down bark, slow motion suggesting a heightened state of reality. The hallucinatory expedition to North America resembles that of the journey down the Amazon River in Werner Herzog's own journey into the heart of darkness, Aguirre, the Wrath of God; shots of the tree line in the New World strongly resemble shots from that film. Scenes express a crushing despair which comes with the aimless drifting trailing One-Eye on his journey through his own personal Hell, to home or otherwise, underscoring a savagery in us at a fundamental level.
Recommended for: Fans of an intense and harrowing journey into a cold and deadly time and place in history, heightened to achieve an impressionistic mood piece as well as a bloody action film, designed to unnerve and even hypnotize with its bold design.
Although the opening titles suggest that the spread of Christianity pressed the pagans of Scandinavia into the fringes, the theme of religion is represented less so in the crusaders than in One-Eye himself. One-Eye's message is one not communicated through words but through his actions. He acts as a guardian for the meek, like the boy, and defends the boy and himself when assaulted by those who would subjugate him. He is stoic and unbending, and even though brutal, when the time comes to leave the shores of the New World and move into the forest, he leads the procession. His expression is nearly unchanging, at times reminiscent of the blank expression of a statue, possessing an intractable evenness. And like martyrs like Jesus Christ, he predicts the inevitable sacrifice and accepts it as though it were itself a covenant. Even the title of the film--Valhalla Rising--evokes the mythical local where Norse warriors were said to feast in halcyon delight for eternity as a reward for their valor, their faith. One-Eye might be viewed as a scion of the old gods, a warrior who has been tasked to show the message of his faith by his actions. Similarly, he represents a Christ-like figure--albeit a far more violent one--with the boy as his sole apostle. As the crusaders seek their New Jerusalem, and pray for the fog to pass, their pleas rise up to a god as silent as One-Eye.
Like other films by director Nicolas Winding Refn, Valhalla Rising is a film which feels more like a dream than a factual accounting of a time in history. The mountainous land which is the setting from the start is a location where roving bands of vikings contemplate their situation, where there is no actual shelter or permanent encampments, as though the very concept of civilization is as ephemeral as the heavy mists which roll down from the looming mountains. It is a cold, savage place, where time is passed by setting men like One-Eye against others to beat each other to death. When One-Eye escapes this brutal tribe, there isn't even anywhere for him to go, as though he were merely changing out one circle of Hell for another. The vikings speak to one another as though they were thinking aloud, at times sounding as though they were philosophizing--even meditating--on their situation in the New World or the old one. At times, scenes flow like tree sap running down bark, slow motion suggesting a heightened state of reality. The hallucinatory expedition to North America resembles that of the journey down the Amazon River in Werner Herzog's own journey into the heart of darkness, Aguirre, the Wrath of God; shots of the tree line in the New World strongly resemble shots from that film. Scenes express a crushing despair which comes with the aimless drifting trailing One-Eye on his journey through his own personal Hell, to home or otherwise, underscoring a savagery in us at a fundamental level.
Recommended for: Fans of an intense and harrowing journey into a cold and deadly time and place in history, heightened to achieve an impressionistic mood piece as well as a bloody action film, designed to unnerve and even hypnotize with its bold design.