“The Northman” is a wild tale of Viking folklore
If you like brawling and gory brutality, head to “The Northman”, Robert Eggers’ intense Nordic nightmare. Eggers’ previous films – ‘The Witch’ (2015) and ‘The Lighthouse’ (2019) – have blurred the line between fantasy and reality, so it’s no surprise this Viking revenge saga follows suit. .
Written in collaboration with Icelandic author Sjon (“Lamb,” “Dancer in the Dark”), it begins as 10-year-old Prince Amleth (Oscar Novak) runs to tell his mother, Queen Gudrun (Nicole Kidman ) that King Aurvandill (Ethan Hawke) has returned.
That evening, reverting to their wild wolf ancestors, young Amleth, injured Aurvandill, and wild-eyed holy man Heimir (Willem Dafoe) travel to a cave where they engage in an intoxicating pagan ritual that elicits howls and screams. vivid hallucinations.
Later, while walking with Amleth in the forest, Aurvandill is ambushed and murdered by his brother Fjolnir (Claes Bang). Vowing revenge, Amleth hides from his uncle, eventually escaping to Iceland.
Years later (914 AD), a witch (Bjork) reminds the now adult Amleth (Alexander Skarsgard) of his fate. Then he is captured and brought as a slave to Fjolnir, now married to the duplicitous Gudrun who fathered another son. To complicate matters, Amleth has fallen in love with the intelligent captive Olga (Anya Taylor-Joy).
If you love Icelandic folklore, you’ll recognize that Amleth is the Viking name for Hamlet, heralding this viscerally violent Scandinavian inspiration for Shakespeare’s tale. Historically, the story of Amleth can be traced in “The History of the Danes”.
The dialogue is mundane – apparently Vikings weren’t very articulate – so Eggers and his DP Jarin Blaschke focus on violent, medieval mayhem. To achieve authenticity, production designers worked overtime, reproducing ancient carvings and creating costumes from nettle, reindeer leather and Icelandic sheep coats.
One of the recurring themed images is the Sacred Tree of Kings, based on the giant ash tree Yggdrasil – central to Norse mythology. It is fashioned from human veins and hung from the corpses of warriors.
On the Granger gauge from 1 to 10, “The Northman” is a wild, supernatural, often silly 6, playing in theaters.
Susan Granger has been a television and radio commentator and entertainment critic for over 25 years. Raised in Hollywood, Granger appeared as a child actress in films with Abbott & Costello, Red Skelton, Lucille Ball and Lassie. She currently resides in Westport.