The Northman (2022)

 ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

The Northman (2022) – R. Eggers

Exceptionally mythic (or legendary) and drawn from the same texts that inspired Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Robert Eggers’ film takes place in the late 9^th century somewhere in present day Scandinavia (“Raven Island” and later Iceland). Academic historians contributed some insights to the production. As the story opens, we see King Aurvandil War-Raven (Ethan Hawke) returning from battle to his family, Queen Gudrún (Nicole Kidman) and son Amleth (Oscar Novak). Amleth is now to be initiated into the rites of manhood as heir apparent. However, only a short while after the mystic and private ceremony, Auvandil is killed by his own brother Fjölnir (Claes Bang) while Amleth escapes alone in a rowboat. Fast forward a couple of decades and Amleth (now Alexander Skarsgård) has joined the bear-wolf tribe as a rampaging berserker. After assailing a Slav village, he hears that Fjölnir has lost his kingdom and fled to Iceland – he stows away, pretending to be a slave (along with actual slave and later love interest Olga, played by Anya Taylor-Joy) on a ship bound for Fjölnir’s lands.  Upon arrival, he stays undercover, assessing the situation (including his mother’s cozy set-up with Fjölnir) before deciding how to act out his revenge. Undoubtedly an Eggers film (he also made The Witch, 2015, and The Lighthouse, 2019), this would have looked amazing on the big screen with its epic landscapes, period settings, fire and fury. But it is the mystic feel that really elevates the picture into something special, beyond your typical Hollywood blockbuster. The camera glides into some weird spaces, acknowledges Björk to be a Seeress (and Willem Dafoe to be a Fool), and makes you feel as though you are there, really in the Viking Age, dirty, obligated to Norse gods, and facing a nasty, brutish, and short life. The only real demerit that this film earns is its rather single-minded (and occasionally glacial) procession from revenge desired to revenge completed – it’s awesome to witness but, somehow, I expected things to be less on the nose. However, that may grant it that legendary quality and I guess fate is inexorable after all.