Mythologies fascinate me. From Rick Riordan’s fictional world of Greek and Roman Gods and Demigods to the rise and fall of the Egyptian Gods as depicted in Marvel’s mini-series, Moon Knight. The plight of God and man in a modern setting with the familiarity of places we have studied in our school days. And all this is weaved by magical imagery and cinematographic realism in a fictional place that can be very close to being true.
The retelling and artistic depiction of mythologies are very tricky to bring colour into, especially in the cinematic world where the vision of the director prejudices us into critical vision and the depiction of olden times.
The Northman is a cinematic retelling of the Scandinavian legend Amleth, who was also the inspiration behind Shakespeare’s play Hamlet.
The movie gives audiences a realistic sense of Scandinavia in the old pagan ages, from the languages spoken with flawless accents: English, Old Norse and Old East Slavic, to the small attentive details of the clothing, artefacts and traditions that have received praise from historians as well as archaeologists. Egger’s apt interpretation for this was because he did not want his movie to portray Norse mythologies similar to the “marvel nonsense”. The projection of his extensive knowledge of the Vikings, the versatility of using Iceland as the shoot location which easily encapsulated the region’s rich folklore and, the authenticity in the small details were impressively captured in this movie.
Vikings are a crucial part of Icelandic, Scandinavian and Norwegian sagas; and there are numerous TV shows and movies that present the Viking world well. In terms of authenticity, The Northman tops them all. This was the biggest takeaway for mythology buffs like me, the authenticity of it. Gratification from watching Robert Egger’s movies such as The Witch (2015) and The Lighthouse (2019) comes from the atmospheric settings; so far that his role as a director and as the co-writer of the movie was impressively orchestrated.
The plot of the movie is the mantra that the protagonist repeats throughout, “I will avenge you, Father! I will save you, Mother! I will kill you, Fjölnir!”
Prince Amleth’s (played by Alexander Skarsgard) father King Aurvandill (Played by Ethan Hawke) was brutally killed by his brother, Fjölnir (played by Claes Bang). After killing his brother and pillaging the kingdom, Fjölnir abducts his sister-in-law Queen Gudrun (played by Nicole Kidman) while young Amleth escapes.
The plot also seems eerily similar to Disney’s The Lion King.
While Amleth was escaping on a row boat, the mantra is repeated through a scene change into Amleth in a row boat as an adult. The first single-take introduces the audience to Amleth as an adult and the changes that years have invoked on him, and the second single take of him and his goons pillaging the village conveys to the audience a familiar yet moderately “Hakuna Matata” phase of Amleth’s life.
In the second uninterrupted take where Amleth pillages the village, audiences are introduced, for a split second (blink and you’ll miss it) to Skarsgard’s love interest and the second protagonist, Olga (played by Anya Taylor-Joy). In this scene, we catch sight of her fearlessness and courage. Her role in Amleth’s life is debatable; is she a distraction, or an asset? Similar to her role of Gina Gray in Peaky Blinders, her role as Amleth’s right-hand woman and lover would question whether she brings any substance to the movie or is just used as a plot device.
After Amleth meets Olga in their journey as slaves for the now demoted Fjonir, his mission of vengeance seemed to either slow down or stray away. The emotional impact of his mantra and vengeance dies down and so another plot device is introduced as the “ultimate plot twist”.
In spite of all of this, the writing seems rushed. For an action movie, there was a compact amount of action; all the action shown in the trailer is half of the action in the movie. There was vast potential for the directors to add more action scenes. Plot devices in this movie have been used excessively, even so, that the ending seemed anti-climactic, I had lost interest in the action of the movie, played the remaining 30 minutes at 1.5x speed and kept skipping to the end.
The biggest letdown in the movie was Amleth’s unduly surrender when he conceded to his enemies. From the beginning of the movie, Amleth showed his unremitting valour and strength; when he was pillaging the village, when he was wreaking havoc on Fjonir’s village and followers, and when he was fighting off soldiers. Not only did he suddenly become weak in front of Olga, but he strayed away from his vengeful mission, which seemed like the only thing the audiences were holding on to.
In terms of historical representation, The Northman hits every benchmark of what the Vikings were: The tattooed teeth on the Valkyrie, Amleth swearing on his father’s bracelet, the Norwegian golden blonde hair, clothing made from recovered remains in Viking burial grounds, and the small details in daily objects. In all this, we see Egger’s continuous passion in the small details.
But as an action movie? It was underwhelming. The story was uncomplicated and engrossing to follow, yet there was no emotional impact on viewers. The plot devices used were a mere compensation for the fact, or simply seemed to be used as plot sympathy when the story did not seem to end. The movie could have been 30 minutes shorter and would have still delivered.
In the end, Robert Egger’s passion for making personal cinema does not go unnoticed. His love for history and deep immersion in it makes The Northman the best Viking movie so far.