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THE NORTHMAN – Robin Carolan and Sebastian Gainsborough
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
One of the oldest stories in all of literature is that of a son avenging the death of a father. It has driven plots in cultures all across the world, and inspired some of the greatest pieces of art in history. One of the most famous of these is, of course, William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, but I would hazard a guess that most people did not realize that Hamlet was itself based on a much earlier story from Norse mythology – I certainly did not until after seeing The Northman. That earlier story is the tale of Amleth, a Viking prince who sets out on a quest to avenge the murder of his father, King Aurvandill War-Raven, by his uncle, Fjölnir. This very simple story of honor and revenge is the basis for The Northman, from director Robert Eggers. It’s an epic, bloody, gory, ultra-realistic, but sometimes fantastical and hallucinatory story of what happens when a desire for revenge becomes a man’s sole purpose for existing – what that will drive a man to do, and whether this singular black-and-white view of right and wrong is justified, especially when shades of grey, doubts and secrets are revealed as the story progresses. It’s a film caked in blood and mud and sweat and shit, which pulls no punches and gives the audience an unflinching look at Viking life and culture. The film stars Alexander Skarsgård as Amleth, Nicole Kidman as Amleth’s mother Queen Guðrun, Claes Bang as Fjölnir, Ethan Hawke as King Aurvandill, and a luminous Anya Taylor-Joy as Olga, a Slavic sorceress who is taken as a slave by Fjölnir and eventually becomes Amleth’s lover. Read more…
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