I saw THE NORTHMAN on Friday, and golly – my brain is still processing everything I saw!
So… here’s my attempt at a review. No spoilers – apart from the basic setup, which is shown in the trailer.
Based on a Norse legend (later to be reinterpreted by Shakespeare for HAMLET), the story tells the tale of the young prince Amleth, who is forced to flee his kingdom after his uncle murders his Father, stealing his crown and wife. Many years later, the now fully-grown Amleth witnesses a supernatural vision, reawakening a mission of vengeance: To slay his uncle, free his mother and avenge his father.
Robert Eggers (THE VVITCH, THE LIGHTHOUSE) has crafted a blisteringly intense and dizzyingly atmospheric Nordic Revenge tale. While not as out-there-bonkers as his previous films, it’s still deeply Imbued with the arthouse sensibilities of those earlier works. A more traditional and relatable story grounds it – a classic Shakespearean tragedy stripped down to its raw, bloody roots.
Alexander Skarsgard as Amleth is the personification of Scandinavian testosterone-fuelled fury, but there’s a childlike simplicity and vulnerability to him too. As one of the characters chides him – “you see the world with a child’s eyes”.
Anya Taylor-Joy, Nicole Kidman, Claes Bang and a host of other top-drawer talent round out a fantastic cast. Anya Taylor-Joy, in particular, is perfectly cast for her role as a luminously bewitching and slightly otherworldly counterpart to Amleth’s raw animalistic primitivism.
Speaking of animalistic primitivism, this film really doesn’t pull its punches when it comes to depicting the psychotic savagery of Viking society. The casual cruelty and wanton bloodlust is on full display, especially in an early fight scene where a village is brutally plundered. Much like Ridley Scott’s excellent THE LAST DUEL, we are reminded how truly lowly the status of women was in the past. In a society ruled by physical strength and violence, women are constantly vulnerable. And yet, this means the small rebellions against this (in both films) are ever more powerful. They both pivot from focusing on the power of angry, entitled, vengeful men to the inner strength of women to endure and overcome.
The grittiness of the production design and cinematography makes you feel truly immersed in this world. I’ve been watching the new season of THE WITCHER on Netflix, which is a bit underwhelming (much like the first season) – and I think a lot of that is down to the lack of realism and the aforementioned grit. Game of Thrones did it pretty well, in comparison. But this film takes it to another level. It does not romanticise life in that era in any way. It’s a barbarous and miserable world of shivering omnipresent damp and cold. You can see why the people living in it would cling to their myths and superstitions to make some sense of the insane cruelty of it all.
And this aspect is portrayed brilliantly too. It is a world where magic and the supernatural interweave with perceived reality, and this is shown through some extremely trippy visuals. It’s like an even more surreal version of John Boorman’s EXCALIBUR, with a bit of John Milius’s CONAN THE BARBARIAN feeding into the madness too. And the cavernous, brooding sound design complements it all perfectly too, creating an experience akin to a mystical nightmare.
So, to wrap it up – I liked it! A very bleak, but beautiful film. My overriding takeaway from watching it was “The vikings really were a right bunch of murdering, raping, enslaving bastards!” It’s a shockingly frank portrayal of life in those violent, grubby times. The film is absolutely drenched in atmosphere and watching it in a darkened cinema with great sound was the best possible way to experience it. It’s almost oppressively dour and claustrophobic. But at the same time, it’s utterly captivating. The story twists and turns, but the outcome feels inevitable from the start. The “hero” is doomed, by his own inability to leave violence – and vengeance – behind.
I thought it was a fascinating film. Not necessarily a “fun” watch, but I loved the grimdark vibes.
