April 22, 2022 13:12
There has been a lot of talk in the United States about The northmanthe third feature film by Robert Eggers, starting from a long profile that the New Yorker dedicated to the author of The witch (2015) e The lighthouse (2019). The article signed by Sam Knight, which is worth reading to the end, begins by trying to create a bit of confusion: the film we will see at the cinema corresponds to the intentions of the young director or, given the budget made available to him. from producers (a figure between 70 and 90 million dollars), to a compromise between its vision and commercial reasons? The debate raged in the days preceding the release of the film (more or less contemporary all over the world), creating a certain expectation.
It is obvious that if New Regency, Focus Pictures and Universal put a certain amount at your disposal, they expect a certain type of product. And for Eggers himself, who is careful not to claim authorial frustrations, it must not have been a joke to go from making small and in their own way limited films, to a great Hollywood costume production, with an important cast, made between Iceland and Northern Ireland, with mass scenes (for what could have been a mass in ninth century Northern Europe). And it must be said that on the whole, apart from a few tears in the script and editing that are felt above all towards the end, he fared very well. There were directors like that.
But what are we talking about? The northmanwritten by Eggers himself together with the Icelandic writer Sjón, takes up the ancient Nordic legend of Prince Amleth, the same one that inspired William Shakespeare for his Hamlet. Stripped (as Peter Bradshaw writes in the Guardian) of any Elizabethan melancholy and any existential doubt, the story goes something like this. In 895 AD the young prince Amleth witnesses the killing of his father, King Aurvandill (Ethan Hawke), and the abduction of his mother Gudrún (Nicole Kidman) by his uncle Fjölnir (Claes Bang). He manages to escape and vows revenge. Years later, Amleth (Alexander Skarsgård) has become a strong and ruthless warrior. During a raid in a village in the lands of the Rus’, a blind visionary priestess (Björk) reminds him of his oath. Amleth then puts an end to his days as a Viking raider to reach what is left of his family and carry out his revenge, supported, not only morally, by a Slavic slave (Anya Taylor-Joy). Also worth mentioning is Willem Dafoe who plays Heimir, who turns out to be more than just a jester.
How he had succeeded in The witch (perhaps more surprisingly, albeit on a smaller scale), Eggers does a fantastic work of historical-anthropological, ethnological and ethnographic synthesis. For those who want to learn more, the ideas offered by the film are practically infinite. A red cloak worn by the young Amleth in the first scenes can refer to a purple of ancient Rome, while a pre-raid propitiatory rite of Viking warriors cannot help but suggest a Native American dance around a bonfire.
Really tasty is the description of a bestial male world, whose brightest expectation is to get drunk forever in Valhalla after being slaughtered (notable is the subtle ambiguity that Ethan Hawke manages to confer on his Aurvandill), as opposed to a more modern female world , secular and earthly, well represented by the two main interpreters, even if the dirty work to update the story will be up to Gudrún / Kidman. Also interesting is the figure of uncle Fjölnir: cadet, bastard and, in a contemporary key, perhaps the most tragic figure of the whole pack.