Overall Rating: (8/10) SKOL!

           The Northman was an absolute treat. It was violent, gross, full of mythology and history, and above all very real in its characters. The sheer amount of detail in the cinematic language and imagery far outweigh this film’s lackluster plot. 

           The plot is the weak link in this movie, but that is far from being a bad thing. In fact, I believe it is an intentional decision to write a fairly standard plot. The starting point of this movie is very obviously the plot of Hamlet, a story that is so well known that we have movies rehashing the plot with lions for actual toddlers. (As an aside, apparently the myth that informed The Northman actually was the original tale and Hamlet was inspired by the Nordic myth). This simple plot grounds the audience, but instead of regurgitating this tried and true plot, it instead takes twists and turns on an aesthetic and emotional level. Twists that show the true themes of this movie go far beyond talking about the cycle of violence and betrayal.  

           As soon as we see the principal character, Amleth (sounds like Hamlet, see?) grown up we are immediately informed that he is not a great person. He pillages villages and stands next to his fellow Vikings as they burn men, women, and children alive in their homes. Also slaves. They also capture people and make them into slaves. He does that as well.  

           So when we find out that the uncle he swore to kill was ordered to betray his father by the mother he swore to save, what are we as an audience supposed to make of it? Should we condemn both sides? No. Instead, the movie, smartly, asks us to empathize with these characters. Amleth had everything taken away from him, having his father die in front of him. As a result he fell into the most destructive cycles that exist in his culture. His mother, Gudrun, was originally a slave and Amleth’s father, Aurvandill forced himself upon Gudrun resulting in Amleth’s birth. This is the reason Gudrun came to resent her non consensual marriage as well as the son that precipitated out of her unhappiness. Likewise, we come to sympathize with Fjolnir (Amleth’s uncle) when Amleth avenges his father by taking away everything from Fjolnir via murdering Gudrun and his two sons.  This movie begins as the story of a vengeful person and eventually turns into a story where everything has been stripped from everyone, the line between slave and king is blurred and shown to be arbitrary, and the only chance for redemption is to die honorably in battle. 

          This movie is deeply invested in imagery and mythology. The image of being carried by a Valkyrie is so powerful and well used you immediately understand what it is this movie is trying to do. These are characters bound by their culture, bound by their honor, and bound by their blood. These characters come off as sympathetic in their fateful quests and simultaneously tragic because of who their world has shaped them to become.