Free us from the wild Viking movie

'Viking Film'. Try to say the word without the smile. It is not easy. Hollywood to produce movies about gladiators, knights and pirates, without the audience giggle of the historical scene, but the times Hollywood has directed the camera to our proud ancestors, the Vikings get fast perilously near the involuntarily comical, for now not to talk about it Monty Python-style.

In fact, Python member Terry Jones made a Viking movie, namely "Erik The Viking (1989), with predictable scenes and dialogues a la" Hagbard "such as the formidable Viking Thorfinn Skull Splitter receiving admonitions of his vikingemor before he shall on the trip :

'Did you remember both of your axes? "Yes, mother." And something to sharpen them with? "Yes, mother." So remember to wash you - everywhere! "

In this light, which greatly daring to experiment with a Viking movie in our cynical present.

The Danish filmmaker Nicolas Winding Refn makes the attempt with his ultra-violent 'Valhalla Rising', which today has Danish premiere, and he has made obvious efforts to pull the film away from the traditional Viking cliches.

There are no helmets with horns, no giant axes and no Viking flocks suggests vociferous laughter storms up when the enemy's heads roll over the ground.

Refn Vikings are just as contemporary Scandinavians - depression and contested by metaphysical considerations. Thus, like the director of Hollywood's usual image of Vikings as mjodtyllende Banquet lions.

The U.S. blockbuster "The Vikings" from 1958 became a template for several subsequent Viking movies and is a durable technicolor drama with a handful of contemporary biggest stars in the role list.

Kirk Douglas is the bellicose hovdingeson Einar, and Ernest Borgnine is his thundering mountain of a Viking father (the great laughs and drinking mead from a huge kohorn throughout the film, right until his enemies forced him to jump down into a moat full of starving wolves ).

The film is akin to 1950s many Roman movies where paganism and Christianity faced each other as two competing value systems.

The pagan Vikings produced as both jovial and brutal, while the Christian Englishmen appear as civilization halvdekadente, scheming defenders.

We recognize that the Viking clan is a ax throwing closer to nature's powers than the Christians, there appears to be weaker offerlam. In return for the audience that the future belongs to the Christians, the Vikings are noble not mastered the art of betrayal.

Like the 'Roman Empire' movies are 'The Vikings' imbued with a sadomasochistic tone where women constantly threatened with rape, and captured men groan in slavery reins, and as in Stanley Kubrick's "Spartacus" (1960) plays Tony Curtis a slave who rebel against their masters.

Jack Cardiff filming the beautiful sailing through the Norwegian fjords and later became an instructor at his own Viking movie, "The Long Ships (1964).

In Michael Chrichton-film version "The 13th Warrior '(1999) is the main character a Persian nobleman (played by Spaniard Antonio Banderas) who is forced into exile by the Caliph. By the Danube River, he meets a bunch of Vikings raid, and since coming tenders from 'the land northward "to go to war for domestic Viking king Hrothgar, Persian states follow the Norse and becomes the '13 warrior'.

Also in this film suggests the Vikings loose as hard drinkers craftsman turn on charter holiday.

Persian brings a patronizing sympathy for the Norse casual game types, though he can not reconcile themselves to their insufficient attention to hygiene. He politely refuses to wash from a bucket, as the 12 other Vikings already have both washed, gargle and spit in. In addition, a description which is contrary to world history since records from past tense Muslims described the Vikings as overly clean.

Like in 'The Vikings' also has this film Vikings a habit of breaking out in pretty unmotivated roaring laughter, for example during a fire storm in the open sea, where rain lashing them in the face and the poor Persian struggling with seasickness.

Again appears the Vikings 'On 13 warrior' to represent an earlier era in human history where courage and honor was everything, and life was lived with fatalism, for "the old father has already spun your life line - and fear has no good!"

Persian represents the new era, civilization and science's voice, not afraid of the old superstition. Together the two reconciled against a third barbaric enemy who has consumed Viking country, and here leave the movie entirely Viking substance and becomes a variation on "Lord of the Rings'.

The Danish-produced cartoon "Asterix and the Vikings" (2006) based on the comic album of the same name, and it is quite nonsensical story comes Vikings to Gaul to look for fear, for it has been told that "fear can give them wings! "

But when the Vikings are unable to feel fear (still a tenacious Viking myth) fall experiment is not successful.

Allegedly was 'Asterix and the Vikings' it until then most expensive film in Denmark. Nevertheless able producers to get signed Vikings with big horns on the helmets - fake Viking myth number one!

Despite the historical and mythical exaggerations blunders Mon forgives most American Viking movies because of their entertainment value and solid film craftsmanship.

Completely different places it with one of the few Viking film shot on Danish soil, "A Viking Saga - son of Thor."

It is directed by the former air pilot Michael Mouyal that have achieved cult fame because of the huge cinematic incompetence, he demonstrates in his film.

In this 'saga' survives the young Viking boy Helgi a massacre of his village and sent into exile (which the movie's universe is approximately 1,950 feet down a gravel path).

As an adult he meets the chief who killed his family, and it's time to 'blo'h?vn'.

Movie English dialogs are presented at a recording studio and recite which was read by a book. The actors seem almost arbitrary to wander in front of the camera, wherever it happens to point to, and in the numerous battle scenes you can clearly see vikingestatister responsible and relax - apparently unaware that they are actually in the scenes.

Occasionally, the director seems to want to communicate something lexical knowledge of the Vikings (perhaps hoping to get it distributed as an educational film?), But the film's 'campfire sessions' is just as exciting as German grammar. Absolutely takrummende is a 100 percent uerotisk belly dancer scene provided by a local night school teams in tylslor.

Competent actors as Peter Gantzler and Ken Vedsegaard have strayed into the film, the latter with huge freak wig on his head, which seems most authentic when his character in the movie is in one of his frequent svampetrips (which the film shows by swinging the camera from side to one side and the aperture image.)

By Odin! One understands the Danes on the Internet have felt called to send abroad an unreserved apology for this fly-sponge of a Viking film.

 

Source (text, photo): Berlingske Tidende