Hamlet the Viking

The Northman (2022) is the heavy intense movie we didn't watch on Friday, preferring something silly. It was as expected.

Director Dave Eggers sets the scene in an old Viking town, with young Amleth running around. His father, Ethan Hawke, has come home to a happy reception from his wife, Nicole Kidman. There is a big feast where we also meet his uncle, Claes Bang, who seems to have a bad temper, threatening the king's fool, Willem Dafoe. Later that night, Dafoe leads father and son in a ritual where they bark like the dogs they are. The ritual will make them men - and Amleth vows the avenge his father if he is killed.

But the next day, Bang and his men ambush Hawke, killing him and taking Kidman captive. Amleth witnesses this, and runs off.

The adult Amleth, Alexander Skarsgard, is a berserker fighting in the land of the Rus. His band is attacking a village, killing the men, raping the women, taking slaves. They heard the weak and elderly into a long house and set it on fire - pretty brutal stuff. After the battle, he runs into a priestess, Bjork, who sees his sooth and reminds him of his oath. So he joins the slaves being sent back to - who would have guessed it? His uncle Claes. 

In the ship, he meets Rus girl Anya Taylor Joy. They form an alliance to get revenge, each for their own reasons, on Bang. I feel here that she is pretty forgiving in regard to Skarsgard's pillaging, etc. I think that is the point though - they just thought differently about violence, honor and vengeange in those days. 

In the last act, Skarsgard and Joy, of course, wreak that vengeance. Their plot involves a magic sword for Skarsgard, magic mushrooms from Joy. And of course, big violence. 

So, obviously a great movie. The feeling of great historical accuracy, the clothes, the villages, the lore, seems to be earned - lots of scholars helped out. You could also feel how alien the people's norms and manners were. The magic and rituals (three or four, I think) were also very realistic, although Eggers says that the first one was pretty much made up. But it was also a great costume adventure, like Conan the Barbarian or The Vikings. The violence (physical and emotional) were pretty intense, but not as offputting as I feared. And it was fun teasing out the Hamlet references (Eggers and Shakespeare shared the same sources).