The Northman is a brutal tale of a Viking warrior seeking revenge in a beautifully shot world. The film is directed by Robert Eggers whom I’m familiar with his film, The Witch (2015). Here he was working for the most historically accurate Viking movie. The film is written by author, Sjón, who also co-wrote the screenplay to The Lamb (2021). The first chapter is “The North Atlantic”, we see the title in runes before we see it in English, a raven flies over three ships sailing for an island. It is really a tombolo, an island connected by a tiny strip to the mainland. We have the setting, 895 A.D., and the Vikings disembark from their ships. This is seen by the young Amleth (Oscar Novak) at the longhouse. The actor also played a young Bruce Wayne in The Batman. The story is based on the 13th century Scandinavian legend of Amleth that became the basis for Shakespeare's Hamlet.
Amleth rushes in to see his mother, Queen Gudrun (Nicole Kidman), who is dressing. Kidman worked with Alexander Skarsgård on Big Little Lies. The Vikings are returning with one group heading to the side. Arriving with their raiding spoils is King Aurvandil (Ethan Hawke). He of course is currently in Moon Knight as Arthur Harrow. Aurvandil greets his wife and son whom he gives an amulet. At a ceremony, there is the arrival of his brother, Fjölnir (Claes Bang). The drama, It is in Us All (2022), starred Bang. Heimir The Fool (Willem Dafoe) makes a joke about Fjölnir and this upsets him. Dafoe’s other project with Eggers was the film The Lighthouse (2019). He is calmed by Aurvandil that says it was just a joke. Later, we see Gudrun sewing when Aurvandill enters, she finds that he has a wrapping over a wound on his side. He dismisses her since he doesn’t want his wound to be infected and wants to die in battle.
Aurvandil has his son, Amleth, follow everything he does going into a room acting like dogs. Presiding over this ceremony is Heimir. He sets two bowls of an hallucinatory mixture. Both of the royal persons lap up the bowl. Aurvandil asks Amleth if he will avenge him if he dies and his son agrees shedding a tear. Heimir catches it and says that is the last one he will cry. Aurvandil unwraps the his wound cloth. His son touches it and is given a vision of the Tree of Kings, a pan up of the dead kings, ending with Amleth above his father. The visions give the film a surreal quality. Heimir tells him of his fate and says to Amleth, “You must choose between kindness for your kin or hate for your enemies.” In the morning, we have father and son leaving the longhouse. Amleth smiles as an arrow whips past him striking his father. He is pierced by two other arrows as the killers ride up on horses. Aurvandil tells his son to run and he takes cover by a rune stone.
He sees the riders stab his father with spears. Then, their leader in a coat that kinda looks like Chewbacca’s fur, Fjölnir! Aurvandil defies his brother and says that he will have his kingdom for long. Fjölnir kills him and then orders the same for Amleth. The young heir runs and the killers run past his cover of branches. Amleth is caught by Finnr (Eldar Skar), but he slices off the brute’s nose with a knife and runs. He returns to the village as it is raided by Fjölnir’s men and takes a red cloak. Amleth witnesses his mother taken away screaming by the usurper on horseback. He reaches the shore and takes the boat to see making a vow, “I will avenge you father, I will save you mother, and I will kill Fjölnir.” This reminded me of Arya Stark's vow of revenge in Game of Thrones. We fade to the next chapter, “The Land of the Rus.” The pacing of the chapter transitions is a bit slow after a few of them.
We get two longships rowed by men and one is commanded by a woman as we hear the beat of drums. The music is by Robin Carolan and Sebastian Gainsborough. The other longship has the Berserkers including the older Amleth (Alexander Skarsgård) and the film that reminds me of him in Viking workout shape is The Legend of Tarzan (2016). We see the amulet on Amleth. Then, we the ceremony where the warriors become berserkers which means “bearskin” in Old Norse. It drives them into a blind, mindless fury. Amleth howls like a wolf in his wolf headdress, he is bear and wolf. The next day, the berserkers crawl up to a hill facing a village. A spear is thrown, Amleth catches it, and hurls it back killing a soldier. He rages and begins climbing the wodden wall using his axe. Then, cuts down a defender and drops down to kill others. This is all in one shot. Impressive cinematography by Jarin Blaschke whom worked on Egger’s other movies.
Amleth finds that the other berserkers are taking women and children. The others are taken as slaves. He enters a temple and The Seeress (Björk) in a whispery voice shows him the last tear drop that was taken by Heimr. Then, she reveals his destiny, this is one of the many points of similarity with Conan the Barbarian (1982). I count at least four points. As the slaves are sent away, Amleth talks to Eirikr (Tadhg Murphy) who tells him that Fjölnir lost his kingdom to King Harald of Norway so he moved to a farm on Iceland. Amleth sees a raven land on a post, almost like his father watching him. He takes a brand and sears the slave’s mark on his chest! Then, he swims out to the boat taking slaves as tribute to Fjölnir. There he meets a woman who calls herself Olga of the Birch Forest (Anya Taylor-Joy). She of course played Thomasin in Eggers’ film, The Witch. She has powers of her own, to corrupt the minds of men, and other supernatural abilities. He sleeps next to her and has a vision of his past and future including a sword.
The next chapter is “Iceland.” Morning, we find the survivors of the boat sinking staggering to shore. The leader of Fjölnir’s men is his oldest son, Thorir the Proud (Gustav Lindh) who chooses Olga and Amleth amongst the slaves to be brought to the farm. Lindh was in the crime series, The Dark Heart (2022). They make the long journey with Olga finding out about Amleth’s revenge. She just wants to escape Iceland. Amleth and the others are brought before Fjölnir who doesn’t recognize him as a Viking warrior. He also sees Gudrun with her young son, Gunnar (Elliott Rose). Strangely, Kidman playing a queen who re-marries and has another child reminds me of Aquaman (2018). At night, Amleth escapes and follows a wolf to find a He-Witch (Ingvar Sigurosson). Lars was played by Sigurosson in Killing Eve. He holds the disfigured head of Heimir and is able to connect Amleth with him. This will lead to the sword Draugr, which is the name for an undead creature, the sword will be used for Amleth’s revenge. Later, he in a bloody game of knattleikr takes on Thórfinnr Tooth-Gnasher (Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson) who played The Mountain in Game of Thrones! The Northman, crafted by Robert Eggers, with Amleth finding a costly path in the revenge business, a talented cast, a Viking story worthy of many runestones!
Four Draugr Swords out of Five!
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