Three movies in and not only has Robert Eggers become one of the great directors in modern cinema, but also seems to be interested in a nihilistic vision of certain periods of the past. With both The Witch and The Lighthouse, they were bleak period films set during differing time frames within the New England setting. With his latest feature, The Northman, Eggers deconstructs the mythological nature of Vikings through a revenge narrative that takes cues from William Shakespeare’s Hamlet.
Co-written by Eggers and Sjón, The Northman is based on the legend of Amleth, which did inspire the Shakespearean play. In 895 A.D., King Aurvandill War-Raven (Ethan Hawke) returns to his kingdom from his conquests overseas and reunites with his wife Queen Gudrún (Nicole Kidman) and his son and heir, Prince Amleth. However, following a night of celebration comes a morning of betrayal as Amleth sees his father betrayed and executed by the king’s brother Fjölnir (Claes Bang), who seizes his kingdom along with the queen. Years later, the now adult Amleth (Alexander Skarsgård) now has the opportunity to take vengeance against Fjölnir, along with the help of the sorceress Olga (Anya Taylor-Joy).
Given its influences that Eggers isn’t being subtle about, The Northman is also reminiscent of Makoto Yukimura’s manga Vinland Saga, which started out as a revenge narrative about a young man cleaving his way for vengeance, taking place on a backdrop showing the brutality of Vikings. As a story that spans through years, while showcasing the diversity of different Viking cultures, no character, main or minor, comes out of it unscathed as everyone is drenched in either water, mud or most likely blood. From epic sieges to terrifying home invasions on a smaller scale, these are scenes where cinematographer Jarin Blaschke lets the camera linger, either to showcase the muscularity of Amleth’s action or the horrors that are unleashed upon innocents, including women and children.
From the trailers, you could easily take apart The Northman as a simple revenge story and when you watch the film, which is predominately told through Amleth’s perspective, he is driven by that simplicity, based on seeing his father that he saw as a man of honor being slain when he was a child. By introducing our hero as a child, it sets up how he was brought about the romanticization of his culture, which believes that dying in battle will allow a warrior passage into Valhalla. If you’re well-versed in Norse mythology, you may feel like Eggers is ticking all the cliches that you would associate with this particular mythos, but he presents them as stunning flights of fancy that evoke the lyrical and hallucinatory visuals from his previous work.
Perhaps best known for playing Eric the Viking in TV’s True Blood, it’s not much of a reach for Alexander Skarsgård to play a Viking warrior prince. But unlike his dour performance in The Legend of Tarzan, where the only interesting thing is his abs, Skarsgård plays a more layered role where he brings an animalistic ferocity, there are moments of tenderness and vulnerability, particularly through his chemistry with Anya Taylor-Joy’s Olga. Surrounded by a phenomenal supporting cast, a number of players achieve so much with the screen time they have, such as Willem Dafoe and Björk, whilst Nicole Kidman is at her unhinged best when she plays characters that are deceitful than angelic.
The Northman releases in theaters April 22
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