“The Northman”
Revenge odyssey with Shakespearean vibes
No, you don’t want Viking Amleth (Alexander Skarsgård) as an enemy.
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Blood, mysticism and revenge, served up in a harsh Nordic way by Alexander Skarsgård: That’s how “The Northman” can be summed up.
From April 21, Alexander Skarsgård (45) will go on a bloody revenge odyssey in “The Northman”. He does this in a film that attracts attention not least because of the cast – because, among others, Nicole Kidman (54), Ethan Hawke (51), Willem Dafoe (66) and Anya Taylor-Joy (26) are also turning their heads Norse men and women outward. Even more exciting than the look at Skarsgård’s Viking washboard is, it may be hard to believe, the look at the director’s chair.
Decades of hate – that’s what it’s about
Years have passed since Viking king Aurvandil (Hawke) was assassinated in an ambush. His son Amleth (Skarsgård), who witnessed the bloody deed as a child, finally returns to Iceland physically toughened. He is determined to exact relentless vengeance, save his mother Gudrun (Kidman) and bring murderer Fjolnir (Claes Bang, 54) to justice.
Shooting star among filmmakers
With Robert Eggers (38), one of the most interesting directors of recent years has devoted himself to the bloodthirsty material. Already in his early 30s and with his debut work “The Witch” from 2015, he has impressively proven that he can offer atmospheric cinema that is able to completely suck the viewer into another time and world. With “The Witch” it was the merciless 17th century – misguided faith and a witch hunt staged as horror.
Stylistically, he went one step further in 2019 with the unusual black and white film “The Lighthouse”. In it, two unequal lighthouse keepers at the end of the 19th century, brilliantly portrayed by Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson (35), increasingly fell into cabin fever (and madness). While “The Witch” and “The Lighthouse” still took place like a chamber play with just a few actors in a certain place, Eggers, together with his virtues in his luggage, can now finally let off steam on a larger scale thanks to “The Northman”.
And he does it in an epochal way, narratively, optically and pictorially. Betrayal and intrigue, atonement and retribution, battles and mysticism – a Viking story in Shakespearean garb.