Movie Review: The Northman (2022)

_{[All the pics in this post are from this website. Except where mentioned otherwise.]}

Impressive work. I still can’t decide about which description would be the one that’s best suited to start this review with: “epic song of blood and fire. And vengeance,” or “epic cinematic Old Norse style poetry with no shortage of symbolism”. And herein the solution to my dilemma lies; I choose both. I’m not Hamlet – for me it’s to be and to be. Let it be then.

I’m guessing, none of what was mentioned in the intro would come as a suprise to anyone – by now, if you had any interest in The Northman, you’d know that it’s about the Scandinavian legend, out of which Shakespeare’s Hamlet grew. Hell, why even bother with Shakespeare? The title speaks for itself, right? Ships, ale, beards, muscles, sweat, roars, screams, axes, blood, war, victory, Valhalla. Like a musical that's created by Amon Amarth for some big festival. It would all just make a perfect sense if Robert Eggers, who loves to work with themes from the past times, made his own Vikings, creating all the usual carryings-on around something that would immediately get the prospective audience’s attention, specifically, something like the origins of Shakespeare’s play. “Brilliant! Genius idea!” I say. Stellar main cast with Kidman, Dafoe, Björk, Hawke, Skarsgård, Taylor-Joy, Claes Bang? Like I said – genius. Bring it on!

_{Sjón, Anya Taylor-Joy, Robert Eggers, Alexander Skarsgård at The Northman movie premiere in London on the 5th of April, 2022. Source}

Then I was at the theater watching the film. 20 minutes in, my reaction to it: yawn. I wasn’t tired really, nor drunk, or anything like that. It was the realization – I have seen all this before. What did I expect exactly, I don’t know. Some Shakespeare twist on all things viking and epic perhaps that doesn't necessarily turn into Game of Thrones?..

(I shouldn’t be telling you this, but the undoubtedly glorious face of an awesome chap happens to merely be my mask; behind that there is an unimpressed mug of a spoon-fed enfant terrible, who sometimes writes comments online about movies and stars. This person that I am expects you to impress it. How you do it is not my problem. I hope you hear me, Robert Eggers.)

Now, I’m a great believer in blondes. I think blondes have the power to mend to their will and change anything they want. With that said, I was both, happy and surprised, to see Olga in The Northman reaffirming my views and expectations regarding that ability. And more (the bush!). As soon as she appears and has the conversation with our lead hero Amleth (Alexander Skarsgård), everything changes. Olga hails from the land of Slavs, and says she has the power to break men’s minds after mentioning to Amleth his power to break men’s bones. For me that was the moment, with which the real film began. Anya Taylor-Joy speaks with Slavic accent and, in my opinion, she does a really good job with the flow of it, as well as the expressions that are supposed to go with it. I’m not necessarily saying it’s perfect, but, I think, her understanding of the purpose of language in general on a deeper than the technicalities of pronunciation level is notable. I was impressed. Although I must say, I had been wondering before about whether her experience of dealing with different languages from early age would make itself notable at some point on screen. The Northman is that film. Just not featuring any Spanish dialects.

_{Alexander Skarsgård, Anya Taylor-Joy and horses in The Northman movie.}

Linguists will indeed love this epic poem. One reason for me thinking that is, it strives to be authentic enough when conjuring up the world of Old Norse; which immediately brings me to another reason – both screenwriters, Sjón & Eggers manage to build a bridge from that world to today’s Freud-aware spectator via Elizabethan tragedy. The bridge is that tangible, one can almost see it. The reason why one is so aware of it is because it’s human, it’s me, it’s what drives me. There are no language barriers here. In The Northman it’s an introspection that is refreshing, fun and exciting, all in equal measure. Because, whether we like it or not, somewhere there in us is that bad, old savage we always try to repress and run away from. Because that’s what a civilized man is supposed to do. Some parts in this movie are like a smirk directed at that civilized running man. Run, pretentious poser, run!

Fixed single shots, fixed two and three shots, and cinematography in The Northman is yet another reason a linguist would love this film. Before I elaborate on that connection between linguistics and directing a film like this, I would like to mention Björk’s part, which is one excellent example of fixed single shot that represents the manner of use of it in this latest Eggers movie. I think that part was nothing short of amazing. It could have been extended throughout the film, imo, providing it with more of that enchanting Macbeth feel.

Now more about that love the linguists would develop for this film. It is the in-your-face, not that subtle and yet refined cinematic language of Robert Eggers, which should fascinate linguistic enthusiasts as well as experts. It is his indeed captivating understanding of intricacies of language as an instrument of communication by a human being, which makes the work of director in The Northman so powerful. The magic is in the symbols, abstract concepts in our consciousness, and how we choose to express them. In The Northman Eggers has found a way to cinematize that magic in a profound and relatively easy for everyone to understand fashion. In light of this statement I should add that, in my opinion, The Northman probably isn’t the director’s magnum opus, but the voice of talent and individuality is there for everyone to appreciate. The beauty and power is there, it just hasn’t yet found, in my opinion, that precious golden ratio of cliches an average spectator would expect Vs individual, authentic means of communication with the audience. So high hopes here, Mr. Eggers, high hopes for new heights in the future, where one meets the accomplished and fully expressed self.
It should also be said here that none of the magic in The Northman would have been half as potent if it wasn't for the soundtrack by Robin Carolan & Sebastian Gainsborough. All the "epic song", "epic poem" and "cinematic poetry" part is largely due to the music, which is there in plenty in this movie, chosen carefully to serve a purpose at any given moment. The soundtrack is available from Sacred Bones Records.

Now onto Alexander Skarsgård. (Did you, dear reader, think that I forgot about the lead hero same way I forgot to wear my pants today? Sorry to disappoint you – that is just not the case here.) I happened to read somewhere that our hero wanted to play a role in a viking movie for a long time. Well, it seems Robert Eggers makes some dreams come true – Skarsgård gets to have everything: rowing a viking boat, swinging the axe, witnessing plenty of death. And pagan rituals, of course. But none of that is the main focus. What’s important in The Northman is the lead character’s relationships with women. This is the part where the casting choice regarding the lead character makes even more sense. There are both, duty and coldness here. Skarsgård tackles this role like a champ. If you’ve seen him in True Blood series, the memories of some of his scenes with Anna Paquin’s Sookie Stackhouse would give you a good idea of what it is people are going to be seeing in The Northman when it comes to intimacy. And again, this is something that’s not the film’s focus. While the whole scene is rather spellbinding, which includes rituals that reminded me of pagan celebrations of Summer solstice in Eastern Europe, we will come to understand the real meaning of the whole affair (and not only that) only later on in the film.
Which brings me to Queen Gudrún. Played by none other than Nicole Kidman.

_{Nicole Kidman as Queen Gudrún in The Northman movie.}

The diverse life experiences of women has been Kidman’s domain for quite possibly as long as we remember her. (The Hours, Moulin Rouge!, The Others just to name a few.) The role Eggers has given her in this film draws on the power of that experience as well as knowledge and awareness. Queen Gudrún is essentially the key to understanding everything about The Northman. But the revelations don’t come too soon. All in good time. Does our beloved actress meet the expectations performance-wise? You bet. We are even ready to forgive and forget the great promise by screenwriters about Olga breaking the minds of men, which just ends up falling short of expectations. Other than that... Genius!

Peer Ynt

**** Read my thoughts on Vikings: Valhalla series, released in February 2022 by Netflix here.

**** Read my 2016 review of the directional debut The Witch by Robert Eggers as a feature film director, and starring Anya Taylor-Joy among others here.

**** Read my 2021 review of Last Night in Soho, another film starring Anya Taylor-Joy among others here.