An Unforgettable and Unforgiving Trip to the Age of Vikings

Robert Eggers’s third directorial effort, the historical epic The Northman, is an adaptation of an Old Norse legend, the tale of Amleth, which was the inspiration for Shakespeare’s Hamlet.

Set in the Northern Atlantic, mainly the Irish coast and Iceland, The Northman is a story about revenge, fate and love. Our hero is the titular Northman, Amleth, played with ferocious intensity by Alexander Skarsgård. Amleth sets out to avenge his father’s (the excellent Ethan Hawke) murder at the hands of his uncle (Claes Bang), save his mother (Nicole Kidman in a role that will no doubt divide audiences as her performance balances delicately between melodrama and quiet focus) from captivity and regain the kingdom that was stolen from him. It all sounds like relatively straightforward revenge-action fare, but if you’ve seen any of Eggers’s previous works, you’ll know he rarely takes the most obvious approach.

The film is also a mediation on mortality and destiny, the choices that we must make to break free of the ties that bind us, or if it’s possible at all. Complicating Amleth’s bloody path to vengeance is Olga of the Birch Forest, a Slavic witch and slave played by Anya-Taylor Joy, who collaborated previously with Eggers in The Witch. Joy’s performance is powerful and understated, her character’s determination to escape her circumstances and take down her captors simmering under the surface constantly. Amleth strikes up an unforeseen romance with Olga, and he must choose between protecting those he loves or striking down those he hates.

Eggers’s love for Norse mythology is on plain display throughout the entirety of the film, and there are several stunning surreal sequences featuring figures such as Odin, Valkyries and the Halls of Valhalla. The directors Lynchian impulses are more constrained in this film than in any of his previous works, and the strangeness that sometimes haunts the background of scenes never truly threatens to break through and become the focus of the picture, which in the case of The Northman, is a good thing.

Instead, the focus of The Northman remains solely on the real and the physical, the violence and death that follows in Amleth’s path. Make no mistake, while this film takes pause to consider philosophy, family and fate, it is spectacularly brutal, and you often feel a real physical reaction to the violence displayed on screen. An early scene in the film depicts a Viking raid on a village, and the camera is unflinching in the horror it shows. Men are hacked to bits, entrails splayed in the mud, children burned alive and women dragged into slavery. The single-shot method employed throughout much of the film hammers home the viciousness and senselessness of it all. The audience is forced to endure, and there is no opportunity to look away.

Amidst all the blood, guts and savagery, there is some real beauty in The Northman. Filmed in Ireland, the desolate backgrounds are haunting and stunning in equal measure, providing an incredible backdrop to the action we see unfolding on screen. The use of lighting is also extremely clever, the shots of Amleth hidden in shadows on the edge of doorways, lit only briefly by the roaring fires inside, help to portray him as a beast in human clothing, trying to get inside the halls of man.

Eggers has stated that he set out to make the “definitive Viking movie”. Based on the evidence presented, it is hard to argue against him. The Northman is epic in scope, moving, visceral and haunting, challenging and also easily accessible. Eggers somehow manages to channel both The Seventh Seal and Game of Thrones into a cohesive and compelling package. The Northman rightfully sits at the top of the directors already accomplished filmography.