The Northman

Directed by Robert Eggers (2022) ***

Even those who dislike Robert Eggers’ movies must admit the work he brings to the screen is uncompromising in its commitment to vision. One almost gets the impression (false, I’m sure) that he didn’t care if his previous film, The Lighthouse, found an audience or not. He made it, he presented it, do with it what you will.

While The Northman has already found a larger audience, it’s so steeped in antiquity, so unswerving in its determination, so flagrantly out of step, that it could have quietly sunk. Set in AD 895, it uses as its loose source material the medieval Scandinavian legend of Amleth, preserved in text by the 12th century author Saxo Grammaticus; the story of Amleth became one of the biggest inspirations for Shakespeare’s Hamlet. One of The Northman‘s many strengths is its inferred juxtaposition of the philosophical Hamlet, one of the most important texts of Western culture, with the rough, pagan, animistic, almost primeval seeming culture Amleth sprang from.

Oscar Novak plays young Amleth, whose father, King Aurvandill War-Raven (Ethan Hawke), has returned to his kingdom Queen Gudrún (Nicole Kidman) and brother Fjölnir (Claes Bang). To prepare Amleth to one day be king, he initiates the boy in a bizarre, fire-lit ceremony led by the court’s jester/soothsayer Heimer (Willem Dafoe at his most gleefully crazed). It isn’t giving much away to lay the foundation of the story: Aurvandill is soon slaughtered by his brother Fjölnir, who steals away Queen Gudrún. Amleth is able to escape Fjölnir’s marauding underlings, vowing revenge for his father and salvation for his mother.

Years pass and Amleth (now played by Alexander Skarsgård) has been raised by Vikings as a berserker, warriors who frequently wore bear skins and fought in an intimidating, trance-like rage. After a temple encounter with a Seeress (Bjork) who predicts Amleth will exact revenge on Fjölnir, he learns that Fjölnir has lost his kingdom and relocated to Iceland. Amleth can finally plot his revenge. Along the way he meets Olga (Anya Taylor-Joy), who helps him with her vaguely defined supernatural talents.

As with Eggers’ earlier films, the supernatural world seamlessly integrates into we’re presented, whether through dreams, visions, or questionable reality. A flock of black ravens rescue Amleth from bondage. A raging Valkyrie rides screaming into the heavens. An ancient dead warrior comes alive. In a world and time when the experience of reality encompassed much more than what we, today, decide we perceive with the senses, these incidents don’t feel out of place.

Though no incongruous heavy metal music is (thankfully) utilized, The Northman has a distinct ’70s feel, with its golden, rustic hues, unruly beards, and luxurious furs. The incorporation of dead spirits and demonic soothsaying evokes a combination of the lyrics and visual iconography of Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath. In keeping with the ’70s vibe, it’s not surprising that Eggers has acknowledged Robert E. Howard’s Conan character as an inspiration for the film. Several sequences look like (Conan cover artist) Frank Frazetta’s paintings come to life, especially an astonishingly long, bravura tracking shot of a Viking attack on a Slavic village. Eggers, with his longtime cinematographer Jarin Blaschke, continues to use long, elaborately story-boarded takes, which invite the viewer into the situations, instead of assaulting their eyes with incessant, confusing cutting.

There is, frankly, little psychological depth in The Northman. For better or worse, Eggers’ drive to present an earlier time and place in all its foreign concepts, archaic beliefs and very violent ways, means this is not an easy film for mainstream audiences to love, or even like (the box office receipts have reflected this). The meticulously researched costumes and rituals will have viewers feeling like they’ve journeyed back in time and, afterwards, newly appreciative for whatever good there is in our time.

—Michael R. Neno, 2022 May 6