Valhalla Rising (film)
Encyclopedia
Valhalla Rising is a 2009 English-language film directed by Nicolas Winding Refn, starring Mads Mikkelsen
. The film takes place in 1000 AD and follows a Norse
warrior named One-Eye and a boy named Are as they travel with a band of Christian Crusader
s in pursuit of a Crusade. Instead, they find themselves in an unknown and unfamiliar land. The film was shot entirely in Scotland
. It is not related to the Clive Cussler
novel of the same name.
warrior only known as One-Eye (Mads Mikkelsen
), is held captive up above in misty highlands by a Chieftain (Alexander Morton
), where he is forced to fight to the death against other tattooed men. While One-Eye is imprisoned, a young boy tends to him regularly, bringing him food and water. One-Eye is shown to have the ability to foresee events in his dreams; a dream of him bathing in a pond leads him to discover an arrowhead
on the bottom of a water bed. Using the arrowhead, he breaks free, slaughters everyone except for The Boy and a warrior who he lets escape, and places the head of the chieftain on a stake.
s ready to embark on a crusade to Jerusalem. The leader of the group, The General (Ewan Stewart
), asks One-Eye to join him. He reasons that, live or die, One-Eye may cleanse his soul of sin by committing to the Crusades
.
nearly arises as a crew member is killed by One-Eye when he attempts to murder The Boy. Later, sensing a change, One-Eye takes a drink from the water and discovers that the boat is actually in an estuary
and no longer at sea. With the fog dissipating, the crew sees the first sight of land off into the distance.
is not a place of vast empty desert one might expect in the Middle East
, but rather resembles the taiga
, with vast forests full of lakes and mountains. The crew sets out to explore the area, finding no animals to hunt, and no food to eat. Nearly starved, the crew continues until coming across some aboriginal
burial sites. One of the crew members, Hauk (Gary McCormack
), leaves the group to venture on his own. Upon realizing they have not reached Jerusalem, the crew prepares the ship to depart and head home. While on water, the group is taunted by a single arrow, killing one of their men. Terrified, they soon come to believe that they are in Hell
.
brew given to them by their leader. One Eye's dreams begin to intensify, and he wades to a small island to construct a cairn
. Meanwhile, the other men break off around the water, and embrace different emotions, including apathy and desperation. Some pray, others wander, others wait. One-Eye and the group are confronted by Hauk who emerges from the forest naked, his skin covered in mud in which runes are drawn. Hauk says he can hear One-Eye's thoughts, and translates that the warrior is saying they are in Hell. The crew becomes divided, with some trying to attack One-Eye in fear, and he kills them.
) and the priest of the group (Gary Lewis
), follow One-Eye. They reach the top of a tall hill. The Priest sits down and, after talking to One-Eye, the chieftain's son goes back to his father, knowing the man is probably dead and that he will die, too. As One-Eye leaves, The Boy looks on The Priest, expecting him to follow. The Priest only gives the boy a warm smile, knowing he will be safe with One-Eye. The Priest stays behind, mortally wounded by a dagger thrust to his side, dealt to him by the General upon informing him of his intent to depart with One-Eye. He is last seen watching over the landscape, with an aura
of light around him, presumably dead and with his sons once more. One-Eye and The Boy successfully reach the coastline and are soon met by a large tribe of Native warriors. One-Eye regards them from a distance before dropping his weapons and walking towards them. They beat him to death. His final moments are a recollection of the cairn
he built, slowly submerging himself into the water as he realizes his fate. The tribe leave Are alive and venture back into their native land. The Boy (who now has the same aura as The Priest) looks off to the coast, with a dream sequence of One-Eye staring back.
where it was shown out of competition on 4 September 2009. The Danish premiere followed on 31 March 2010. Vertigo Films
released it in the United Kingdom on 30 April the same year.
.
The reaction from Danish critics was split. Berlingske Tidende
gave the film a rating of two out of six and called it "unbearably self-important". B.T.
on the other hand called it a masterpiece and handed out a perfect score of six out of six. Star Mikkelsen was recently named one of "Hollywood’s Greatest World Cinema Imports" by the British cinema journal Film-News.co.uk.
Mads Mikkelsen
' is a Danish actor.-Life and career:Mikkelsen was born in the Østerbro area of Copenhagen, the son of Bente Christiansen and Henning Mikkelsen, a cab driver. He is the brother of actor Lars Mikkelsen. After attending Århus Theatre School, he made his film debut in the movie Pusher...
. The film takes place in 1000 AD and follows a Norse
Norsemen
Norsemen is used to refer to the group of people as a whole who spoke what is now called the Old Norse language belonging to the North Germanic branch of Indo-European languages, especially Norwegian, Icelandic, Faroese, Swedish and Danish in their earlier forms.The meaning of Norseman was "people...
warrior named One-Eye and a boy named Are as they travel with a band of Christian Crusader
Crusader
- Military :* Crusader, a participant in one of the Crusades* Crusader states, states set up by the Europeans in the Middle East during The Crusades* Crusader tank, a British cruiser tank of World War II* HMS Crusader, three British naval ships...
s in pursuit of a Crusade. Instead, they find themselves in an unknown and unfamiliar land. The film was shot entirely in Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
. It is not related to the Clive Cussler
Clive Cussler
Clive Eric Cussler is an American adventure novelist and marine archaeologist. His thriller novels, many featuring the character Dirk Pitt, have reached The New York Times fiction best-seller list more than seventeen times...
novel of the same name.
Part I Wrath
A mysterious mute NorseNorsemen
Norsemen is used to refer to the group of people as a whole who spoke what is now called the Old Norse language belonging to the North Germanic branch of Indo-European languages, especially Norwegian, Icelandic, Faroese, Swedish and Danish in their earlier forms.The meaning of Norseman was "people...
warrior only known as One-Eye (Mads Mikkelsen
Mads Mikkelsen
' is a Danish actor.-Life and career:Mikkelsen was born in the Østerbro area of Copenhagen, the son of Bente Christiansen and Henning Mikkelsen, a cab driver. He is the brother of actor Lars Mikkelsen. After attending Århus Theatre School, he made his film debut in the movie Pusher...
), is held captive up above in misty highlands by a Chieftain (Alexander Morton
Alexander Morton
Alexander "Sandy" Morton is a Scottish actor.-Acting career:Morton trained in London at the Central School of Speech and Drama from 1965–68 and is well known for his roles in several leading drama series, such as Taggart, Second Sight, Between the Lines, Minder, and Casualty, movies such as...
), where he is forced to fight to the death against other tattooed men. While One-Eye is imprisoned, a young boy tends to him regularly, bringing him food and water. One-Eye is shown to have the ability to foresee events in his dreams; a dream of him bathing in a pond leads him to discover an arrowhead
Arrowhead
An arrowhead is a tip, usually sharpened, added to an arrow to make it more deadly or to fulfill some special purpose. Historically arrowheads were made of stone and of organic materials; as human civilization progressed other materials were used...
on the bottom of a water bed. Using the arrowhead, he breaks free, slaughters everyone except for The Boy and a warrior who he lets escape, and places the head of the chieftain on a stake.
Part II Silent Warrior
While leaving the land, One-Eye soon realizes that The Boy is pursuing him in curiosity. Together, they reach a small settlement of Crusaders, ChristianChristian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
s ready to embark on a crusade to Jerusalem. The leader of the group, The General (Ewan Stewart
Ewan Stewart
Ewan Stewart is a Scottish film, television and stage actor.- Life and career :Stewart was born Andrew Ewan Stewart in Glasgow, and is the son of the late Scottish entertainer Andy Stewart. His mother Sheila is still alive and lives in Arbroath, Scotland. Stewart was educated at Edinburgh's...
), asks One-Eye to join him. He reasons that, live or die, One-Eye may cleanse his soul of sin by committing to the Crusades
Crusades
The Crusades were a series of religious wars, blessed by the Pope and the Catholic Church with the main goal of restoring Christian access to the holy places in and near Jerusalem...
.
Part III Men of God
The Crusaders, The Boy, and One-Eye are on a boat destined for Jerusalem. The crew is broken, thirsty and hungry, and with no wind for several days, a thick fog shrouds them constantly, preventing them from determining their direction or location. Lost, the crew begins to believe that the voyage is cursed, which some attribute to the presence of One-Eye's companion, The Boy. MutinyMutiny
Mutiny is a conspiracy among members of a group of similarly situated individuals to openly oppose, change or overthrow an authority to which they are subject...
nearly arises as a crew member is killed by One-Eye when he attempts to murder The Boy. Later, sensing a change, One-Eye takes a drink from the water and discovers that the boat is actually in an estuary
Estuary
An estuary is a partly enclosed coastal body of water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea....
and no longer at sea. With the fog dissipating, the crew sees the first sight of land off into the distance.
Part IV The Holy Land
Upon landing, to their surprise, the Holy LandHoly Land
The Holy Land is a term which in Judaism refers to the Kingdom of Israel as defined in the Tanakh. For Jews, the Land's identifiction of being Holy is defined in Judaism by its differentiation from other lands by virtue of the practice of Judaism often possible only in the Land of Israel...
is not a place of vast empty desert one might expect in the Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
, but rather resembles the taiga
Taiga
Taiga , also known as the boreal forest, is a biome characterized by coniferous forests.Taiga is the world's largest terrestrial biome. In North America it covers most of inland Canada and Alaska as well as parts of the extreme northern continental United States and is known as the Northwoods...
, with vast forests full of lakes and mountains. The crew sets out to explore the area, finding no animals to hunt, and no food to eat. Nearly starved, the crew continues until coming across some aboriginal
Indigenous peoples
Indigenous peoples are ethnic groups that are defined as indigenous according to one of the various definitions of the term, there is no universally accepted definition but most of which carry connotations of being the "original inhabitants" of a territory....
burial sites. One of the crew members, Hauk (Gary McCormack
Gary McCormack
Gary McCormack is a Scottish actor. He is best known for portraying "Larry" in Paul McGuigan's 1998 film The Acid House, written by Irvine Welsh. McCormack won a 1999 International Fantasy Film Award for Best Actor for his role. In 2002 he played a member of "Bill The Butcher's" gang in Martin...
), leaves the group to venture on his own. Upon realizing they have not reached Jerusalem, the crew prepares the ship to depart and head home. While on water, the group is taunted by a single arrow, killing one of their men. Terrified, they soon come to believe that they are in Hell
Hell
In many religious traditions, a hell is a place of suffering and punishment in the afterlife. Religions with a linear divine history often depict hells as endless. Religions with a cyclic history often depict a hell as an intermediary period between incarnations...
.
Part V Hell
Upon reaching a nearby shore, the men drink a psychotropicPsychoactive drug
A psychoactive drug, psychopharmaceutical, or psychotropic is a chemical substance that crosses the blood–brain barrier and acts primarily upon the central nervous system where it affects brain function, resulting in changes in perception, mood, consciousness, cognition, and behavior...
brew given to them by their leader. One Eye's dreams begin to intensify, and he wades to a small island to construct a cairn
Cairn
Cairn is a term used mainly in the English-speaking world for a man-made pile of stones. It comes from the or . Cairns are found all over the world in uplands, on moorland, on mountaintops, near waterways and on sea cliffs, and also in barren desert and tundra areas...
. Meanwhile, the other men break off around the water, and embrace different emotions, including apathy and desperation. Some pray, others wander, others wait. One-Eye and the group are confronted by Hauk who emerges from the forest naked, his skin covered in mud in which runes are drawn. Hauk says he can hear One-Eye's thoughts, and translates that the warrior is saying they are in Hell. The crew becomes divided, with some trying to attack One-Eye in fear, and he kills them.
Part VI The Sacrifice
Arrows from the forest continue to taunt and slaughter ones left behind. Soon after, the band breaks off. The General stays behind, intending to create a new Jerusalem. Hauk only laughs at him. Two of the crusaders, the General's son (Jamie SivesJamie Sives
-Filmography:-External links:...
) and the priest of the group (Gary Lewis
Gary Lewis (actor)
Gary Lewis is a Scottish actor. He has had parts in Billy Elliot, Gangs of New York, Eragon and Three and Out, as well as a major role in the television docudrama, Supervolcano.-Early life:...
), follow One-Eye. They reach the top of a tall hill. The Priest sits down and, after talking to One-Eye, the chieftain's son goes back to his father, knowing the man is probably dead and that he will die, too. As One-Eye leaves, The Boy looks on The Priest, expecting him to follow. The Priest only gives the boy a warm smile, knowing he will be safe with One-Eye. The Priest stays behind, mortally wounded by a dagger thrust to his side, dealt to him by the General upon informing him of his intent to depart with One-Eye. He is last seen watching over the landscape, with an aura
Aura (paranormal)
In parapsychology and many forms of spiritual practice, an aura is a field of subtle, luminous radiation surrounding a person or object . The depiction of such an aura often connotes a person of particular power or holiness. Sometimes, however, it is said that all living things and all objects...
of light around him, presumably dead and with his sons once more. One-Eye and The Boy successfully reach the coastline and are soon met by a large tribe of Native warriors. One-Eye regards them from a distance before dropping his weapons and walking towards them. They beat him to death. His final moments are a recollection of the cairn
Cairn
Cairn is a term used mainly in the English-speaking world for a man-made pile of stones. It comes from the or . Cairns are found all over the world in uplands, on moorland, on mountaintops, near waterways and on sea cliffs, and also in barren desert and tundra areas...
he built, slowly submerging himself into the water as he realizes his fate. The tribe leave Are alive and venture back into their native land. The Boy (who now has the same aura as The Priest) looks off to the coast, with a dream sequence of One-Eye staring back.
Cast
None of the characters other than One-Eye have any names. Nicolas Winding Refn did not want the characters to have any names, but needed to give the characters name in the script so everybody could hold the characters apart.- Mads MikkelsenMads Mikkelsen' is a Danish actor.-Life and career:Mikkelsen was born in the Østerbro area of Copenhagen, the son of Bente Christiansen and Henning Mikkelsen, a cab driver. He is the brother of actor Lars Mikkelsen. After attending Århus Theatre School, he made his film debut in the movie Pusher...
as One-Eye - Maarten Stevenson as The Boy
- Ewan StewartEwan StewartEwan Stewart is a Scottish film, television and stage actor.- Life and career :Stewart was born Andrew Ewan Stewart in Glasgow, and is the son of the late Scottish entertainer Andy Stewart. His mother Sheila is still alive and lives in Arbroath, Scotland. Stewart was educated at Edinburgh's...
as The General - Gary LewisGary Lewis (actor)Gary Lewis is a Scottish actor. He has had parts in Billy Elliot, Gangs of New York, Eragon and Three and Out, as well as a major role in the television docudrama, Supervolcano.-Early life:...
as The Priest - Alexander MortonAlexander MortonAlexander "Sandy" Morton is a Scottish actor.-Acting career:Morton trained in London at the Central School of Speech and Drama from 1965–68 and is well known for his roles in several leading drama series, such as Taggart, Second Sight, Between the Lines, Minder, and Casualty, movies such as...
as The Chieftain - Jamie SivesJamie Sives-Filmography:-External links:...
as The Son - Gary McCormackGary McCormackGary McCormack is a Scottish actor. He is best known for portraying "Larry" in Paul McGuigan's 1998 film The Acid House, written by Irvine Welsh. McCormack won a 1999 International Fantasy Film Award for Best Actor for his role. In 2002 he played a member of "Bill The Butcher's" gang in Martin...
as Viking - Mathew Zajac as Viking
Release
The film premiered at the 66th Venice International Film Festival66th Venice International Film Festival
The 66th annual Venice Film Festival held in Venice, Italy, was opened on September 2, 2009 by Baarìa - La porta del vento. International competition jury, led by Ang Lee, awarded Leone d'Oro to Lebanon...
where it was shown out of competition on 4 September 2009. The Danish premiere followed on 31 March 2010. Vertigo Films
Vertigo Films
Vertigo Films is a British film production and film distribution company.- History :In 2002, Vertigo Films was created by producers Allan Niblo , James Richardson , director Nick Love Vertigo Films is a British film production and film distribution company.- History :In 2002, Vertigo Films was...
released it in the United Kingdom on 30 April the same year.
Reception
The film has been met with generally positive reviews. It currently holds a 70% rating on Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
.
The reaction from Danish critics was split. Berlingske Tidende
Berlingske Tidende
Berlingske, previously known as Berlingske Tidende , is a Danish national daily newspaper based in Copenhagen...
gave the film a rating of two out of six and called it "unbearably self-important". B.T.
B.T. (tabloid)
B.T. is a Danish tabloid newspaper which offers general news about various subjects such as sports, politics and current affairs.A large, red neon sign displays the B.T. logo at the square Trianglen in Østerbro, a part of Copenhagen....
on the other hand called it a masterpiece and handed out a perfect score of six out of six. Star Mikkelsen was recently named one of "Hollywood’s Greatest World Cinema Imports" by the British cinema journal Film-News.co.uk.
External links
- Valhalla Rising at Rotten TomatoesRotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
- Valhalla Rising at MetacriticMetacriticMetacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
- The road to Valhalla
- BBC Film Network: Nicolas Winding Refn on Valhalla Rising