VALHALLA RISING

Denmark, 2010, 94 minutes, Colour.
Mads Mikelson,
Directed by Nicholas Winding Refn.

Nicolas Winding Refn has never been afraid of the legacy of Viking violence in the Scandinavian culture. Some of his Danish films have been tough looks at the drug culture (The Pusher series, Bleeder). His visit to the UK produced a portrait of the brutal criminal yet artist who liked to be known as Bronson, the title of the film. Very few punches withheld in that one.

Now he has gone back to the Viking days and the confrontation between pagans and the new Christians. On the one hand, this is much more a contemplative film than his others. On the other hand, he has interspersed the gaze at the early medieval world (or Dark Ages world) with physical battles, some war combat and some hackingly graphic deaths and blood spurts. The contemplation can put off the action fans and the blood and killings can put off the contemplatives.

‘Gaze’ could be the key word to appreciating this beautifully shot introduction into a past and alien world. So many of the camera takes are quite long, giving the audience enough time to gaze at and reflect on the ruggedly majestic landscapes, the men (no women), the iconic poses and the static compositions of character and background. Full marks for this aspect of the film. Audiences might be mesmerised by this gazing and so be able to withstand the sudden shocks of violence.

But, for many, the difficulty will be with the plot or lack of it and the enigmatic characters we are gazing at and, sometimes, listening to although speech is at a minimum. There are three headed sections, Wrath, The Silent Warrior and the Holy Men.

Basically, we are introduced to a mute warrior with one good eye. He is played by Mads Mikkelson (Pusher, Le Chiffre in Casino Royale, Clash of the Titans). Mikkelson can look sinister even in sympathetic roles so he dominates the screen here whether wrestling with an opponent, suddenly slitting a throat, or standing icon-like looking for worlds to conquer. There are some pagan characters who have shackled him. After his escape, there are several Christians who are obsessed with crusades to the Holy Land and converting pagans. There is a final confrontation with Indians – the would-be crusaders are lost but they seem to have gone in the opposite direction and found the Americas.

There is also a child who observes, acting like a chorus to the proceedings.

Starkly beautiful, frighteningly barbaric and puzzlingly enigmatic, the film seems more like an installation to be contemplated panel by panel than a cinema movie.

1. The director and his Danish background? His career? Interests, themes, presentation and violence, religious dimensions?

2. The importance of the visual style, the locations, mountains, C, readers and mist, the new land?

3. The use of the screen, compositions, tableau, action, choreography of action? The flashbacks in raid? Editing, pace, long and contemplative shots, swift action? The musical score?
4. Mads Mickelson and his screen presence, no dialogue, like an icon? The Scots cast, their accents?

5. The structure: the chapters: rough, the silent warrior, the men of god, move into the new land, hell, sacrifice?

6. The recreation of Viking Times, paganism and Christianity? Savagery on both sides? Warriors and conquests? The role of the crusades? Compering in the name of god?

7. Portraits of leadership, despotic, obsessed, megalomaniac, religiously motivated? Chri correct: Perry and crack on parin correct, parin stupid and

8. The Vikings and Christians? The capturing of one away, his past, memories in red, his suffering, loss of his eye, the capture, his being captive, the treatment, fights to the death, brutality, the effect on him?

9. The defeat of the pagans, one eye and his freedom? The role of the boy, following him, his means of communication?

10. Wandering the Highlands, the quest, meeting the Christians, the initial confrontation, the leader, his son, withdrawing from fighting? The leader and his adviser? The bored talking, the group accepting one eye? The socket warrior?

11. The group or, the role of the leader, men of god, accepting one? The range of characters in the group? The boat, in the mist, the count? Frustration? The decision to sacrifice the boy? One eye and his defense of him?

12. Lifting, the water, sailing, the new land, the whole egg and? In the forests, the lush green, the trees? Drinking water? The different tone?

13. The leader and his claim, finding the burial ground corpses, the description of hell? The deaths?

14. The men, loyalty, their being killed, the adviser and his decent, the leader attempting to kill him? His surviving and following one eye and the boy?

15. The leader, megalomania, his death? His son, going to the Heights with the group?

16. The pile of stones, the Indians, a different new land? One eye and his sole sacrifice?

17. The impact of the film in terms of history, its meanings, the Viking and Scandinavian past, paganism and Christianity?