None of that stops massive confusion about Refn's portrayal of Vikings. They are played by veteran Scottish actors speaking with unrestrainedly Scottish accents. Through the ten layers of mud (his not mine!) I recognised one as an old friend and very talented actor Matthew Zyzack – allowed for the first time in many film outings to use his full, nasal native Invernessian twang. So these Scots wearing non-descript gear, speaking with local accents and talking about a crusade to Jerusalem (not mainstream Viking behaviour) are supposed to be Vikings? Aye right.
The "Vikings" are first seen high in a mountain glen (even though settler Viking life was centred around wooden halls built beside lochs) with a herd of captured, naked women cowering beside a pile of dead male bodies. That is raiding behaviour, but remember these cannot be raiding Vikings because they've settled long enough to have local accents and to regard themselves as Christians.)
Anyway these Scottish Christian Vikings then decide NOT to take the slave women anywhere and the next scene has the boys instead heading for Jerusalem in a long-boat.
Bye gals!
And ending up not in Jerusalem but in America.
Bye navigation!
Now admittedly, getting lost and finding places is a big thing in Viking history. It led to the discovery of Iceland, Vinland ... and the Hudson River – according to a Dirk Pitt novel called Valhalla Rising (2001) written by Clive Cussler where the eponymous hero stops an evil magnet by finding evidence of a Viking settlement there. So the hostile but distinctly Scottish-looking land they reach after passing through a near-endless mist and fog is presumably America. Even for people without compasses that is a MIGHTY mistake. And then there is the (fairly boring) mist they travel through, which I imagine is probably Niflheim, in Norse mythology the "house of mists" -- icy fog, darkness and cold situated on the lowest level of the universe. The realm of death, Helheim (Hell) is part of it, so is Nastrond, the Shore of Corpses, and after Ragnarok (the Norse Day of Reckoning when Odin is fated to die) Niflheim is also the place that murderers, oath breakers, and philanderers receive their punishment.
Did you get that from the film?
Or the wider significance of OneEye, the Odin character played by Mads Mikkeslon – and particularly the moment when he lays down his weapons in the final scene (I won't spoil it for you!)
This movie drove me crazy. It seemed to require specific Viking knowledge but then deviated quite consciously from an accurate portrayal of Vikings. Or am I wrong? Or just too serious?. Was this always just a bloodbath for the boys, with no serious intent? I see there's a premiere in Finland in January. I'm almost tempted to go over and see how they react. But many thanks to the guys at IFF for giving us tickets to see the film. My husband Chris and I had the long haul drive down the A9 to Perth afterwards (10.30pm on Sunday night) and we got to Pitlochry before we stopped talking trying to make sense of it all!!! And that's probably why Valhalla Rising will be the talk of the steamie in 2010. And Inverness Film Festival had it first (in Scotland anyway.) Good choice. Frustrating film.
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