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"Only two "good" Viking movies ever made?" Topic


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6,059 hits since 21 Jan 2013
©1994-2024 Bill Armintrout
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Logain22 Jan 2013 5:48 p.m. PST

Yes the 1987 movie Pathfinder about a Sami village is excellent. Otherwise I agree with the original post.

Come In Nighthawk22 Jan 2013 9:35 p.m. PST

Fascinating discussion. I'd not known of the several relatively recent films out of Iceland (or about it). That said, maybe I should have been more precise in opining about there being only two "good" films about the "Viking AGE" then…

The "Viking Age" is defined by most historians as beginning in the late 8th Century and running to the end of the 11th. Usually it is marked as beginning in 793 AD with the sack of the monastery at Lindisfarne in Northumbria. Some scholars credit the Age beginning with the slightly earlier event in 787 AD -- when the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle says a group of men from Norway landed on the "Isle of Portland" in Dorset, and murdered a royal (Wessex?) official when he tried to get them to pay a trading tax on their goods. They apparently HAD goods to "trade," but refused to be classed as "merchants" subject to Saxon law and tax… The next year after Lindisfarne, in 794, the Annals of Ulster records the sack of Lindisfarne's mother-church, the monastery on Iona.

Many "potted" histories say the Vikings quit raiding (quit England at least) after 1066. Oh? In in 1069 AD, Harold's sons were back raiding Cornwall but they withdrew back to Ireland after being defeated by Earl Brian of Penthievre. The Danish King, Swein Esthrithson, also had a claim to the English throne. Swein brought 240 to 300 ships, and plundered the English eastern coast from Dover, Sandwich, Ipswich and Norfolk north to the River Humber. Mean-when, Guillame le Conquerant was busy trying to suppress an English revolt in the north at the same time (allegedly killing 150,000 Saxons doing it). Sweyn even took York and held it for a while, before abandoning it to William without a fight. Sweyn failed in another attempt in 1074/1075. The last "Viking invasion" was planned by Canute of Denmark in 1085 -- a grandnephew of Canute the Great, he claimed England and claimed William was a usurper. Canute assembled a fleet but political intrigue and fear of an invasion by the Holy Roman Emperor kept him "home." Canute dispersed the fleet, but he planned to try again the next year, however, he was assassinated first. Canute was succeed by his brother Olaf (Olaf I of Denmark), who did not try to conquer England. The "Viking Age" was closing, and in large part it ended when Scandinavia became increasingly Christianized, and attacks on "Christian brother" in Europe dwindled under church pressure.

By that calculation, that lets Beowulf out, first, on the grounds of it having been preserved for us as an Anglo-Saxon document, not a Norse one (or Danish or Swedish). Second, its events described take place in the late 5th Century, only a little after the Angles, Jutes and Saxons had begun their migration to Engla-land. Therefore it pre-dates the "Viking Age" by almost 300 years. Beowulf is a Geat, and in politically fractured 5th/6th Century Scandanavia, the Geats only inhabited a small area of south-west Sweden bordering the Skaggarak. The "Danes" only ruled the island area of modern Denmark at the time -- the Jutes still formed the principle population of "Jutland." The "Swedes" occupied the area to the Geat's northeast -- modern central Sweden. The "Wulfings" or "Wolf Clan" of eastern Geats ruled the petty kingdom of "Östergötland" in modern southeast-central Sweden. A lot of historical works call this the "Vendal" period of Scandinavian history -- not the "Viking."

So, that leaves the Icelandic Sagas. Most historians now use the Sagas as a way to understand the "Viking Age." Many can be dated to the later third of the Viking Age. Some are actually set in Norway (the home of many though not all the Icelandic settlers). Indeed, some Icelandic "Vikings," free until about 1200 or so from any interference by a "king," either on Iceland or ruling from back in Scandinavia, did set off to raid Ireland and western England, Wales(?) and Scotland --- so that counts!!

So that leaves Ivar the Boneless (oopps, Einar!) raiding Northumbria to avenge the death of his father Ragnar in the snake pit (oops, Wild DOG pit), in The Vikings, and it leaves any of countless Norse and Danish pirates who sailed down to attack the riches of "Moorish Barbary" as portrayed by "Orm the Red" in The Long Ships. I'll wait until I can get copies of those couple Icelandic films (in Englisc!) to decide if there are now more than two good "Viking Age" films.

But keep the suggestions coming!!! thumbs up

Norman D Landings23 Jan 2013 7:13 a.m. PST

Ah yes, the "Vendals".

That little-known barbarian dynasty which arose from the union of the Vendels and the Vandals.

Best known for their work posing for heavy-metal album covers.

Patrice23 Jan 2013 11:36 a.m. PST

"The Vikings" is certainly not historically accurate (Vikings fighting against medieval knights…) but I still love this film. I've been many times to Fort la Latte (near St-Malo, Brittany). When I was a child the (false) ram used to ram the castle doors in the film was still rotting in a ditch not far away. A few shields from the film are still in the castle.

And of course, Kirk Douglas riding a very small pony at the beginning of the film is something worth remembering.

CooperSteveOnTheLaptop24 Jan 2013 1:14 p.m. PST

The Viking Sagas is wicked. It does indeed utilise many motifs from the sagas the villain's delivery of his last line is … unforgetable

rampantlion25 Jan 2013 9:19 a.m. PST

I forgot about The Warlord, it's one of my favorite movies. It is not badly done for the period.

Allen

MadDrMark26 Jan 2013 3:12 p.m. PST

I'd say "Beowulf and Grendel" does a better job of showing Iron Age Scandinavia than most, though it is far too early for "Viking Age," and the movie's themes are definitely post-modern. Gerard Butler surprised me with the subtlety and depth he gave to the title character, but the soul-searching he experiences would leave a medieval audience scratching their heads.

The costumers of the 50's and 60's are great fun, but I would tend to put them more in the fantasy than the historical genre.

Though there might be some Icelandic film of which I'm unaware, I'd venture that the great Viking film has yet to be made. Which is a pity, since the sagas are practically begging to be adapted. They are among the most entertaining and 'cinematic' texts to come out of the Middle Ages, with colorful characters, dark humor, and over-the-top action scenes.

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