Robert Eggers became a voice and perspective sought by major studios. After his two previous films, The Witch (The Vitch, 2015), and The Lighthouse (The Lighthouse, 2018), The Man from the North (The Northman, 2022) hits theaters on April 21. With this idea, he achieved a larger budget than his first films and the challenge was to maintain his particular and attractive style despite having more money to make the film and target a larger audience.
The Northman turned out to be a brutal work in the strict sense of the word, but also carnal, suffocating, pleasant and it fits more adjectives. The new film by Robert Eggers leaves Vikings-like television fictions like a children's tale, due to their extensive development and depth in the characters. There is not so much time here, but there is an excellent use of visual resources to build that desire for revenge, but also for disappointment, anger and helplessness. The camera, the script times, the performances add and build to the overall concept of the film. And although less intensely than in his early works, the director's style becomes palpable and identifiable.
After witnessing how his father, King Aurvandil War Raven (Ethan Hawke), is killed unless the traitor and ruthless uncle Fjölnir (Claes Bang), Prince Amleth (Alexander Skarsgård) escapes by repeating a sacred mantra: “I will avenge you, father. I'll save you, Mother. I'll kill you, Fjölnir.” Years later he returned as a slave to complete his revenge and rescue his mother, Queen Gudrún (Nicole Kidman). With that simple premise, El hombre del norte would not say too much, but the driving force behind this story is Eggers and his style so particular, so contemplative at times and so visceral by others, with a management of direction, editing and photography that exalts history.
The plot follows the idea of revenge at all times, after an introduction full of rituals and a dense atmosphere that introduces the viewer spiritually to everything we will see in the almost two hours of footage. Divided into chapters, premonition, destiny, traditions play a fundamental role in the presentation of the film until the road to revenge begins. This is where perhaps it becomes a more linear film in narrative terms, more articulated for commercial cinema, without as much gadgets as the rest of Eggers' filmography, but with a dense presence of what was presented in the first act, plus Alexander Skarsgård's performance that never goes beyond the initial plan.
The rest of the film is a man's way to accomplish his goal. In the middle, the protagonist crosses paths with the character of Anya Taylor-Joy who will play his partner, partner and romantic interest and that works very well as a break from such brutality and feracity. But anyway, it's a film about the deepest desires of the human being. Later that concept expands when history becomes more complex. It addresses the suffering and weight of Viking traditions on the one hand and dismemberment, blood and murder on the other.
Excellent use of photography and camera to show the places where this story happens, to create climates as unique as they are penetrating. Landscapes of Ireland where much of the film was filmed. A Viking epic that gave itself all the tastes since the realization, since it had a budget of $90 million dollars and an oasis in today's commercial circuit.
The main cast also performed in the tone sought by the director. From the starring duo of Skarsgård and Joy, to Ethan Hawke and the ever extraordinary Nicole Kidman play a key role in the story's advancement. Commentary and special mention for Björk's appearances in the role of a seer, model Ineta Sliuzaite as a valkyrie and Willem Defoe as Heimir the Fool, performer of the rituals, but also a kind of jester of royalty, three of the characters who complemented the story with key appearances.
Not the best in Eggers' filmography, but the most accessible, The Man from the North constructs a story that we have seen several times (with other names, contexts, etc.), but the creativity of its director and the good use of violence and Viking rituals make it a must on the big screen. A beautiful story of vengeance, stained with blood and full of brutality, about the deepest and most irrational desires of the human being.
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