See this film if you appreciate folklore and enjoy escaping to another world.

Rating: 8/10 (27 August 1999)

This is a tale of yesteryear, a bit of fantasy and a bit of bravery. Our narrator is a poet who was banished from his home unjustly and embraced by a group of traveling or marauding warrior Vikings. The poet does not understand their language, nor do we without benefit of subtitles. Leaving us to feel his isolation and misjudge these men by our tainted perspective of their actions. The poet is chosen as one of thirteen men to travel North to fight an evil force that comes in the night. During the poet's travels, he begins to understand his companions and their language, and with each day he becomes a part of them. The group of warriors fight several battles for their neighbors at seemingly insurmountable odds, in fact many die. However, the poet lives to recount the tale of these courageous warriors. What I enjoyed about this movie is it transported me to a world so different from my own. A world and people rarely explored by Hollywood. A world of simple survival. And the film makers attention to detail in regard to this period, the locals chosen for filming, and the action sequences were excellent. The dialogue was a bit thin, however one might surmise that the warriors were men of action not words. Regardless, the characters are likeable. As a person who enjoys many types of films, I would say to you, "see this film if you appreciate folklore and you enjoy escaping to another world."