a contradictory effort for historical authenticity

Rating: 7/10 (19 July 2010)

I did see this movie in television and liked it. My point is that while in the beginning it strives to be an accurate portrayal of the life style and customs of the early medieval Norsemen and in a lesser degree Arabs the introduction of the human flesh eating Wendols brings an air of unreality in the whole movie. Either you try to be historically accurate or you play on the supernatural element, you can't do both in my opinion at least.
On the other hand as the movie progresses the supernatural identity of the human flesh eating Wendols is dispelled and they are revealed as humans dressed in the garments of bears, living in caves, eating human flesh, very primitive but humans nevertheless without any relationship with animalistic or supernatural elements, as the Arab hero played by Antonio Banderas is the first to discover.
The problem is that in this otherwise accurate portrayal of 10nth century A.D. world, inhabited by human beings as diverse as cultivated Arabs and rough Norsemen, where do this human flesh eating, bear garment bearing people, the Wendols, sprung from? Of course one could argue that their practices are not so appalling by the standards of the age since we know that during the barbarian invasions and latter during the Crusades, cases of cannibalism have been recorded.As for the sacrifice of human beings to appease a deity, this was massively practiced even latter in history by the Aztecs in Mexico, while widows were cast in the funeral pire of the husbands even in 19nth century British India.
Therefore one could argue that the Wendols are not so exceptional by historical standards after all. Still in the movie their existence is rather unexplained and one can say that the differ from both Arabs and Norsemen in a considerable degree.
Otherwise there is an effort to present the age in an accurate manner, the costumes and the practices of the heroes to appear in an authentic manner. The relationship of the outsider Arab with the Norsemen is developed in an able manner as well as his gradual integration to their group and his acceptance of their values.
The movie is quite frightening and has scenes of violence, battles and human corpses eaten or skeletons exposed. The Wendols are very frightening in the beginning and even latter when their simply "human" identity is gradually revealed.
The development of the characters is fine and some of the Norsemen become from uncouth barbarians human beings of endearing qualities that one can empathize with.