Well Above Average, Short, Engrossing Guy Movie

Rating: 8/10 (27 December 2005)

The first time I saw this little movie, I was struck by the mood of realness this movie carries. This movie comes closer than any movie I have ever seen in depicting the Viking Norse as real people, much closer in depicting them as contemporary historians described them. It helped tremendously to have a central Arab character to act as the narrator as we today come closer to his viewpoint than that of the Norse warriors. In seeing it the second and third time, I was then struck by the simplicity of the story line and the way the characters fill out this movie. Being of "northern European" stock myself, I saw the movie Norsemen do things that I saw my father and grandfather do, things the womenfolk called "nasty" but seemed perfectly unremarkable to the menfolk. My wife doesn't care much for the movie, but I found it totally engrossing. That may be a product of the central theme of the movie. A Norse colony is under attack in the movie from a matriarchal society of Mother Goddess worshipers who happen to also be cannibals. The Norsemen may be gritty and nasty, but as seen through the eyes of the Arab, they were honest, intelligent, loyal, fearlessly brave, religiously respectful of their elders, and shameless in their devotion to Odin All-Father. This is a guy movie and it has some great actors in it. In the end, the Arab thanked God that these men awoke in him a re-dedication to that which is good.