The Northman or Why Revenge Is A Bitch

Thoughts I had while watching Robert Eggers’ The Northman

Well, yes, thank you, I had the chance to experience The Northman on the big screen, and I am impressed.

It is a beautiful movie, full of blood and wicked cruelty. Just in the first few minutes, our characters perform horrible acts that will keep us thinking for many nights to come. However, most of those scenes have a documentary feel to them. We are simply witnessing the way things used to be done. Believe me; this is not the sanitized version of the Viking Age we are used to.

Still, there’s much more to this movie than the bloodbaths.

The Academy Award for best cinematography goes to…

If you have watched the trailers, then you already know this: The Northman has gorgeous cinematography. You cannot help but gasp at the exquisite visuals the movie provides from the very beginning.

As if that wasn’t enough, we also get to enjoy the creative use of camera movements that allow us to see the carnage in all of its magnificent savagery. Seriously, people are going to be deconstructing these shots for years to come.

Best of all, The Northman doesn’t rely just on beautiful landscape pictures. Robert Eggers and Jarin Blaschke, his DP, immerse us into the story, getting close to the characters just when we need it the most.

Nicole Kidman’s character made me wish this movie had come out on Mother’s Day.

At its heart, The Northman is about revenge, a fact we managed to glimpse since the trailer first came out and showed us a boy who watches as his father gets murdered.

And, yes, everything our titular character does is under the spell of the need to retaliate against those who hurt his family. Played with the proper level of intensity by Alexander Skarsgård, Prince Amleth is convinced he must fulfill his fate, no matter the cost.

However, a special shout-out must go to Queen Gudrún, played by the always marvelous Nicole Kidman. Oh, my, she almost stole the whole movie. Part of me wishes the film had come out on Mother’s Day, and they had used that angle to promote it but, oh, well…

In the end, it all goes back to the futility of revenge.

As a plot device, vengeance gets things going. After all, it is easy to think that if only we got to bring suffering upon those who hurt us, the world would balance itself out.

However, as movies have shown us over and over again— sorry, I have never engaged in a bloody rampage, so I cannot confirm whether or not this happens in real life — the resolution our character seeks won’t come that easily.

Sure enough, there will be a price to pay whenever a character obsesses over getting retribution. And then, they risk getting into a Russian-dollesque dance of revenge.

Yes, you can get your vengeance…but don’t those you punish also have the right to get back at you. Where does it bloody end?

I guess it never does…

Nevertheless, luckily for us, this tale of carnage gives us the chance to bask in stunning performances, enjoy the brutally beautiful landscapes, and add another lesson to our How To Exact Revenge According to the Movies notebook:

• Make sure there’s a volcano nearby.

Noted.