The 2009 Danish film ‘Valhalla Rising‘ raised my curiosity first of all because it’s directed by Nicolas Winding Refn whose next film, ‘Drive‘ made in 2011 was a blockbuster staring Ryan Gosling in one of his best roles. The topic is also very interesting, dealing with the time when the Vikings populated the North of Europe and England, a period in history that was once the subject of interest of the big historical super-productions and is now back in the focus with TV series. Yet, the commercial approach of these movies did not allow for anything but a spectacular but superficial understanding of those remote times in history. The most obvious thing that can be said about ‘Valhalla Rising‘ is that this is a very different kind of movie than previous ones with similar topics and setting.
The story is told in six chapters, each starting with an illustrative name. Story telling is linear, although the main hero, a prisoner warrior with one eye and no name, kept as a fighting slave by the pagan Vikings, seems to have some premonitory powers which are illustrated by blood-colored flash forwards that do not last more than 1-2 seconds. Blood is actually spilled generously, as the hero fights his way to freedom, and than joins the ranks of a group of Christians planning to sail to join the Crusades to free Jerusalem. It’s just that destiny or lack of navigation skills takes them over the Atlantic to the American continent, yet to be discovered by Europeans. His companion in the trip is a teen Viking, whose adventure turns to become a bloody initiation journey.
If the theme and the setting may remind other historical productions, film making places ‘Valhalla Rising‘ in a very different category, some place at the intersection of the violent and naturalistic style of Mel Gibson (as film director) in ‘The Passion of the Christ‘ and especially in ‘Apocalypto‘ and Ingmar Bergman’s early historical and symbolic movies. The potential story of the missionary zealous trip ending in failure may remind Roland Joffé ‘s magnificent ‘The Mission‘. As in that fabulous movie nature plays a central role, with the virgin landscape of the New World, the seas and the fogs of the North soon taking over and prevailing over the Faith that the characters bring with them in their tentative to change the ways of that part of the world. ‘Valhalla Rising‘ does not however have a Robert De Niro or Jeremy Irons in the cast, and although its actors do a decent job they do not have enough time to develop the characters and the story. Despite some spectacular moments of art cinema, ‘Valhalla Rising‘ remains just a sketch of a more complex film that could have been made and a proof of the incontestable talent of film director Nicolas Winding Refn.