• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Catholic Review

Catholic Review

Inspiring the Archdiocese of Baltimore

Menu
  • Home
  • News
        • Local News
        • World News
        • Vatican News
        • Obituaries
        • Featured Video
        • En Español
        • Sports News
        • Official Clergy Assignments
        • Schools News
  • Commentary
        • Contributors
          • Question Corner
          • George Weigel
          • Effie Caldarola
          • John Garvey
          • Father Ed Dougherty, M.M.
          • Guest Commentary
        • CR Columnists
          • Archbishop William E. Lori
          • Rita Buettner
          • Christopher Gunty
          • George Matysek Jr.
          • Father Joseph Breighner
          • Father Collin Poston
          • Robyn Barberry
          • Hanael Bianchi
          • Amen Columns
  • Entertainment
        • Events
        • Movie & Television Reviews
        • Arts & Culture
        • Books
        • Recipes
  • About Us
        • Contact Us
        • Our History
        • Meet Our Staff
        • Photos to own
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • CR Media platforms
        • Electronic Edition
  • Advertising
  • Shop
        • Purchase Photos
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
  • CR Radio
  • News Tips
  • Subscribe
Alexander Skarsgard and Anya Taylor-Joy star in a scene from the movie "The Northman." The Catholic News Service classification is O -- morally offensive. The Motion Picture Association rating is R -- restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian. (CNS photo/Aidan Monaghan, Focus Features)

MOVIE REVIEW: ‘The Northman’

April 28, 2022
By John Mulderig
Catholic News Service
Filed Under: Feature, Movie & Television Reviews

NEW YORK (CNS) — Set at the turn of the 10th century, the Viking epic “The Northman” (Focus) seeks to immerse viewers in the Nordic culture of that era.

But director and co-writer Robert Eggers’ drive for accuracy leads to a depiction of grotesque bloodletting while his detailed portrayal of the pagan faith of medieval Scandinavia leaves his sweeping drama on an ambiguous moral footing.

That’s a shame because the intense performances of the movie’s dedicated cast have the potential to sustain viewer interest across a lengthy run time. Cinematographer Jarin Blaschke makes the most of striking landscapes, moreover, and Eggers conjures up an ethereal mood as the script he penned with Icelandic poet Sjón draws on the same legend on which Shakespeare based his tragedy “Hamlet.”

Instead of the Bard’s tortured youth, however, we’re shown the tumultuous life of Prince Amleth while a boy (Oscar Novak) and then as a man (Alexander Skarsgard). At the tender age of 10, Amleth is traumatized by witnessing his Uncle Fjölnir’s (Claes Bang) murder of his father, King Aurvandil (Ethan Hawke), and subsequent forcible marriage to his mother, Queen Gudrún (Nicole Kidman).

Amleth flees into exile, vowing to exact vengeance. By the time we next see him, he’s an embittered adult, emotionally unattached to anyone and an enthusiastic, utterly callous, participant in murderous raids.

Learning that Fjölnir has been deposed from his stolen throne and has taken refuge in Iceland, Amleth disguises himself as a captured Rus slave in order to be transported there. As he awaits his chance to strike against Fjölnir, who is now his master, he falls for Olga of the Birch Forest (Anya Taylor-Joy), a fellow bondservant.

In writing their screenplay, Eggers and Sjón seem to want to have it both ways where Amleth’s quest to get even with Fjölnir is concerned. On the one hand, his obsession plunges him into an isolation from which only his romance with Olga temporarily liberates him. And his desire to settle scores is, ultimately, shown to be as destructive for him as for his adversary.

Yet, in part at least, the picture also buys into the nonscriptural religious notion that revenge will restore Amleth’s family’s honor and achieve justice for his slain parent. Additionally, defeating Fjölnir eventually becomes a necessity if Amleth is to protect Olga.

The audience is thus left uncertain whether to cheer Amleth on or shake their heads at his misguided fixation. In between doing either, they’ll be busy wincing at his grisly doings, on and off the battlefield.

The film contains skewed values, gruesome gory violence, strong sexual content, including premarital activity and nudity, references to incest, at least one crude term and a few crass expressions. The Catholic News Service classification is O — morally offensive. The Motion Picture Association rating is R — restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.   


Mulderig is on the staff of Catholic News Service.

Read More Movies & Television Reviews

Movie Review: Lourdes

Movie Review: ’80 for Brady’

Movie Review: ‘Knock at the Cabin’

Video game review: ‘Forspoken’

Movie Review: ‘M3GAN’

Movie Review: ‘Missing’

Copyright © 2022 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops

Print Print

Primary Sidebar

John Mulderig

Catholic News Service is a leading agency for religious news. Its mission is to report fully, fairly and freely on the involvement of the church in the world today.

View all posts from this author

For the latest news delivered twice a week via email or text message, sign up to receive our free enewsletter.

| MOST POPULAR |

  • Priest who offered up cancer for clerical abuse victims says he was healed at Lourdes
  • All are welcome: Finding a home at Mount St. Joseph
  • Tuition at Catholic high schools in Baltimore archdiocese significantly lower than other area private schools
  • Movie Review: ‘Knock at the Cabin’
  • Religious leaders share vocation stories with Cockeysville students

| CURRENT EDITION |

| Pope Benedict XVI |

‘I love you, Papa!’: Maryland Catholics recall encounters with Pope Benedict XVI

RADIO INTERVIEW: Remembering Pope Emeritus Benedict

In a turn of history, Poland is country that will miss German pope the most

Pope’s tribute to predecessor ‘refined and profound,’ says Benedict aide

| Crisis in Ukraine |

Russia poses ‘biggest threat to religious freedom in Ukraine,’ says archbishop

Ukraine’s embattled religious orders keep faith and hope alive amid war

Ukraine’s religious leaders renew invitation to pope to visit Kyiv

Pope thanks Ukrainian religious leaders for unity in the face of conflict

Vatican funding for charitable works totals $10.7 million in 2022; $2.2 million alone goes to needs in Ukraine

| Catholic Review Radio |

CatholicReview · Catholic Review Radio

| Movie & Television Reviews |

Movie Review: Lourdes

Movie Review: ’80 for Brady’

Movie Review: ‘Knock at the Cabin’

Video game review: ‘Forspoken’

| En español |

La escuela Archbishop Borders ofrece educación de lenguaje dual e inmersión

En fiesta de Guadalupe, iglesia de EE.UU. reafirma solidaridad con inmigrantes

Inmigrantes hispanos alzan la voz ante sus adversidades mientras que rezan por las calles de Highlandtown

‘Esclavos y Reyes’ muestra la vida española de un santo en el siglo XIX

Footer

Our Vision

Real Life. Real Faith. 

Catholic Review Media communicates the Gospel and its impact on people’s lives in the Archdiocese of Baltimore and beyond.

Our Mission

Catholic Review Media provides intergenerational communications that inform, teach, inspire and engage Catholics and all of good will in the mission of Christ through diverse forms of media.

Contact

Catholic Review
320 Cathedral Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
443-524-3150
mail@CatholicReview.org

 

Social Media

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Recent

  • Archdiocese dispenses with meatless obligation for St. Patrick’s Day
  • Religious leaders share vocation stories with Cockeysville students
  • Shock, despair and mourning in Aleppo amid ‘terror’ of the earthquake, local bishops say
  • U.S. bishops’ religious liberty chairman: Proposed new rules on contraceptive mandate ‘disheartening’
  • Question Corner: Must I believe in and follow apparitions?
  • Movie Review: Lourdes
  • Diplomats, faith leaders gathered at U.N. urged to advance religious tolerance, harmony around world
  • Russia poses ‘biggest threat to religious freedom in Ukraine,’ says archbishop
  • Pope, church leaders draw attention to victims of violence

Search

Membership

Catholic Press Association of the United States and Canada

Maryland-Delaware-DC Press Association

The Associated Church Press

© 2023 CATHOLIC REVIEW MEDIA, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED