This is an entertaining, but not overwhelming historical epic set in 12th Century Sweden, with some scenes in the Holy Land. It’s reputedly the most expensive Swedish film ever made, though it’s hard to see why.
The battle scenes are modestly mounted. A lot of attention has been given to architecture, costume, and other details, but these need not involve great expense. The actors could not command Hollywood prices. Well, perhaps a lot was spent on aqvavit. The acting is good throughout, there is some pretty cinematography, and the script sticks fairly close to history. A nice touch is the multi-lingual sound track. The hero grows up in a Cistercian monastery where the monks speak Latin, English and French, as they certainly would have at the time. The historical nub of it, which is the struggle between the Sverker and Erican/Folkunge dynasties, is probably not well-known to English-language viewers, but the film explains things pretty clearly. The sequences in the Holy Land, with the conventional depiction of Saladin, are corny and essentially unconnected to the main narrative, except that they keep the hero away from Sweden so that his betrothed can pine in a monastery for twenty years. The heroine’s willingness to do this fits the conventions of Medieval literature, but will not necessarily fit with modern sensibilities. Since the couple knew each other only briefly before being separated, and the hero’s only virtue seems to have been handsomeness, her devotion comes across as an unhealthy obsession, rather than an ideal romance. The film is long and slow, which has always been the way they like it in Sweden, but it may try the patience of viewers elsewhere. It’s a typical Swedish family-saga, with lots of people waiting around to do stuff, then maybe not doing it. The two films, Arn — Tempelriddaren [Arn the Knight Templar] (2007) and Arn – Riket vid vägens slut [Arn: The Kingdom at Road’s End] (2008) are directed by Peter Flinth and star Joakim Nätterqvist and Sofia Helin in the leading roles, with the venerable Bibi Andersson in a key supporting role. They are based on a trilogy by novelist-journalist Jan Guillou, which I have not read and cannot judge, but I am roughly familiar with his journalistic career, which gives every evidence of his being an idiot.
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