Valhalla Rising (2009)

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1. 

   MrE2Me

   Surprisingly pensive. It alternates between long, slow and silent sequences and brief, brutal bursts of violence. Not much happens, not much is said, but it's quite beautiful to look at and very skillfully done. Always refreshing when a film lets its audience do some of the work, instead of spoon-feeding them every step of the way. 13 years 3 months ago
2. 

   Siskoid

   Nicholas Winding Redf's Valhalla Rising is a stark and austere viking film that may have been marketed as a sort of Northern 300, but is nothing of the sort. It owes more to Jodorowski's The Holy Mountain (confirmed by Refn in the making of, I'm delighted to say). Though less surreal than that film, it is nonetheless something you can't exactly take literally, a mystic/religious journey with barbarian trappings. If the film is about Christianity's disruption of Norse culture, then the mute One-Eye (Mads Mikkelson) is an Odin figure, a slave in a harsh world that has no place for him anymore. Though he escapes to commit great violence, and goes on a journey with "holy men" to what they think is the holy land, but turns out to be hell. As the film progresses, One-Eye becomes more and more Christ-like, changing with the religious zeitgeist. It's pretty deep, I admit, but while a tough viewing experience with definite longueurs, it will reward the audience member in a more thoughtful mood. 8 years 10 months ago
3. 

   jerpijut

   I'm not sure what I just watched. Visually very well done, but other than that, who knows. 11 years 6 months ago

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