Movies
Bloodthirsty Masculinity: The Northman (2022)
To be honest, I thought I was about to watch one of the classic historical war movies of the early 2000s.
Looking at the poster and watching the trailer, it looked like a delicious, juicy steak made to the expectations of an attention-starved male species at a time when masculinity is about to disappear into the dustbin of history.
However, when I started watching the film, I realized that my prejudice was wrong, that this film was a tribute to all the values of the art of cinema, a work of art created by people putting their hearts into it, far away from the chaos and confusion of the film industry and the soullessness of capitalism.
Despite a modest production and below average visual effects, the use of cinematography emulating Alfonso Cuaron creates a world where you never take your eyes off the screen.
We will never have a time machine, we will never have the chance to see an ancient Greek theater performance, but this movie will give you that experience, you can be sure of that.
But that’s all. Because even though it makes generous use of all the possibilities offered by the art of cinema, it does not make the same effort for storytelling.
A man who sets out to avenge his father’s death.
He has moral principles that refuse to let him harm women and children.
But he is so blinded by revenge that he feels no remorse even after he accidentally kills his own mother and half-brother.
In the end, we begin to sympathize even with his enemy.
In the final scene, as he dies, he sees the gates of Valhalla open and dies relieved that his revenge is complete and his victory won.
“Obviously they tried to tell the story of a morally corrupt man who craves revenge. What’s wrong with that?” you might ask.
We, the audience, can draw that conclusion. But if the character doesn’t learn this lesson, the result is nothing more than a demo of a computer game with beautiful visual effects.
Result
The Northman falls victim to director Robert Eggers’ obsession with ‘old school’ and epic cinematography and turns out to be an ordinary movie without any core idea or a worthwhile narrative that you can enjoy while eating your popcorn.
