valhallarising

Valhalla Rising

Year 2009
Runtime 93 mins
Language Engish
Alberta Premiere

Acclaimed director Nicolas Winding Refn has developed a reputation for testosterone-boiling art cinema with his PUSHER trilogy and last year’s BRONSON. His latest offering provides no relief from this agenda. VALHALLA RISING, set in the 11th century, is the story of One-Eye (Mads Mikkelsen), a mute slave who escapes his Scottish masters with the questionable help of Norse pagans before setting sail with a ragtag team of crusaders into a Conrad-like heart of darkness.

Part AGUIRRE, THE WRATH OF GOD, the fleet of travellers journies through the fog for weeks before being spat out into a fresh water river of uncertain locale and menace. Off the map, nearing madness and either closing in on hell or Valhalla, the quest puts One Eye in the undesirable position of not only having to survive the brutal new land he’s stumbled upon, but having to confront his own soul in the process. An action film built mostly of stasis, VALHALLA RISING will defy your expectations of the genre and provide a hallucinatory alternative to the latest Hollywood popcorn piece.

TS

Countries

Denmark
Festivals
Official Selection Venice Film Festival 2009, Official Selection Toronto International Film Festival 2009, Official Selection International Film Festival Rotterdam 2010
Director
Nicolas Winding Refn
Executive Producer
Christine Alderson, Lene Børglum, Yves Chevalier, Linda James, Mads Peter Ole Olsen, Carole Sheridan, Sigurjon Sighvatsson, Thor Sigurjonsson
Producer
Johnny Andersen, Henrik Danstrup, Bo Ehrhardt
Screenwriter
Nicolas Winding Refn, Roy Jacobsen
Cinematographer
Morten Søborg
Editor
Matthew Newman
Production Design
Laurel Wear
Music
Peter Kyed, Peter Peter
Cast
Mads Mikkelsen, Maarten Stevenson, Gordon Brown