The Last Viking is a film centered mostly around a village with inhabitants living in relative peace and harmony, until the day the king demands their ships in order to continue his wars.
The village has earlier left contributions to the king, both money, people and ships but this time they think he is demanding to much as he wants all their ships and all their men, not only a few.
The leader of the village - and also the father of the young viking Harald (Holger Thaarup) - decides to take his ships, his men and join some rioters who also have had enough and want to see the king dead or dethroned.
The decision to fight the king also leads to that Haralds father leaves not only Harald but his wife Eisa (Marika Lagercrantz) and Haralds, somewhat mentally retarded, brother behind, besides all the other villagers, consisting mostly of elderly people, women and children.
Harald wants to follow his father but the latter denies him this request, saying that he have to stay behind and defend his mother and the others in the village.
Soon after the departure of Harald's father, the kings men, Thorgrim (Bjørn Floberg), Sigbard (Kim Bodnia) and warriors, reach the village in search for the men and the boats.
Sigbard arrives first and he is - or seems to be - a very brutal individual, at first using violence, raping the women and humiliating the inhabitants in order to get the informaiton he seeks.
Thorgrim - who is the leader of these men - is a more civilized person, not using violence if it's not absolutely 'necessary'.
In the village, we also find an old boat builder, Skrælling (Per Oscarsson), an alcoholic who prefers mead ahead of food and not least work.
The king's men now demand of him to build a boat for them and for the king but this is easier said than done and the villagers try everything to delay this work.
The story circles around the young Harald and how these events makes him discover that the world is not black or white, a very important lesson, many people ought to learn.
As the story unfolds he becomes an adult in his mind-set, sometimes in a very painful way.
When the film begins he adores his father and mother and has put them on a pedestal - as is often the case - while he looks upon the intruders as equally evil - of course.
Through the course of the film he finds out that his mother and father are not as good and fair as he had thought and that the king's men are not as bad as he had thought either, to put it simply.
His mother betrays both him and his father and the loyalty to their village and the people there, his father betrays him and his mother, the village and the cause he had set out to fight for.
The leader of the king's men - Thorgrim - is a reflecting, contemplating person, not a bloodthirsty 'beast'.
Even his collaborator Sigbard, who at first seems to be a rude and violent individual, displays both clear-sightedness and is the one making Harald aware of his parents betrayal.
Harald on the other hand is also full of flaws, not least visible in the way he treats a young slave girl, degrading her and trying to command her in a reckless way.
This until the day she saves his life, he himself is marked as a slave by the intruders and they join forces against the king's men.
I very much liked the photo and the acting.
One of my friends found that the film was full of clichées but I think that it was less clichés in this 'viking film' than in many others and the violence was restricted, not making it into a 'bloody mess' if the expression is allowed.
The underlying moral questions about relations, loyalties, love and respect render this film an aura of a more intellectual perspective in relation to the 'viking era'-subject than many other films in the same genre.
Some sequences could have been remowed though, as they were felt being to repetitive, not moving the theme forward, but creating a narrative standstill.
The village has earlier left contributions to the king, both money, people and ships but this time they think he is demanding to much as he wants all their ships and all their men, not only a few.
The leader of the village - and also the father of the young viking Harald (Holger Thaarup) - decides to take his ships, his men and join some rioters who also have had enough and want to see the king dead or dethroned.
The decision to fight the king also leads to that Haralds father leaves not only Harald but his wife Eisa (Marika Lagercrantz) and Haralds, somewhat mentally retarded, brother behind, besides all the other villagers, consisting mostly of elderly people, women and children.
Harald wants to follow his father but the latter denies him this request, saying that he have to stay behind and defend his mother and the others in the village.
Soon after the departure of Harald's father, the kings men, Thorgrim (Bjørn Floberg), Sigbard (Kim Bodnia) and warriors, reach the village in search for the men and the boats.
Sigbard arrives first and he is - or seems to be - a very brutal individual, at first using violence, raping the women and humiliating the inhabitants in order to get the informaiton he seeks.
Thorgrim - who is the leader of these men - is a more civilized person, not using violence if it's not absolutely 'necessary'.
In the village, we also find an old boat builder, Skrælling (Per Oscarsson), an alcoholic who prefers mead ahead of food and not least work.
The king's men now demand of him to build a boat for them and for the king but this is easier said than done and the villagers try everything to delay this work.
The story circles around the young Harald and how these events makes him discover that the world is not black or white, a very important lesson, many people ought to learn.
As the story unfolds he becomes an adult in his mind-set, sometimes in a very painful way.
When the film begins he adores his father and mother and has put them on a pedestal - as is often the case - while he looks upon the intruders as equally evil - of course.
Through the course of the film he finds out that his mother and father are not as good and fair as he had thought and that the king's men are not as bad as he had thought either, to put it simply.
His mother betrays both him and his father and the loyalty to their village and the people there, his father betrays him and his mother, the village and the cause he had set out to fight for.
The leader of the king's men - Thorgrim - is a reflecting, contemplating person, not a bloodthirsty 'beast'.
Even his collaborator Sigbard, who at first seems to be a rude and violent individual, displays both clear-sightedness and is the one making Harald aware of his parents betrayal.
Harald on the other hand is also full of flaws, not least visible in the way he treats a young slave girl, degrading her and trying to command her in a reckless way.
This until the day she saves his life, he himself is marked as a slave by the intruders and they join forces against the king's men.
I very much liked the photo and the acting.
One of my friends found that the film was full of clichées but I think that it was less clichés in this 'viking film' than in many others and the violence was restricted, not making it into a 'bloody mess' if the expression is allowed.
The underlying moral questions about relations, loyalties, love and respect render this film an aura of a more intellectual perspective in relation to the 'viking era'-subject than many other films in the same genre.
Some sequences could have been remowed though, as they were felt being to repetitive, not moving the theme forward, but creating a narrative standstill.
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