Valhalla Rising (film)
Valhalla Rising is a 2009 Danish adventure drama film directed by Nicolas Winding Refn, starring Mads Mikkelsen. The film takes place in 1000 AD and follows a Norse warrior named OneEye and a boy as they travel with a band of Christian Crusaders in pursuit of the Holy Land. Instead, they find themselves in an unknown land where they are assailed by unseen forces and visions. The film was shot entirely in Scotland. Title is derived from the combination of Kenneth Angers Scorpio Rising and Lucifer Rising with a Vikingtheme. While the film garnered generally positive reviews, it only made back a fraction of its production cost.
A mysterious mute Norse warrior, known only as OneEye, is held captive in cold, windy, misty Scottish highlands by a Chieftain where he is forced to fight to the death against captives of other clans. During his imprisonment OneEye receives his meals from a young boy. In between contests OneEye is put to work with arduous tasks that serve to keep him physically strong. He has the ability to foresee impending events. A dream of bathing amongst large rocks leads him to discover an old iron arrowhead on the bottom of a small natural water basin. Using the arrowhead to secretly free himself from restraints during a journey to a neighboring encampment, he slaughters two men and captures a third. OneEye disembowels this last man when he defiantly shouts that OneEye will soon find himself back in hell. The Chieftain then has a monologue in which he predicts OneEyes return for more vengeance. This is because it is hatred that motivates OneEye and has allowed him to survive through all of his many ordeals. OneEye impales the Chieftains head on a nithing pole in a magical rite Norse Pagans used to place a curse upon someone.Whilst leaving the land, OneEye soon realizes that The Boy is pursuing him. They reach a small group of Crusaders, Christians fresh from killing male pagans and holding all the women as naked hostages. As they are preparing to go on a crusade to Jerusalem, the leader of the group, The General, asks OneEye to join him. He says he could use a good fighter for their cause. The Priest further argues that, live or die, OneEye may thus free himself of his inner pain and cleanse his soul of sin by committing to the Crusades. The General asks The Boy if he knows about OneEyes origin. The Boy tells him that OneEye was brought up from hell which, he has been told, lies on the other side of the ocean. He does not say if he means the Christian hell or hel the underworld of Norse mythology. ........
Source: Wikipedia
