Movie #50 Valhalla Rising

"You need a name.  And you only have one eye".

That is the funniest moment in Valhalla Rising.  Matter of fact it is the one funny line in the movie.  Valhalla Rising is a 2010 film about an one eyed, mute slave.  His owners are Vikings that are being threatened by the Christian crusades.   One Eye escapes his slave masters and they all pay for the inhumane treatment they levied towards him. 

Valhalla Rising is a bloody, gory movie at times.  One Eye is an animal.  He shows no regard for human life.  He is a loner with the exception of a young boy that follows him.  The boy becomes his voice.  Not that One Eye has that much to say.  When propositioned with joining the crusades he agrees more or less.  The Christians ask where he is from and the boy says "He is from Hell".  The boy explains that hell is on the other side of the ocean.

While on their quest to make it to Jerusalem the crusaders, the boy and One Eye get lost in a mist and end up in North America where they clash with the natives and each other.

Valhalla Rising is directed by Nicolas Winding Refn.  One of my favorite working directors.  His films aren't always the best, but you know you can count on his to show you something you have never seen before.  Last year he introduced the world to Tom Hardy in the title role in the film Bronson.  The world should be thankful.  He is also the director of the Pusher Trilogy.  A uneven yet sometime brilliant series of films about the pros and cons of drug dealing.

I said Refn provides things you have never seen before.  Valhalla Rising does not disappoint when it come to originality.  But it is not without some clear influences.  The most obvious to me is Terrence Malick's The New World.  Others would be the fictional works of Werner Herzog.

One Eye is played by Mads Mikkelsen.  In my not so humble opinion he is my generations Klaus Kinski.  He is a mad man.  He is electric and unstable.  The comparison between Mads and Refn to Kinski and Herzog is not a difficult one to make.  Refn can really pull brilliant performances out of actors.  Hardy as Bronson was my #1 male performance of last year.

I was expecting a bloody violent picture through out.  It is painful to watch some of the scenes but not always because what is on screen.  The film has a Michael Heeke feel to it as well.  I was not however expecting an anti-Christian message or an anti-American message either.  And the film pulled no punches or was in no way trying to hide it's opinions.

As a whole Valhalla Rising is a challenging view.  There are long stretches of no dialogue.  There is a lot of shots of people in nature not really doing much.  There is madness in the air of this movie and Refn brings it front and center.  It can wear on a person after a bit though.  Refn is not for beginners.  I give Valhalla Rising a 4/5 stars.  Largely for Mads performance and the first 30 minutes of the film.  Check out the link below for the trailer and a new feature click the link to view the DVD at Amazon.com.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcFOSfaCNec

Movie #39 Burden of Dreams

It's Doc time.  Yet another documentary in my quest for 365 films a year.  This time it is a film that is directed by Les Blank.  The director of the film isn't as important as the director in the film.  Burden of Dreams is a doc that follows and chronicles of German director Werner Herzog's production of his film Fitzcarraldo.

Fitzacarraldo is a movie about a down and out rubber baron in the amazon jungle.  He dreams of bringing an opera house to his remote village.  In his attempts to fund this insane project he is trying to deliver rubber on the river at a cheap rate.  He has an idea to use the natives to help pull a three story massive steam boat over a mountain in order to shortcut the trade route.  The plan is to up root the boat from one branch of the river into another without going around.  As if pulling a boat of that size over a mountain isn't enough of a challenge, the boat will be dropped off at the preface of the most dangerous rapids the Amazon has to offer. 

Burden of Dream follows the brilliant / mad Herzog as his production is threatened by feuding governments, rival tribes, torrential down pours, cast and crew rebellions, and so forth.  It has been said that Herzog makes things unnecessarily difficult for his teams of  film makers.  He believes that the struggles will lead to a better picture.  This is the man that just last year shot a doc in Antarctica and has worked with Klaus Kinski on numerous times, including the title character of the films Fitzacarraldo.

Did I mention that there was no computer effects used in post?  Did I mention that they actually hired Amazonian natives to pull the freaking boat over the freaking mountain?  Well, that is all true.  Everything that could have gone wrong with the production pretty much did.  Diseases, budget problems, food/energy/facility shortages you name it.  But it all worked out and made a fantastic film.  I guess you could say it made for two fantastic films.

Burden of Dreams is a fantastically shot film considering the conditions.  The camera was right where it needed to be when it needed to be there.  Even if sometimes it wasn't in the perfect location.  Les Blank knows his subjects and he lets them tell the story.  His voice over is nice and not a distraction at all.  Over all I give Burden of Dreams a 3.5/5 stars.  I will say that you should watch Fitzacarraldo first.  You will have a better appreciation of the doc.  I would give Fitzcarraldo a 4.5/5.  Check out the link below for the trailer.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMqjAnMn_RY