Arn – The Knight Templar | |
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Theatrical poster
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Directed by | Peter Flinth |
Produced by | Waldemar Bergendahl Leif Mohlin Jan Marnell |
Written by |
Jan Guillou (novels) Hans Gunnarsson (screenplay) |
Starring |
Joakim Nätterqvist Sofia Helin Stellan Skarsgård Simon Callow Vincent Perez Bibi Andersson Michael Nyqvist Milind Soman |
Narrated by | Sven-Bertil Taube |
Music by | Tuomas Kantelinen |
Cinematography | Eric Kress |
Edited by | Olivier Bugge Coutté Anders Villadsen |
Distributed by | Svensk Filmindustri |
Release date
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Running time
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139 minutes |
Country |
Sweden Denmark Norway Finland Germany |
Language |
Swedish English Latin Arabic French |
Budget |
SEK 210,000,000 (ca. US $30,000,000) (total budget of both films) |
Arn - The Knight Templar (Music from the motion picture) | |
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Soundtrack album by Tuomas Kantelinen | |
Released | 2007-12-19 |
Length | 45:28 |
Label | Bonnier Music |
Singles from Arn - The Knight Templar soundtrack | |
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Arn – The Knight Templar (Swedish: Arn - Tempelriddaren) is an epic film based on Jan Guillou's trilogy about the fictional Swedish Knight Templar Arn Magnusson. The film was released to cinemas in Sweden on 17 December 2007 and the sequel, Arn – The Kingdom at Road's End (Arn – Riket vid vägens slut), was released August 22, 2008, but both films were combined into a single cut for the English release on DVD in 2010. While the film is mostly in Swedish and most of the production was made in Sweden, the film is a joint production between Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland and Germany. With a total budget of around SEK 210 million (ca. US $30 million) for both films, it is the most expensive production in Swedish cinema.
The plot of the original movie follows the first two volumes of the trilogy. There is an "international" cut which incorporates this and the sequel Arn – The Kingdom at Road's End into a single movie with a duration of approximately 130 minutes.
Arn Magnusson is a son of the powerful Folkung dynasty in the mid-12th century. He grows up in a monastery belonging to the Cistercians. He is trained in archery, swordsmanship and horsemanship by a former Knight Templar, the brother Guilbert, who resides in the monastery. Arn is also discovered to be ambidextrous. One day while wandering the woods he encounters three men trying to force a young girl into marriage. When the girl begs Arn for help two of the men attack Arn, who kills them in self-defense. Although the monks tell Arn he did nothing wrong, they question Guilbert training him into being a warrior. Guilbert replies that Arn is not meant to be a monk but is destined to be a soldier of God. When Arn leaves the monastery and returns to his family, he is soon pulled into the struggle between the powerful families, all fighting for the crown of Västra Götaland. He helps his friend Knut Eriksson to kill the old king Karl Sverkersson. This leads to war between the two factions; Arn and his fiancée Cecilia Algotsdotter are excommunicated for premarital relations (in reality a plot to hurt Knut) and are forced to undertake twenty years of penance, Cecilia in a convent and Arn as a Knight Templar in the Holy Land to fight against the Saracens.