Escape (2012 Norwegian film)

Escape (Norwegian: Flukt) is a 2012 action-thriller film directed by Roar Uthaug. It stars Isabel Christine Andreasen and Milla Olin as girls in 14th century Norway who must escape bandits led by Ingrid Bolsø Berdal. It premiered at the Slash Film Festival and was released in Norway in September 2012.

In fourteenth century Norway, 19-year-old Signe, her younger brother, and her parents travel through lands made dangerous by the lawlessness following the Black Death. Bandits led by Dagmar kill her entire family; Dagmar herself murders Signe's brother as she watches helplessly. Before the bandits can kill Signe, Dagmar stops them and orders them to take her prisoner. At their camp, Signe meets Frigg, a young girl that Dagmar has adopted. When Frigg shows kindness to Signe, Dagmar chastises her and says that Signe deserves no compassion, as her people have driven them to banditry.

Arvid, Dagmar's lover, stops Loke from raping Signe. As the others watch Arvid and Loke fight, Signe strains to recover Loke's dropped knife. Frigg notices and alerts Dagmar, who tasks Frigg with Signe's punishment, cutting off a finger. When Signe calls Dagmar a witch, Dagmar gloats that she will soon allow the men to rape Signe, as she wants Frigg to have a younger sister. Instead of cutting off Signe's finger, Frigg frees her. As the others sleep, the two girls sneak out of the camp. The bandits wake and give chase, though Signe and Frigg evade them in the nearby forest.

One bandit dies when Signe destroys a log bridge as he attempts to cross it. Dagmar stops them from killing Signe, and the girls escape as the bandits search for another crossing point. Loke finds them at an outcrop, and Signe kills him as he again attempts to rape her. When the bandits find Loke's body, Dagmar tells them to spare Frigg's life but allows them to do what they wish to Signe. Meanwhile, the girls find a hunter's cabin, and, assuming it abandoned, camp there overnight. The hunter is surprised to find them there when he returns, but he feeds them and teaches Signe how to kill a bear with a spear.

When he learns that they're fleeing Dagmar's bandit group, he tells them that Dagmar was subjected to ordeal by water after her village was hit by the plague. Both of Dagmar's children died, and she barely escaped with her life. When Dagmar shows up at the cabin, the hunter attempts to reason with her, but she becomes enraged when Arvid suggests they allow Signe and Frigg to escape. While Dagmar kills both Arvid and the hunter, the girls escape through the rear. Dagmar and the two remaining bandits corner the girls at a cliff. Dagmar promises to allow Signe to live if Frigg surrenders. Signe, knowing that Dagmar will not keep her word, jumps off the cliff just as Dagmar signals a bandit to kill her.