Outlaw: The Saga of Gisli
| Outlaw: The Saga of Gisli | |
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Video case
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| Directed by | Ágúst Guðmundsson |
| Produced by | Jón Hermannsson |
| Written by | Ágúst Guðmundsson |
| Music by | Askell Másson |
| Cinematography | Sigurður Sverrir Pálsson |
| Edited by | William River |
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Release date
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Running time
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100 minutes |
| Country | Iceland |
| Language | Icelandic |
Outlaw: The Saga of Gisli (Icelandic: Útlaginn) is an Icelandic film adaptation of the Gísla saga, the story of a blood feud set in 10th-century Iceland. It was directed by Ágúst Guðmundsson in 1981.
The film was released on 17 February 1984 to critical acclaim in Sweden, and then in West Germany. Written and directed by Ágúst Guðmundsson, the theatrical version of the Saga of Gisli Sursson was praised as a culturally accurate representation of the time period.
The film was selected as the Icelandic entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 54th Academy Awards, but was not accepted as a nominee.
This Icelandic Saga begins with Gisli, Thorgrim, Thorkel, and Vestein making a blood pact to protect one another. Controversy breaks out when one of the men, Thorgrim, refuses to complete the pact because he does not want any involvement with Vestein. Thorgrim claims that taking on Vestein as a brother is taking on more trouble than he can handle. The scene ends with the men storming off from one another and the blood oath incomplete. The plot begins to unfold when Thorkel hears his wife tell Aud, Gisli’s wife, that she had amorous feelings for Vestein before she married Thorkel, leading Thorkel to suspect his wife was unfaithful.
As the saga continues, Vestein is killed one night in Gisli's home by a masked man. Gisli rushes into the house and pulls the spear from Vestein’s dead body thereby ensuring that he will avenge Vestein's murder. Gisli, with some investigation of his own, concludes that Thorgrim is responsible for the death of Vestein. Therefore, he convinces one of Thorgrim’s servants to leave the door to Thorgrim’s house open one night. Gisli enters the house and stabs Thorgrim with the same spear that Thorgrim supposedly used to kill Vestein. A group of Thorgrim’s servants race to Gisli’s home to inquire if anyone strange has come by but they have no luck. After the funeral Bork, Thorgrim's brother, marries Thorgrim’s widow, Thordis, who is also Gisli’s sister. Thordis then tells her new husband that she believes Gisli is responsible for the death of her first husband. In addition, she tells Bork that he must kill Gisli in order to get revenge for the murder of his brother and she will marry him. As a result, some of Bork’s men travel to a sorcerer to convince him to place a curse on the Thorgrim's murderer.
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Wikipedia