Valhalla Rising (film)
| Valhalla Rising | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Nicolas Winding Refn |
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| Written by |
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| Starring |
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| Cinematography | Morten Søborg |
| Edited by | Mat Newman |
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Production
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Nimbus Film Productions
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| Distributed by | Scanbox Entertainment |
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Release date
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Running time
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92 minutes |
| Country | Denmark |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $5.7 million |
| Box office | $30,638 |
Valhalla Rising is a 2009 English-language Danish adventure drama film directed by Nicolas Winding Refn, co-written by Refn and Roy Jacobsen, and starring Mads Mikkelsen. The film takes place around the year 1096 AD and follows a Norse warrior named One-Eye and a boy as they travel with a band of Christian Crusaders by ship in the hopes of finding the Holy Land. Instead, they find themselves in an unknown land (actually North America) where they are assailed by unseen forces and dark visions.
Shot entirely in Scotland, the title is derived from the combination of Kenneth Anger's films Scorpio Rising and Lucifer Rising with a Viking theme. While the film garnered generally positive reviews, it only made back a fraction–about $31,000–of its $5.7 million production cost.
The prologue states that at the dawn of time there was man and nature. Then men bearing crosses drove the heathens to the fringes of the earth.
A mysterious mute Norse warrior, known only as One-Eye, 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 One-Eye receives his meals from a young boy. In between contests One-Eye 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. One-Eye disembowels this last man when he defiantly shouts that One-Eye will soon find himself back in hell. The Chieftain then has a monologue in which he predicts One-Eye's return for more vengeance. This is because it is hatred that motivates One-Eye and has allowed him to survive through all of his many ordeals. One-Eye impales the Chieftain's head on a nithing pole in a magical rite Norse Pagans used to place a curse upon someone.
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