What defines an avant-garde film, and why does there seem to be such a backlash against feature-length art films these days? When I heard Valhalla Rising described to me I was expecting something more surreal, which made me slightly apprehensive to watch it. It’s not that I’m AGAINST the avant-garde, but it’s not exactly my favorite style of film making. There are times when it can be pulled off well (Eraserhead) and there are times where a director is mind-fucking you for the sake of it and doesn’t necessarily have a story to tell (Tetsuo The Iron Man). Valhalla Rising assuredly belongs in that first class of films.
Rising is broken up into six chapters, although it’s less a series of vignettes and more six placemarkers to tell you how far you’ve gone so you don’t get lost, which ties in well with the film’s plotline. As best as I can glean, Rising is the story of a Viking slave named One-Eye who escapes from one group of Viking heathens and accidentally comes into the accompaniment of a group of Viking Christians who are setting out to free Jerusalem but get lost along the way. Also he speaks through a little boy. Rising features very little dialogue throughout almost half of the film, but that’s fine because the visuals speak for themselves. Eerily colored shots flash by and blood is made redder than ever, lending a queasy unease to violent scenes.
Ultimately Rising is a film about the hubris of man. The owner of One-Eye watches his clan be murdered because he refused to give up ownership. The Christian Vikings get lost in fog when they rely on God to lead them to Jersusalem and are massacred when they try to build a new Jerusalem in heathen territory. Even One-Eye falls to the heathens in the end.
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