Gritty Man-Films Set in the Dark Ages or Earlier - Page 3 - Blu-ray Forum

Concat · 03-01-2012, 04:41 PM

Saw "Severed Ways: The Norse Discovery of America" last night.

I thought it was much better than I expected. It's pretty weird. Kind of like Valhalla Rising or Aguirre in that it is a "visual poem," but the production value is piss poor.

Basically the premise is that two Vikings get stranded in America after their clan leaves. There's perhaps 15 lines of dialogue in the whole movie. The Vikings basically do a lot of hiking, lighting fires, killing and eating. And here's where it gets weird - the first half of the movie's soundtrack is heavy metal. Norse death metal, to be exact.

It really sets its self up not to be taken seriously. Hell one of the Vikings is head banging at one point. So how is this reminiscent of Herzog you ask? Well after the initial shock of the premise wears off, and you get accustomed to the soundtrack, you really start to see that there is some serious stuff going on. The camera work takes a decided turn for the better, and even the music tends to lean more towards the brooding atmospheric sounds present in Valhalla Rising and Aguirre.

In the end I actually really enjoyed it. For that reason I can totally forgive the low production values and even embrace the quirky metal that accents the first half of the film. I can even forgive the gratuitous defecation scene. Unfortunately it still leaves me thinking that this could have been a masterpiece, had they used a better camera equipment, and perhaps less self indulgent choices (the headbanging, for example).

The director certainly has an eye for the environment, but I'm not so sure the editing was up to par. Certain scenes seemed more like out takes, and the shaky camera, which was meant to convey that "lost" sense, was too shaky. Like to the point where you better off blurring your vision than actually trying to focus on anything on the screen.

My bottom line is that fans of Aguirre and Valhalla Rising shouldn't be put off by the low reviews scores. The film makes some serious misteps, but there's still plenty of serious and artistic things going on to make for a satisfying experience. Just don't expect it to be an action flick.

03-01-2012, 04:41 PM	#41
Concat Junior Member Member since:Mar 2011 Blu-ray collection:72	Saw "Severed Ways: The Norse Discovery of America" last night. I thought it was much better than I expected. It's pretty weird. Kind of like Valhalla Rising or Aguirre in that it is a "visual poem," but the production value is piss poor. Basically the premise is that two Vikings get stranded in America after their clan leaves. There's perhaps 15 lines of dialogue in the whole movie. The Vikings basically do a lot of hiking, lighting fires, killing and eating. And here's where it gets weird - the first half of the movie's soundtrack is heavy metal. Norse death metal, to be exact. It really sets its self up not to be taken seriously. Hell one of the Vikings is head banging at one point. So how is this reminiscent of Herzog you ask? Well after the initial shock of the premise wears off, and you get accustomed to the soundtrack, you really start to see that there is some serious stuff going on. The camera work takes a decided turn for the better, and even the music tends to lean more towards the brooding atmospheric sounds present in Valhalla Rising and Aguirre. In the end I actually really enjoyed it. For that reason I can totally forgive the low production values and even embrace the quirky metal that accents the first half of the film. I can even forgive the gratuitous defecation scene. Unfortunately it still leaves me thinking that this could have been a masterpiece, had they used a better camera equipment, and perhaps less self indulgent choices (the headbanging, for example). The director certainly has an eye for the environment, but I'm not so sure the editing was up to par. Certain scenes seemed more like out takes, and the shaky camera, which was meant to convey that "lost" sense, was too shaky. Like to the point where you better off blurring your vision than actually trying to focus on anything on the screen. My bottom line is that fans of Aguirre and Valhalla Rising shouldn't be put off by the low reviews scores. The film makes some serious misteps, but there's still plenty of serious and artistic things going on to make for a satisfying experience. Just don't expect it to be an action flick.

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