A Movie Review by Karl Thorrwolf

Since art is so very subjective, allow me to present a slightly different take on the movie The 13th Warrior. It seems that everyone who has seen it has a very strong opinion of the movie. Everything from "hated it" to "loved it" seems to cover the spectrum. Yes, it has historical inaccuracies. Yes, it does have some far-fetched premises (Ibn Fadlin learning Norse simply by watching the speakers lips, but this may relegated to a plot enhancer since how many of us speak fluent Old Norse?); and yes, it does take the Beowolf epic to a new level of Hollywood incompetence. Yes, it looks as if too many trees were lost in the production (there I have no rationale except to hope that a lot of it was artificial and matte working special effects.) Really, though, when has Hollywood ever adapted any written work accurately? Never in my remembrance anyway. But through all the sturm und drang of all of this, has anyone noticed the heroic values set forth in the work?

We as, Asatruar, all say that we seek out kindred spirits, brothers and sisters who will stand by us against all odds and laugh in the face of crises, comrades in arms against all that the world throws at us. Well, dear friends, the war-band that is shown in this movie exemplifies that notion. Thirteen against thousands? Sounds like the camaraderie was pretty heavy there. So what if the armor is from different historical periods, so what if the Hollywood powers took a work and transformed it into "the SCA meets Godzilla" type of flick. Even they couldn't quell the essence of Asatru shown in the war-bands' devotion to honor and to each other.

As for myself, and some others of my acquaintance, we came away very edified and excited by the movie. We also had a sense of great loneliness, which we have determined to be from this longing for comrades such as these.

Besides if we take away The 13th Warrior, we are left with Hollywood's other "great" Viking flicks: The Vikings with Kirk Douglas and The Norseman with Lee Majors. Both are on the "it pours well" list of movies; because, like bad mead, all that can be said of them is that they pour well.

Granted, The 13th Warrior is no great epic or saga, but if we stop and look just a bit deeper than the surface, we may just be surprised at what riches await us.

Just another opinion from across the aisle by Karl Thorrwolf

© 1999 C Skinner

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