Movie Review: The Northman (2022)

The Northman (2022) co-written and directed by Robert Eggers

In an early medieval Viking kingdom, King Aurvandil War-Raven (Ethan Hawke) returns from plundering to his wife Gudrun (Nicole Kidman) and their son Amleth (Oscar Novak). The celebration goes well, in typical Viking fashion. The next day, Aurvandil takes his son to prepare him for his future as a leader through a mystic underground ceremony. As they leave, Aurvandil is attacked by his brother Fjolnir (Claes Bang), who kills him, takes his wife, and tries to kill the boy. The child flees to the sea where he rows himself out, chanting that he will avenge his father, free his mother, and kill his uncle. The story jumps ahead to an adult Amleth (Alexander Skarsgard) who is a low level Viking warrior for another clan. They go on several raids. He's eventually captured and taken to Iceland and put into service as a slave...on his uncle's sheep farm! Uncle Fjolnir lost the family kingdom and fled with Gundrun. Amleth has a chance to enact his revenge but he must do it in the Viking way.

The movie captures the cultural life of Vikings from the tenth century. They strive for historically accurate costumes, customs, and buildings while incorporating Viking mythology and their fatalistic morality. The blend works surprisingly well, though director Eggers has had plenty of practice in his other films (like The VVitch and The Lighthouse) transporting viewers to very different times and places. This movie rips off the plot to Shakespeare's Hamlet but is much more brutal and fatalistic. The characters talk about their fates and how they can't avoid them. Amleth is so tied to killing his uncle at a burning lake (he had a vision) that he cannot draw his sword on Fjolnir before the appointed time--it won't even come out of the scabbard! There's plenty of other blood-soaked mayhem as the story proceeds. The attention to detail is shared by the production and the actors, who give very believable performances. Watching the film feels like jumping into the Viking world. I found it very fascinating even though the characters were not quite as sympathetic as I would have liked. The movie is both impressively grounded and amazingly surreal. I liked this better than The Lighthouse but I still think The VVitch is my favorite film by Eggers so far.

Recommended.

 

Eagle Rock Vista Hike

Eagle Rock Vista is on the Virginia/West Virginia border just past the Shenandoah Valley. A trail from Capon Springs Road leads up a hill to an amazing view into West Virginia. The trail, Tuscarora Trail, leads for 250 miles from Pennsylvania to southern Virginia. We only hiked a mile to the overlook.

Trail sign

The trailhead is on the West Virginia/Virginia border, though they don't advertise it

The hike started fairly easy with some flat if stony ground in front of us.

Not so bad at the beginning

Enjoying the hike

Someone else took this photo

The path got steeper and more rocky as we got farther along. The forest on the side of the trail seemed like it had a softer bed than the rain-washed walking path we were following.

Fewer, but still many, rocks

Just short of Eagle Rock is a vista obscured by trees. The autumn afternoon light did not help with photography.

Trying to get a good view

Is it wrong to want the trees down?

We discovered a foot-shaped puddle in one of the rocks. Could Big Foot have been here?

Comparing foot sizes

The vista at Eagle Rock was a much more impressive view of the valley beyond. The view is all West Virginia, with Virginia behind the hills behind us.

Foggy/misty valley

 Clouds in the distance

Heaven shining down

Photos don't do the view justice. It is amazing. The area also has a geocache, for which I snapped a photo.

A more rare sighting than Big Foot

Houses in the distance

Taking a break

One last look!

The vista has plenty of rocky outcroppings. A fire must have happened fairly recently, we saw scorch marks and burnt trees all around.

A fire-proof section

Burnt trees that were felled later

More burnt area

Blackened ground

The hike down was much the same. Since the trail runs two hundred plus miles, there are no loops. At least going downhill was much easier than the trek up!

Book Review: The Tale of Jack and the Fallen Giants by J. Pageau et al.

The Tale of Jack and the Fallen Giants written by Jonathan Pageau and illustrated by Eloise Scherrer

The classic tale of Jack and the Beanstalk is reimagined by Jonathan Pageau in a beautifully illustrated and bound volume. The story has the familiar beats--Jack and his mother are starving in a small house with only a cow for milk. Mother sends Jack to town to sell the cow so they don't starve. He runs into an old man who claims to have magic beans and tricks Jack into trading the cow for the beans. His upset mother tosses them out the window when Jack tries to explain. He accepts that he has been duped but the next morning a giant beanstalk reaches into the sky. Jack decides to climb it, having fantastic adventures that restore the fortunes of his small family.

The book follows the same formula as the previous fairy tale, The Tale of Snow White and the Widow Queen, both returning to the main folkloric story and adding some details and twists to give it a richer meaning and some visual grandeur. The exciting surface story holds a deeper meaning that is not too far down or too obscure to miss. The meaning is a little more buried here but will worth the effort to unearth.

Recommended, highly if you, like me, enjoyed the first volume.

Thanksgiving Getaway 2024

For Thanksgiving, we decided to have a little getaway. Our destination was Star Tannery, Virginia, home of an AirBnB. 

On the way, we stopped in the Centreville/Manassas area. We briefly visited the Manassas National Battlefield Park. The visitor center is not very big but does have a nice 40-minute movie and a light-up diorama in addition to some typical displays.

Visitors Center

Various cannon shells

How they moved artillery around before mechanization

The museum's memorial to fallen soldiers

The First Battle of Manassas/Bull Run was the first battle of the American Civil War. The soldiers in both armies were amateurs and the conflict was very bloody and not at all the decisive conclusion to the war that was expected. Part of the problem was the over 200 different uniforms present, often using reds, blues, and greys on both sides of the conflict. A display showed the variety and similarity of the uniforms. 

A sampling of uniforms

Outside of the museum, we only looked around briefly. The visitor center is right by Henry Hill, a location of the first battle.

View from Henry Hill

Statue of Stonewall Jackson

We popped over to Lab No.1 Asian Bistro for lunch. My wife order Tornado Omurice, a mountain of eggs and rice that looked impressive. I had Okonomiyaki, a fish pancake. 

Tornado Omurice

Okonomiyaki

Our AirBnB was out in the middle of nowhere, a fun place to be for hiking adventures (more about them in other posts). The house includes a fire pit, which we did not use, and a hot tub, which we got a lot of use out of.

Our AirBnB, seen from the car

Too much rain for the fire pit

Yay!

At our AirBnB, we enjoyed the basement game room. It had one of those 12-in-1 tables that had foosball, pool, air hockey, ping pong, shuffleboard, and a few other games. 

The favorite was foosball

Foosball in a different light

Driving around was fun, though at times spooky. The fog (or is it cloud cover?) covered the hills (or are they mountains?) in the distance.

At least it wasn't smoke

We had a fun though smaller Thanksgiving feast. 

Home-made pasta!

Setting the table

Dinner without diners

On our way in, we bought some pies at Woodbine Farm Market, a store near Star Tannery that sells baked goods along with the typical farm market stuff--produce, jams and jellies, local wines and beers, etc. We bought a lemon meringue pie and a pecan pie for our Thanksgiving dessert--yum! 

I wish this was closer to home!

On our way back from the trip, we stopped in Middletown, Virginia.

Festive display

Town playground

Town creek

The town was part of the Battle of Cedar Creek during the American Civil War. On the outskirts are Belle Grove, a plantation house that survived the war and is visitable (which we visited a while ago). Heater House is another building currently being restored by the National Parks. 

Battlefield

Belle Grove

Heater House

In town, Saint Thomas Chapel was built in the 1830s. During the war it was used as a hospital by the Confederates. When the Union won Cedar Creek, they gutted the building and used it as a stable! It was restored in the 1970s.

St. Thomas Chapel

We also saw the memorial to the 128th New York Regiment, one of the units that fought in the battle.

We could have seen a lot more of these

We went to Winchester, Virginia, to have lunch with my sister at Bonnie Blue Southern Market and Bakery. We arrived early so we spent some time at the extra fancy local library. The Handley Regional Library was funded by Judge John Handley. He left a quarter of a million dollars in his will to Winchester to build a library. He died in the 1895 and the library was not completed until 1913. They did an amazing job.

Library entrance

Library dome

Cool staircase

Cool sign

It was a very fun trip. More about it in subsequent posts!