''Arn: The Knight Templar'' ( sv, Arn: Tempelriddaren) is an

epic film Epic films are a style of filmmaking with large-scale, sweeping scope, and spectacle. The usage of the term has shifted over time, sometimes designating a film genre and at other times simply synonymous with big-budget filmmaking. Like epics in ...

based on

Jan Guillou Jan Oskar Sverre Lucien Henri Guillou (, ; born 17 January 1944) is a French-Swedish author and journalist. Guillou's fame in Sweden was established during his time as an investigative journalist, most notably in 1973 when he and co-reporter Pet ...

trilogy A trilogy is a set of three works of art that are connected and can be seen either as a single work or as three individual works. They are commonly found in literature, film, and video games, and are less common in other art forms. Three-part wor ...

about the fictional

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

Knight Templar

Arn Magnusson The ''Crusades'' Trilogy is a series of historical novels written by Swedish author and journalist Jan Guillou about the Consolidation of Sweden and the Crusades. The main character of the trilogy is Arn Magnusson, a fictional Knight Templar in t ...

. The film was released to cinemas in Sweden on 17 December 2007 and the sequel, ''

Arn – The Kingdom at Road's End ''Arn – The Kingdom at Road's End'' ( sv, Arn – Riket vid vägens slut) is an epic film based on Jan Guillou's trilogy about the fictional Swedish Knights Templar Arn Magnusson. It was released to cinemas in Sweden on 22 August 2008 and is th ...

'' (''Arn – Riket vid vägens slut''), was released 22 August 2008, but both films were combined into a single cut for the English release on DVD in 2010. While the film is mostly in Swedish and most of the production was made in Sweden, the film is a joint production between Sweden,

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

and

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. With a total budget of around SEK 210 million (ca.

US $ The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

30 million) for both films, it is the most expensive production in Swedish cinema. The film grossed $22.5 million according to BoxOfficeMojo. The original movie follows the first two volumes of Guillou's

. An "international" version has been created which incorporates this film and its sequel ''

'' into a single cut with a duration of approximately 130 minutes.

Plot

is a son of the powerful Folkung dynasty in the mid-12th century. He grows up in a monastery belonging to the

Cistercians The Cistercians, () officially the Order of Cistercians ( la, (Sacer) Ordo Cisterciensis, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint ...

and is trained there in archery, swordsmanship and horsemanship by a former Knight Templar, the brother Guilbert. Arn is also discovered to be ambidextrous. One day, while wandering the woods, he encounters three men trying to force a young girl into marriage. When the girl begs Arn for help, two of the men attack him and he kills them in self-defense. Although the monks tell Arn he did nothing wrong, they question Guilbert training him in being a warrior. Guilbert replies that Arn is not meant to be a monk but is destined to be a soldier of God. When Arn leaves the monastery and returns to his family, he is soon pulled into the struggle between powerful families fighting for the crown of Västra Götaland. He helps his friend

Knut Eriksson Canute I (Swedish: ''Knut Eriksson'', Old Norse: ''Knútr Eiríksson''; born before 1150 – died 1195/96) was king of Sweden from 1173 to 1195 (rival king since 1167). He was a son of King Eric the Saint and Queen Christina, who was a granddaugh ...

to kill the old king Karl Sverkersson. This leads to war between the two factions. Arn and his fiancée Cecilia Algotsdotter are excommunicated for premarital relations and falsely accused of having relations with Cecilia's sister (in reality a plot to hurt Knut) and forced to undertake twenty years of penance, Cecilia in a convent and Arn as a Knight Templar in the

Holy Land The Holy Land; Arabic: or is an area roughly located between the Mediterranean Sea and the Eastern Bank of the Jordan River, traditionally synonymous both with the biblical Land of Israel and with the region of Palestine. The term "Holy ...

to fight against the Saracens. Cecilia gives birth to Arn's son but the son is taken away from her and she only hears of his survival, and name of Magnus, through another woman who is also named Cecilia, the future queen of Sweden, Cecilia Blanka. While pursuing a band of thieves, Arn comes across the enemy of all Christendom, Saladin, and saves his life. Saladin thanks Arn by warning him away from Jerusalem because he is leading a vast army towards the city. As Saladin marches upon Jerusalem, Arn is given the order to intercept the Saracens before they reach the city, and he and his men successfully ambush Saladin's army in a mountain pass (the ambush taking the place of the historical Battle of Montgisard figuring in the novel). The movie ends with Arn gaining a letter discharging him from his service in the Holy Land from the Templar Grandmaster Arnold of Torroja and Cecilia giving praise to God on hearing news of Arn's survival.

Cast

* Joakim Nätterqvist as

Sofia Helin Sofia Margareta Götschenhjelm-Helin (born 25 April 1972) is a Swedish actress. She was nominated for a Guldbagge Award for her role in ''Dalecarlians'', and stars as Saga Norén in the Danish/Swedish co-produced TV series ''The Bridge'' (Danish: ...

as Cecilia Algotsdotter * Stellan Skarsgård as Birger Brosa, uncle of Arn * Vincent Pérez as Brother Guilbert * Simon Callow as Father Henry *

Steven Waddington Steven Waddington (born 30 December 1967) is an English film and television actor. He is best known for his supporting role in Michael Mann's ''The Last of the Mohicans''. Early life Waddington was born in Leeds, West Riding of Yorkshire, the ...

as Torroja * Jørgen Langhelle as King Eric IX of Sweden (Erik Jedvardsson) * Gustaf Skarsgård as King Canute I of Sweden (Knut Eriksson) * Michael Nyqvist as Magnus Folkesson, Arn's father * Bibi Andersson as Mother Rikissa * Milind Soman as Saladin * Alex Wyndham as Armand de Gascogne * Nicolas Boulton as

Gerard de Ridefort Gérard de Ridefort, also called Gerard de Ridefort (died 4 October 1189), was Grand Master of the Knights Templar from the end of 1184 and until his death in 1189. Early life Gerard de Ridefort is thought probably to have been of Flemish ori ...

* Thomas W. Gabrielsson as Emund Ulvbane *

Jakob Cedergren Jakob Cedergren (born 10 January 1973) is a Swedish-born Danish actor. He has appeared in more than 40 films and television shows since 1998. He starred in the film ''Dark Horse'', which was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2005 ...

as Ebbe Sunesson * Julia Dufvenius as Helena Sverkersson *

Lina Englund Lina Maria Englund (born 14 May 1975 in Spånga) is a Swedish actress and musician. Englund went to the Adolf Fredrik's Music School in Stockholm for middle and high school. When she was 12, she went with a friend to an audition for the movie '' ...

as Katarina, Cecilia's sister *

Morgan Alling Sven Robert Morgan Alling (born ''Persson''; 8 June 1968) is a Swedish actor, screenwriter and film and theatre director. Alling finished Malmö Theatre Academy 1990. He rose to fame in 1993 as co-host of children's television show ''Tippen''. ...

as Eskil Magnusson, Arn's brother * Fanny Risberg as Cecilia Blanka *

Anders Baasmo Christiansen Anders Baasmo (born 29 January 1976) is a Norwegian actor originally from Hamar. Baasmo graduated from the Norwegian Acting Academy in 2000. He started his professional career at the Trøndelag Teater in Trondheim, Norway. He later joined the ...

as the Norwegian templar Harald Øysteinsson *

Driss Roukhe Driss Roukhe (born July 5, 1968) is a Moroccan actor and director. Early life Roukhe was born in Dyour Jdad B’ni M’Hamed, a poor neighborhood of Meknes, and lost his father when he was 7. He practiced theater in high-school and with variou ...

as Fakhir * Mirja Turestedt as Sigrid * Joel Kinnaman as Sverker Karlsson

Production

Development

The film production was headed by Svensk Filmindustri in conjunction with Film i Väst, TV4 (Sweden), Danmarks Radio (

), YLE (

), TV 2 (

) and Telepool (

). With a total budget of around

30,000,000 for the whole production, it is the most expensive production in Scandinavian film history. SVT originally was one of the biggest sponsors of the project, but they pulled out and their role as a major sponsor was taken over by TV4.

Filming

Most of the Swedish scenes were filmed in the province of Västergötland. Other scenes were filmed in Scotland and Morocco. Most of the actors in the film speak

, while others speak Latin, English, and

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

. The scenes in the

use English (although historically it would have been Medieval Latin and Old French) and Arabic, including quotations from the Qur'an.

Soundtrack

The music for the movie was composed by Tuomas Kantelinen. Laleh also recorded the theme song for the film, entitled "

Snö "Snö" ("Snow") is a song by Iranian-Swedish singer-songwriter Laleh recorded with the London Symphony Orchestra for the film Arn - The Knight Templar. It was released on 19 December 2007 as her ninth single and was later included on her third ...

,". The track was released as a single in 2007 and was later placed as a track on her 2009 album '' Me and Simon''. "

" peaked at #14 on the Swedish Singles Chart.

Track listing

" by Laleh - 4:30 #"Prologe" - 1:07 #"Desert Hunt" - 2:49 #"The Templar's Theme" - 0:59 #"To Varnhems Abbey" - 1:48 #"Longing" - 3:34 #"Avresan" - 1:04 #"Gratias" - 3:26 #"Arn & Cecilia" - 3:20 #"Adiago" 2:17 #"Nightmare" - 1:06 #"The Sword" 1:45 #"The Abbey" - 2:03 #"Axevalla tvekamp" - 2:31 #"The Templar's triumf" - 1:28 #"Saladin's camp" - 0:37 #"The land of home" - 1:48 #"The Arrival" - 1:09 #"Nuns" - 0:58 #"West Götaland" - 2:35 #"Reward" - 1:27 #"The End" - 2:36 #"

" by Laleh - 4:30

Reception

'' The Guardian'' credited the film with an exciting plot and convincing acting, and locations that "you don't get bored ffor a second". However, it criticised the story for not being very believable as the Knights Templar were religious fundamentalists, not "tolerant and multicultural-friendly crusaders".

References

External links

Official website
* *
''Arn: The Knight Templar'' at SF International

''Arn: The Knight Templar'' preview on european-films.net
{{DEFAULTSORT:Arn: The Knight Templar 2007 films 2000s action drama films 2000s historical romance films 2000s war drama films Films set in the 12th century Films based on Swedish novels Historical action films 2007 3D films Crusades films Knights Templar in popular culture Films directed by Peter Flinth Films shot in Edinburgh Films set in Västergötland Swedish action films Swedish epic films Films scored by Tuomas Kantelinen War epic films Films set in Jerusalem 2007 drama films 2000s Swedish films