''When the Raven Flies'' (original is, Hrafninn flýgur ()) is a 1984 Icelandic-Swedish
adventure film written and directed by
Hrafn Gunnlaugsson
Hrafn Gunnlaugsson (born 17 June 1948) is an Icelandic film director. He is the brother of mathematician Þorvaldur Gunnlaugsson and the lawyer Snædís Gunnlaugsdóttir and the actress Tinna Gunnlaugsdóttir. He is mostly known for his series o ...
. The story is set in
Viking Age
The Viking Age () was the period during the Middle Ages when Norsemen known as Vikings undertook large-scale raiding, colonizing, conquest, and trading throughout Europe and reached North America. It followed the Migration Period and the Germ ...
Iceland. The film was selected as the Icelandic entry for the
Best Foreign Language Film at the
57th Academy Awards
The 57th Academy Awards were presented March 25, 1985, at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Los Angeles. Jack Lemmon presided over the ceremonies. This ceremony marked the first time that multiple black nominees would win an Oscar, when Prince an ...
, but was not accepted as a nominee. In 2016, online newspaper
Kjarninn voted it as the best Icelandic film of all time.
Although mainly a tale of personal revenge, ''When the Raven Flies'' bears some resemblance to the classic
Akira Kurosawa
was a Japanese filmmaker and painter who directed thirty films in a career spanning over five decades. He is widely regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers in the history of cinema. Kurosawa displayed a bold, dyna ...
film ''
Yojimbo
is a 1961 Japanese Samurai cinema, samurai film co-written, produced, edited, and directed by Akira Kurosawa. The film stars Toshiro Mifune, Tatsuya Nakadai, Yoko Tsukasa, Isuzu Yamada, Daisuke Katō, Takashi Shimura, Kamatari Fujiwara, and Ats ...
'' and ''
A Fistful of Dollars
''A Fistful of Dollars'' ( it, Per un pugno di dollari, lit=For a Fistful of Dollars titled on-screen as ''Fistful of Dollars'') is a 1964 Spaghetti Western film directed by Sergio Leone and starring Clint Eastwood in his first leading role, ...
'' of
Sergio Leone, sharing common plot events, characters and action sequences., which itself drew inspiration from
Dashiell Hammett
Samuel Dashiell Hammett (; May 27, 1894 – January 10, 1961) was an American writer of hard-boiled detective novels and short stories. He was also a screenwriter and political activist. Among the enduring characters he created are Sam Spade ('' ...
's ''
Red Harvest
''Red Harvest'' (1929) is a novel by Dashiell Hammett. The story is narrated by the Continental Op, a frequent character in Hammett's fiction, much of which is drawn from his own experiences as an operative of the Pinkerton Detective Agency (fic ...
''. Gunnlaugsson also drew inspiration from the
Sagas of Icelanders
The sagas of Icelanders ( is, Íslendingasögur, ), also known as family sagas, are one genre of Icelandic sagas. They are prose narratives mostly based on historical events that mostly took place in Iceland in the ninth, tenth, and early el ...
and aimed to deconstruct the Viking stereotypes, replacing them with more authentic portrayals of the Viking era.
''When the Raven Flies'' is the first film of the ''Raven Trilogy'' (also known as the ''Viking Trilogy'') that consists of three Viking films: ''When the Raven Flies'' (1984, usually known as simply ''The Raven'' or ''Revenge of the Barbarians''), ''
In the Shadow of the Raven'' (1987, original Icelandic title: ''Í skugga hrafnsins'') and ''
Embla
In Norse mythology, Ask and Embla ( non, Askr ok Embla )—male and female respectively—were the first two humans, created by the gods. The pair are attested in both the ''Poetic Edda'', compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional s ...
'' (1991, original Icelandic title: ''Hvíti víkingurinn''), which is a
director's cut of ''The White Viking''.
Plot
In the opening scene in Ireland, a young boy loses his parents in a
Viking
Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden),
who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...
raid, but is spared in spite of the command of Thord, the Vikings' leader, to kill him. His sister is kidnapped by the Vikings. Twenty years later, the boy has become a man and travels to Iceland to seek revenge against the perpetrators and find his sister. His name is never revealed, and he is only known as "Gestur" by the characters in the film since he is a stranger to them. "Gestur" simply means "guest" but is also not an uncommon given name.
With two of the Viking raiders now living in exile from
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 the ...
and king
Harald Hairfair, Gestur coldly plays their gangs against each other to get his revenge. He stays out of sight, only revealing himself through his killings and to Erik, Thord's fosterbrother. He slays several of Thord's men and then frames Erik's gang for it. Thord is led to believe that Erik is plotting against him with king Harald and is lying about the Gestur character. Thord's younger brother encourages this thinking - it is later revealed that he is the one plotting to overthrow Thord and take his position. Thord is eventually driven to attack Erik and his men, killing them all.
Gestur discovers that Thord is married to the now adult sister and they have a young son. Gestur reveals himself to his long lost sister, but she is still a Christian like their father raised them and does not help Gestur's plans to assassinate Thord.
Thord is a devout
Norse paganist. Gestur secretly manipulates Thord's altar, leading Thord to believe that the gods demand his son, Einar, as a sacrifice. In her desperation, Gestur's sister reveals her brother was the one who manipulated the altar and leads Thord and his gang to capture Gestur. He refuses to reveal who he is, even under brutal torture. The guilt-stricken sister frees him in secret, and the badly wounded Gestur escapes to Erik's grave.
Thord decides that he will use Gestur's trick against him. He secretly confides with
Odin that he will use the ceremony as a hoax to lure Gestur out to save Einar. In the middle of the ceremony, Gestur suddenly reveals himself in Erik's funeral cloth. When Thord's arrows fail to kill Gestur, Thord's followers mistake him for Erik's vengeful ghost and flees. Gestur is secretly wearing armor beneath his cloak which allows him to get in range of Thord and his brother, revealing his true identity and killing them both.
Gestur buries his weapons and asks his sister and her son to come with him back to Ireland. He claims that he will now abandon violence and live a Christian life. His sister refuses and says that her son is "old enough to have seen too much", using the same words that Thord used twenty years ago when he ordered the killing of Gestur. In the final scene of the film, Einar looks after Gestur in anger and digs up Gestur's buried weapons, presumably to avenge his father and continue the cycle of violence.
Cast
*
Jakob Þór Einarsson as Gestur
*
Helgi Skúlason as Thord
*
Edda Björgvinsdóttir as Gestur's Sister
*
Egill Ólafsson as Thord's Brother
*
Flosi Ólafsson as Erik
* Gotti Sigurdarson (as Gottskálk D. Sigurdarson) as Einar, son of Thord
* Sveinn M. Eiðsson as Guard
* Þráinn Karlsson as Olaf the Childlover
* Júlíus Hjörleifsson as Hjörleifur
* Pétur Einarsson as Slaver with heavy knife
*
Þorsteinn Gunnarsson
Þorsteinn Gunnarsson (born 1940) is an Icelandic actor and architect. He is known for his role as Eirikur in the Icelandic TV-series '' Trapped''. In 2003 he was nominated for an Edda Award for his role in '' Nói Albinói''.
Selected filmograp ...
as Leader of the merchants
* Haukur & Hörður Harðarson as the Knife-Twins
*
Gunnar Jónsson as Erik's Retainer
*
Guðrún Kristín Magnúsdóttir
Guðrún Kristín Magnúsdóttir (born 27 September 1939 in Reykjavík) is an Icelandic author and artist. She has received a number of awards as an artist and author of more than 130 books,
including children's books, books on nature, and the ...
Production
Hrafn Gunnlaugsson and Bo Jonsson both wanted to make a viking film, but do it unlike the depictions of vikings as done in Hollywood films. Their original plan was to adapt
Nobel Prize in Literature-recipient
Halldór Laxness' novel ''Gerpla'' into a film. Laxness was willing the sell them the film rights but advised against making the film. Laxness believed that since his novel was written as a response to the saga-genre, a film version had to be based in a viking film genre which Laxness did not believe existed. Hrafn and Jonsson attempted to write a screenplay, but found that they shared Laxness' sentiment. Instead they decided to rework the research and concept art they already had for an original film. Hrafn decided to use the films of
Sergio Leone as a inspiration and added several elements from various Icelandic sagas into the film.
Karl Júlíusson was recruited to make the costumes. At the time Karl ran a leather shop in
Reykjavík
Reykjavík ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Iceland. It is located in southwestern Iceland, on the southern shore of Faxaflói bay. Its latitude is 64°08' N, making it the world's northernmost capital of a sovereign state. With a po ...
. This was his first film. Danish composer Hans-Erik Philip was hired to compose a score, inspired by the scores of
Ennio Morricone.
Sigvaldi Kaldalóns's ''Á Sprengisandi'' was used as the main theme. Most of the film was shot in southern Iceland, at
Kleifarvatn
Kleifarvatn () is the largest lake on the Reykjanes Peninsula in Iceland, situated in the southern part of the peninsula. It is located on the fissure zone of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. The lake has no visible water coming in or going out as most ...
and
Reynisdrangar and around
Skogar and
Vík í Mýrdal
The village of Vík (; or Vík í Mýrdal in full) is the southernmost village in Iceland, located on the main ring road around the island, around by road southeast of Reykjavík.
Despite its small size (750 inhabitants in Mýrdalshreppur as ...
.
Awards
* Hrafn Gunnlaugsson won the 1985
Guldbagge Award
The Guldbagge Awards ( sv, Guldbaggen, en, Gold scarab) is an official and annual Swedish film awards ceremony honoring achievements in the Swedish film industry. Winners are awarded a statuette depicting a rose chafer, better known by the nam ...
for
Best Director Best Director is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organizations, festivals, and people's awards. It may refer to:
Film awards
* AACTA Award for Best Direction
* Academy Award for Best Director
* BA ...
.
* Hrafn Gunnlaugsson was nominated for the 1986 International Fantasy Film Award for Best Film.
In popular culture
Dutch comics artist
Erik Kriek has cited ''When the Raven Flies'' as a major inspiration to his
graphic novel
A graphic novel is a long-form, fictional work of sequential art. The term ''graphic novel'' is often applied broadly, including fiction, non-fiction, and anthologized work, though this practice is highly contested by comic scholars and industry ...
''De Balling'' (2019), which is also a revenge story set in the Viking Age.
See also
*
*
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:When The Raven Flies
1984 films
Films scored by Harry Manfredini
Films based on European myths and legends
Films directed by Hrafn Gunnlaugsson
Films set in Iceland
Films set in the Middle Ages
Films set in the Viking Age
Icelandic adventure films
1980s Icelandic-language films
Films whose director won the Best Director Guldbagge Award
Swedish adventure films
1980s Swedish films