The Northman is about a young Viking heir, Prince Amieth, who witnesses the murder of his father, King Aurandil War-Raven at the hands of his brother, Fjolnir (a la the Lion King).  Ethan Hawke plays the ill-fated king who I honestly did not recognize – as was the case with other characters like Willem Dafoe as Heimir the Fool and Bjork as Seeress the blind prophetess.  Prince Amieth (Alexander Skarsgard) vows to avenge his father’s death and rescue his kidnapped mother played by Nicole Kidman.  Unfortunately for Fjolnir (Claes Bang), the kingdom he steals from his brother is stolen from him and he flees to Iceland with  Prince Amieth’s mother.  The Prince pretends to be a slave in order to get to Iceland for his revenge.  In the process, he meets a slave girl on his journey played by Ana Taylor-Joy and she becomes his love and his support in his quest.  But the road to vengeance is bumpy for them both.  There is a lot of fighting, torture, murder and pain. This is an extremely violent movie, but then Vikings were violent people.  A common Christian prayer at the time was “a furore normanorum, libera nos Domine! (from the fury of the Norsemen, deliver us O Lord). Animal lovers take care as there are two gruesome beheadings of horses.  I also did not enjoy the very realistic Viking funeral.  The Viking lore interspersed throughout the movie was fascinating to me and it appears they did a lot of research into the lifestyle.  The setting (especially when they get to Iceland) and cinematography were exquisite.  The plot has a few surprises, and I love it when I do not anticipate events in a movie.  All in all, if you like realistic violence, Viking mythology and breathtaking scenery, and people with unusual names ( Finnr the Nose-Stub, I’m talking about you) you just might enjoy the Northman.