As far as Norwegian movies go, this is a true gem. I may be biased, since I saw this movie a whole lot as a kid, but that doesn't change the fact that having just re-watched it at a mature age, I still think its great.
My motivation for writing this review is that the only other comment available gives the movie a completely unfair bashing and omits several facts in an effort to discredit it further.
Sigurd Drakedreper (The Littlest Viking) is a movie set in feudal Norway. The main character of the story is Sigurd, the son of the village Jarl (chieftain). As was normal in those times, settlements were small and little more then a group of families who settled near plow-able fields for crops and fjords for fishing. Sigurd's father is a raiding warrior who make seasonal trips to Ireland to loot valuables and capture treller (slaves).
It is immediately obvious, right from the start of the movie that Sigurd is not the great warrior that his father is, nor does he have any ambitions to become one, much to the frustration of his father. Instead, Sigurd is a talented hunter and craftsman. After traveling with his father to a market, he meets a woodcarver and immediately develops a taste for it, as well as showing some prowess with a knife for purposes other then war.
The Illugs are a rival village, settled near the foot of a mountain close by, though we never get to see their village itself. A great blood feud is being waged between these two villages and to Sigurd's father, carrying out this blood feud is all-important. The son of the Illug Jarl, Tord; is of the same age as Sigurd and a natural rival as both boys seem to have at least a familiarity with one another, no doubt due to their warmongering father's lecturing.
As the story unfolds Sigurd develop friendships with two other characters of note. The Ravengirl, a very mysterious young girl clad in a cloak of raven's feathers and with apparent medicinal and herbal skills who live in the forests around the village. The second is a recently captured Trell from Ireland.
Initially, Sigurd's relationship with the Trell boy is marked by the intolerance towards slaves that Sigurd has been around his whole life, but then after the boy saves Sigurd from drowning, their friendship begins to grow. Sigurd stands up for the kid on more then one occasion and even defies one of the village's berserker's Orm Viking, whom is also Sigurd's combat trainer.
A transition of a couple of months happen and once again the Jarl is returning from a raid on Ireland, only this time he has been slain. As the Jarl's only son, Sigurd is next in line to lead his village, much to the displeasure of Orm Viking, the movie's obvious antagonist. With Sigurd's village in disarray and the Jarl slain, the Illugs realize that now is the time to strike. In an attempt to burn down Sigurd's village, the Jarl of the Illugs is also slain, meaning that Tord Illugson, Sigurd's rival rises to leader as well.
After Sigurd chases Tord into the woods and the two have a fight, they both come to an unspoken realization that they have a chance to end the blood feud and restore peace between their two people. Just as they realize this, one of the Illug warriors show up and wound Sigurd before chasing him off into the hills. The Ravengirl finds the unconscious Sigurd and takes him to her home to heal his wound and it is revealed that she is in fact his illegitimate sister.
When Sigurd returns to his village, Orm Viking is in the middle of staging his coup, insisting that he saw Sigurd slain and that he should be the new Jarl. Upon seeing Sigurd however, the remaining warriors in the village flock to him as their rightful leader.
The movie ends like you might expect when Tord shows up with some Illug warriors and the two villages exchange prisoners before peace is finally a reality.
In summary, Sigurd Drakedreper is a movie that I heartily recommend to everyone, although admittedly, children might get more out of it then adults. The movie is very children-friendly and there is no excessive violence or language. This is not an action-film and it might be too slow-paced for today's youth who watch a lot of present-day cartoons.
My motivation for writing this review is that the only other comment available gives the movie a completely unfair bashing and omits several facts in an effort to discredit it further.
Sigurd Drakedreper (The Littlest Viking) is a movie set in feudal Norway. The main character of the story is Sigurd, the son of the village Jarl (chieftain). As was normal in those times, settlements were small and little more then a group of families who settled near plow-able fields for crops and fjords for fishing. Sigurd's father is a raiding warrior who make seasonal trips to Ireland to loot valuables and capture treller (slaves).
It is immediately obvious, right from the start of the movie that Sigurd is not the great warrior that his father is, nor does he have any ambitions to become one, much to the frustration of his father. Instead, Sigurd is a talented hunter and craftsman. After traveling with his father to a market, he meets a woodcarver and immediately develops a taste for it, as well as showing some prowess with a knife for purposes other then war.
The Illugs are a rival village, settled near the foot of a mountain close by, though we never get to see their village itself. A great blood feud is being waged between these two villages and to Sigurd's father, carrying out this blood feud is all-important. The son of the Illug Jarl, Tord; is of the same age as Sigurd and a natural rival as both boys seem to have at least a familiarity with one another, no doubt due to their warmongering father's lecturing.
As the story unfolds Sigurd develop friendships with two other characters of note. The Ravengirl, a very mysterious young girl clad in a cloak of raven's feathers and with apparent medicinal and herbal skills who live in the forests around the village. The second is a recently captured Trell from Ireland.
Initially, Sigurd's relationship with the Trell boy is marked by the intolerance towards slaves that Sigurd has been around his whole life, but then after the boy saves Sigurd from drowning, their friendship begins to grow. Sigurd stands up for the kid on more then one occasion and even defies one of the village's berserker's Orm Viking, whom is also Sigurd's combat trainer.
A transition of a couple of months happen and once again the Jarl is returning from a raid on Ireland, only this time he has been slain. As the Jarl's only son, Sigurd is next in line to lead his village, much to the displeasure of Orm Viking, the movie's obvious antagonist. With Sigurd's village in disarray and the Jarl slain, the Illugs realize that now is the time to strike. In an attempt to burn down Sigurd's village, the Jarl of the Illugs is also slain, meaning that Tord Illugson, Sigurd's rival rises to leader as well.
After Sigurd chases Tord into the woods and the two have a fight, they both come to an unspoken realization that they have a chance to end the blood feud and restore peace between their two people. Just as they realize this, one of the Illug warriors show up and wound Sigurd before chasing him off into the hills. The Ravengirl finds the unconscious Sigurd and takes him to her home to heal his wound and it is revealed that she is in fact his illegitimate sister.
When Sigurd returns to his village, Orm Viking is in the middle of staging his coup, insisting that he saw Sigurd slain and that he should be the new Jarl. Upon seeing Sigurd however, the remaining warriors in the village flock to him as their rightful leader.
The movie ends like you might expect when Tord shows up with some Illug warriors and the two villages exchange prisoners before peace is finally a reality.
In summary, Sigurd Drakedreper is a movie that I heartily recommend to everyone, although admittedly, children might get more out of it then adults. The movie is very children-friendly and there is no excessive violence or language. This is not an action-film and it might be too slow-paced for today's youth who watch a lot of present-day cartoons.