la lotta senza quartiere di due clan, la pace ritrovata e poi persa ad opera di uno squallido e del suo sodale cieco che insinuano sospetti e minacce (oggi diremmo che si comportano come gli inglesi, dove passano loro scoppiano le guerre, si sa).
non ci sono castelli, solo stazzi dispersi nella campagna, e c'è anche la storia di Romeo e Giulietta (anche Shakespeare aveva letto quella storia islandese) e nella sua essenzialità e profondità il film lo possono capire in qualsiasi parte del mondo.
come nella storia di Ulisse (e come oggi, l'uomo non cambia mai) la fine è un bagno di sangue, e l'eroe vince, ma Signe muore.
un gioiellino senza tempo, promesso.
buona (vendicativa) visione - Ismaele
QUI si può vedere il film completo, con sottotitoli in inglese
…The picture is fascinating. It is Romeo and Juliet
drama performed in Swedish by a small cast. It was co-produced by a
Swedish-Danish-Icelandic company, and photographed in magnificent natural
colors against the bleak spendor of an Icelandic mountainside.As a tender love
drama of two youngsters that surges and explodes with the hate and vengeance of
two warring clans, the story unfolds awash in a flow of crimson. Some of the
mayhem—two decapitations and continual skewerings—is horrifying.Yet the context
of the film and the integration of its components make for such simple
affecting unity and visual impact, that no one should miss it…
…The storyline has the familiarity of a classic
archetype but director Axel makes it fresh and engaging with a visual approach
that emphasizes the volcanic landscapes of Iceland (where it was filmed) and
the physical actions and behavior of the main characters. Dialogue is used
sparingly and the sound design is particularly evocative of another time with
its mixture of clattering swords and armor, horses snorting and galloping, the
crashing surf and discordant musical cues that utilize horns, a solo piano and
male and female choruses…
scrive
Roger Ebert:
“Hagbard
and Signe” is a beautiful, lean, spare film, which reaches back into the
legends of the past to find its strength. I think it must be reckoned the sleeper
of the year; I had not heard of it previously, either under the present title
or as “The Red Mantle” (its title as the Danish entry at Cannes).
Director Gabriel Axel set his
story in the year 1100 and shot entirely on location in Iceland to find the
virgin landscapes of the middle ages. His experiment was a splendid success:
From scenes of conflict, the camera often looks up to unbroken panoramas of
mountains, ice, mist and tough green vegetation.
The plot
has the simplicity of legend, as if it had been retold for many years until
only the most important contours remained. The film involves three brothers who
come to avenge their father’s death.
They
fight the king’s three sons with sword and spear, but the match is a standoff,
and at day’s end the king declares a truce. The brothers spend the night at his
castle. One of them, Hagbard, falls in love with the king’s daughter, Signe,
and she with him.
What
follows has its roots in a dozen folk tales from as many lands; I would rather
praise the marvelous craft of this film. There is a battle scene halfway
through that is among the most perfect and brutal I have ever seen; it ranks
with the battle in Orson Welles’ “Falstaff.”
In most
battle scenes, we become aware that we are shown first one swordsman, then the
other, but never both actually chopping at each other. Here, however, we are
drawn right in to the heart of battle. Then there are the horses; enormous,
muscular, slow, strong war-horses. Not since the short “Dreams of the Wild
Horses” have horses been shown with such effect in film.
The
actors are more than accomplished. The king and queen are played by Gunner
Bjornstrand and Eva Dahlbeck, two veteran
members of Ingmar Bergman’s repertory company. The young lovers are physically
and spiritually lovely: Gitte Haenning (Signe) is a greater beauty, in my
eyes, than Pia Degermark of “Elvira Madigan.”
Two more
things need to be said. The dialog is rare and sparse; for long passages, we
hear nothing but natural sounds, and when the characters do speak they say only
what is necessary. This helps to establish the film as legend; talking too much
would only get us bogged down. The other thing that must be mentioned is the
photography by Henning Bentsen. He places us so firmly in the breathtaking
lonely vastness of Iceland that we can believe only heroes could inhabit this
land.
Nessun commento:
Posta un commento