Who’d have imagined that the best knights and armor movie since Braveheart (discounting The Lord of the Rings trilogy, a fantasy) would come out of Sweden, of all places?
Arn: The Knight Templar (available on DVD and Blue Ray) is an adaptation (much truncated, I understand) of a Swedish television miniseries based on a trilogy of novels by Jan Guillou. The hero is Arn Magnusson (Joakim Nätterkvist), a young man who was raised in a monastery, but trained in arms by a monk who was once a Knight Templar. Returning to his family, he falls in love with a neighbor’s daughter, Cecilia (Sofia Helin). Unfortunately her father’s political obligations make their match impossible. But the two young people manage to get together long enough to conceive a child. The ensuing scandal results in her being confined to a nunnery, and him being sent to join the Knights Templar on crusade in the Holy Land.
The storytelling requirements of fitting all this into the 133 minute run time make for a lot of intercutting and flashbacks (you do have to pay attention), but we follow their separate trials and and struggles for the next twenty years. The focus is on Arn, who becomes a legendary fighter in the Holy Land, one whom the Muslim armies recognize, fear, and respect. He even becomes a friend of Saladin, a circumstance which saves his life (what would fictional crusaders ever do without Saladin to pull their escutcheons out of the fire?). After their time of punishment is complete, Arn and Cecilia are reunited and married, but one final challenge remains for his warrior skills. Continue reading DVD Review: Arn: The Knight Templar
All posts by Lars Walker
"Hark! The Herald Angels Sing"
Sissel wishes you a blessed Christmas.
(You’ll note that they use the original “Born to raise the sons of earth” line, rather than a PC revision. That’s like a Christmas present right there.)
"The House of Christmas"
The Nativity, by Federico Barocci, c. 1597
By: G. K. Chesterton
There fared a mother driven forth
Out of an inn to roam;
In the place where she was homeless
All men are at home.
The crazy stable close at hand,
With shaking timber and shifting sand,
Grew a stronger thing to abide and stand
Than the square stones of Rome.
For men are homesick in their homes,
And strangers under the sun,
And they lay on their heads in a foreign land
Whenever the day is done.
Here we have battle and blazing eyes,
And chance and honour and high surprise,
But our homes are under miraculous skies
Where the yule tale was begun.
A Child in a foul stable,
Where the beasts feed and foam;
Only where He was homeless
Are you and I at home;
We have hands that fashion and heads that know,
But our hearts we lost – how long ago!
In a place no chart nor ship can show
Under the sky’s dome.
This world is wild as an old wives’ tale,
And strange the plain things are,
The earth is enough and the air is enough
For our wonder and our war;
But our rest is as far as the fire-drake swings
And our peace is put in impossible things
Where clashed and thundered unthinkable wings
Round an incredible star.
To an open house in the evening
Home shall men come,
To an older place than Eden
And a taller town than Rome.
To the end of the way of the wandering star,
To the things that cannot be and that are,
To the place where God was homeless
And all men are at home.
"Nå tennes tusen julelys"
Here’s one of my favorite songs from Sissel’s Kyrkjebø’s first Christmas album, the one that made her a superstar in Norway. The title means “Now a thousand Christmas lights are being lit.” I was looking for a live performance video, but the only one I could find is half talk (in Norwegian). So you’ll just have to look at her face on the album cover, which seems to me no chore. Below is an original translation of the lyrics, done by me at this keyboard at this very moment:
Around this darkened world tonight,
A thousand candles glow,
And all God’s stars above shine down
To cheer our night below.And over towns and over fields
The joyful carols sing
The news that in a manger bed
We find our God and King.O Star that shone o’er Bethlehem,
To hail the holy birth,
Bring to our hearts the angels’ song
Of love and peace on earth.So every wand’ring heart shall see
A beacon in their sky,
To light their path through this dark world
To Christmas home on high.
(For the record, this picture of Sissel on the “Glade Jul” album was the inspiration for the appearance of the character Halla in The Year of the Warrior.)
On the dating of Christmas
I’ve dealt with this before, among other places here. As many times as you’ve heard it said that Christians just “took over” the Roman Saturnalia celebration and turned it into Christmas, that “fact” actually rests on fairly shaky ground.
There’s good reason to believe that the date was chosen for symbolic and theological reasons, not simply as a substitutionary placeholder for Roman orgies.
First Things links to this article from Biblical Archaeology Review, which affirms the argument. The case is strengthened by the fact that the author is plainly not a believer in biblical inerrancy.
To be clear, the argument here is not that Jesus was in fact born on December 25. The argument is that the early church had other reasons for choosing the date than just usurping a heathen festival.
Which means that that guy in your church who says you’re going to hell because you have a Christmas tree is putting his confidence in questionable scholarship.
Have a Simeon Christmas
What follows may look, to start with, suspiciously like a pity party. I understand why you might think that, since I haven’t been above such fishing expeditions in the past. But I’m going to do my level best to avoid “poor me” games here. I mean to address, not my own situation, but that of others.
Lindsay Stallones over at Evangelical Outpost has posted a meditation pretty much guaranteed to bring us all down. In We Need a Darker Christmas, she notes that the true Christmas story is not a merry and bright Claymation special: Continue reading Have a Simeon Christmas
Flaherty on Lewis in the Wall Street Journal.
I don’t remember who pointed this out to me, but Micheal Flaherty at The Wall Street Journal offers a brilliant defense, both of Sarah Palin and of C. S. Lewis, against Joy Behar’s ignorant dismissal of the great Oxbridge scholar and Christian apologist as somebody who wrote children’s books.
An amazing slip-up on the part of someone who, we seem to be constantly assured, is one of the great minds of our time. I suppose I could say I was Surprised by Joy’s Ignorance.
Early warning on Erling's Day
December 21 is the anniversary of the death in 1028 of Erling Skjalgsson, hero of my Viking novels.
I know what you’re wondering. “How do I express my condolences?”
The best way I can think of is to order a copy of West Oversea.
Even if you already have one.
I know it’s what Erling would have wanted.
Film review: "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader"
(If you’ve seen the following review already posted at The American Culture, you may be wondering why I posted it first there, which is not my usual practice. The reason is that I was asked specifically by Sam Karnick of TAC to write this review last weekend, but was prevented by the weather from getting to the theater. So after I’d viewed the film yesterday, I made haste to post it for TAC as quickly as possible.)
The big question you’re bringing to this review, I’m pretty sure, is, “Is The Voyage of the Dawn Treader worthy of its source? Is it more like the first movie, which we loved, or the second movie, which we didn’t even bother to see?”
I’m happy to report that for one C. S. Lewis geek at least, the movie was very satisfying and provided an extremely good time at the movies. (I saw it in 3D. I don’t know if that matters or not; you’re on your own on whether to spend the money. Personally, I’m a sucker for flashy magic.)
It should always be borne in mind that books and movies are different species of story. What works for one may not work for the other (though it’s nice when they do). I ask just three things of a film adaptation of a beloved novel. First, it should make some effort to follow the general outline of the original (extra points for dialogue faithfully carried over). Second, it should hit most of the dramatic high points. And third, it should deliver something like the same emotional impact.
For this particular viewer, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader succeeded. Very well. I’m not sure yet, but I might even like it better than the first movie. Continue reading Film review: "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader"
"My Heart Always Wanders"
Tonight, another Christmas hymn sung by Sissel. This one probably isn’t familiar to you (I think it’s Swedish), but it’s one of Sissel’s own favorites, and has become one of mine. “Mitt hjerte altid vanker” means “My heart always wanders,” and the song goes on to say that the singer’s heart always wanders back to the place where Christ was born, because all his/her joy is there.
I particularly like the way they use some strains of Grieg for the bridge.