|
|
Written, Produced, Starring Presented by 109 minutes |
 |
||
 |
||||
|
SEVERED WAYS: THE NORSE DISCOVERY OF AMERICA Review
For several months in the Vermont wilderness, filmmaker Tony Stone took a small cast and crew and a DVX 100 camera to make a film about the Vikings descent in America approximately one thousand years ago. Shot on a micro budget, Stone (who also stars in the film) has seen the film become a hit on the festival circuit and a major distribution deal that got its New York release in theaters this past weekend. The film is an often intriguing tale, made impressive that it was shot on no budget, but the subject matter leaves a lot to be desired. SEVERED WAYS begins on the coast of North America, beautifully photographed in the wilderness of Vermont, as two Vikings, Orn (Stone) and Volnard (Fiore Tedesco) are stranded in the new land after a fierce battle. The two settle inland and make camp, while coming to terms with events in their lives and the events of the New World, such as the native settlers who are in the shadows and the rise of Christianity in the form of two escaped Monks who seek shelter as well. While Orn dreams of his wife (Gaby Hoffman in an interesting cameo), Volnard is guilt ridden by the suicide of his sister, upset at his refusal to accept her newfound Christian faith. SEVERED WAYS moves very slowly as the film proceeds, with extreme moments of no dialogue. The film is entirely spoken in the Norse language with subtitles. There’s no doubt that Stone researched this time period intensely as everything looks very authentic. The film feels like you are a third Viking, observing everything around the two warriors, kind of in the same vein as THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT. The slow moving story does drag on a little too long as the movie goes on, and some of the hardships shown were a little too much. However, where Stone makes it work is show that although this is 1000 years ago, we surprisingly haven’t changed much as a culture, and the Vikings were an advanced culture for its time. One scene in particular has Orn in a tribal dance once he has built camp, but with a blistering heavy metal soundtrack behind it, it looks like he is headbanging. It’s actually quite humorous and to see Volnard’s growing friendship with one of the Monks they discover (and burn down their church) shows that the Christian faith is starting to spread in America. Some scenes simply do not work. There is a close up of a defecation scene which while it shows the hardship (and lack of bathrooms) in the Norse time, I don’t think it was too necessary to the plot (I pointed out to the filmmaker when I interviewed him if this was a statement against 10,000 BC but after laughter he admitted that this was filmed well before it). There is another scene where Orn is imprisoned by a tribe of Native Americans where a woman literally rapes him. It’s effective because you don’t see much but what is implied makes it quite disturbing. The film does have some violent moments, but it is not necessarily a gory movie. The effects that are shown are done well. There are impalings, slicings, and arrow hits, but the blood doesn’t fly. The film isn’t too kind to animals as well. PETA will have a field day with this movie. A dog is set on fire, and there’s a graphic decapitation of a chicken which is used for their survival. It’s hard to judge the performances in the film but they are all good in their roles, and look literally like they came out from the time they lived in. Stone in particular is good as Orn, but Tedesco has the film’s best moments with the Monk (David Perry) as he shows him the teachings of the Bible. It is also the best subplot of the movie as Volnard is obviously feeling guilt over his sister and feels remorse through this Monk and understands just why his sister chose to follow this path. In all, SEVERED WAYS is worth a look at your local cinema. It’s completely different than the normal “do it yourself” movie as Stone has captured a time on film that’s very seldom seen. It’s fascinating and beautifully shot, if not overlong and plodding at points. It’s admirable and succeeds on some levels, but not all, and Stone should be commended on making such a personal film available to a wide audience. SEVERED WAYS: THE NORSE DISCOVERY OF AMERICA: 6 Out Of 10 Maggots
|
|
|||
.jpg)
