Dagmar - L'anima dei vichinghi

For some reason this is on prime video but has no subtitles. I think it's Norwegian. Even without subtitles you understand 90% of what's going on. The acting is very good, amazing cinematography and I mean truly amazing. If you're bored just give it a try.

So let's call it or rather a few things here for what they are: convinient! And yes that means that they happen so the movie and our character can move along. If you have issues with them, you might not feel that the movie deserve the rating I gave it. Fair enough.

Having said that, it is a thriller, things that are or seem unlikely will happen. Overall it is very well shot though and you are immersed into the story. Or can be - which is quite something if you watch the outtakes after the movie is over (on the disc version I own) - it seems so far removed. And it is a testament to the actors for going to that place ... literally and metaphorically speaking

I stumbled across this little gem on Amazon Instant Video and was persuaded to watch it by the numerous good reviews. I'm so glad that I did because it is a great little film – using a combination of gritty visuals, great acting and the stark but beautiful landscape of the Norwegian mountains to tell a simple but gripping tale. The pacing is great and the way that the characters are fleshed out (for the most part) is pretty well done – although there are a few unanswered questions about how the gang of robbers came to come together. The writers also did a good job of making the story harrowing but not dwelling too much on the suffering of individual characters. There's some blood – but it's not excessive and the potential sexual element (as is natural for a story about a young girl kidnapped by a bunch of depraved bandits) is an ever-present threat but never strays into exploitation territory.

This certainly deserves a LOT better than the 6/10 rating it currently has on IMDb!

Flawlessly crafted and acted. Each of the characters engages your interest, even the evil ones some sympathy as one senses their back stories. The landscapes scenes transcend the clichés of "beautiful nature" and reveal it as sometimes magnificent, sometimes dangerous, and often simply what nature at the end of the day is; a universe we did not make that is neither for nor against us.

The story line has been done many times, but there is a freshness in this film, an immediacy, and a sense of deft actuality that places you there. Nothing is wasted, nothing is overdone, and with each shot the characters reveal not the standard villains of the era, but merely people caught up in the after effects of the Black Plague's having ravaged the stability of Europe.

I'm not sure I've seen a film as satisfyingly simple as 'Flukt' in years.

The year is 1363. The place is Norway, recently decimated by the bubonic plague. A young girl's family is murdered by a group of roving bandits and the girls is taken hostage. With the help of another young girl within the group of bandits, she escapes and the two girls flee across breathtakingly beautiful Norwegian landscapes with the bandits in close pursuit. This, in a nutshell, is the entire movie.

I'm a fan of simple films. I think the present day trend to blend too many subplots leads to 3 hour, convoluted, bloated stinkers (The Dark Knight and Pirates of the Caribbean, I'm looking at you...) but in some ways 'Flukt' was too simple for its own good. I was invested in the wellbeing of the two girls but I never really felt a sense of danger or surprise because the plot played it so safe and trod such predictable ground. You know this is going to turn out okay and even the ways in which the antagonists are dispatched are unfortunately over-telegraphed.

I would have loved to have seen a bit more of an edgy approach to the plot, a few twists and turns that weren't so obvious. But still, it's beautifully shot, beautifully acted, and exciting enough to keep your attention. Also clocking in at only 78 minutes, it's so short that even if you dislike it, you won't feel like you wasted any time.