Arn – The Knight Templar (original title in
Swedish:
Arn – Tempelriddaren) is a 2007
epic film based on
Jan Guillou's
trilogy about the fictional
Swedish Knight Templar Arn Magnusson. The film was released in December 2007 and the sequel,
Arn – The Kingdom at Road's End (
Arn – Riket vid vägens slut), was released August 22, 2008. While the film is mostly in Swedish and most of the production was made in Sweden, the film is a joint production between Sweden,
Denmark,
Norway,
Finland and
Germany. With a total budget of around
SEK 210 million (ca.
USD 30 million) for both films, it is the most expensive production in
Swedish cinema.
Plot
The plot of the movie loosely follows the first two volumes of the
trilogy.
Arn Magnusson is part of the powerful
Folkung dynasty in the mid 12th century. He grows up in a monastery belonging to the
Cistercians. He is trained in archery, swordsmanship and horsemanship by a former
Knight Templar who resides in the monastery. When Arn leaves the monastery and returns to his family, he is soon pulled into the struggle between the powerful families, all fighting for the crown of the young nation that is to become the
Kingdom of Sweden. He helps his friend
Knut Eriksson to kill the old king
Karl Sverkersson. This leads to war between the two factions. However Arn and his fiancée Cecilia Algotsdotter have pre-marital relations and for political reasons they are excommunicated and are forced to undertake twenty years of penance. Cecilia Algotsdotter in a convent and Arn as a Knight Templar in the
Holy Land to fight against the
Saracens.
While pursuing a band of thieves, Arn comes across the very enemy of all Christendom,
Saladin, and saves his life. As Saladin later marches upon Jerusalem. Arn is given the order to march with all his knights, and they successfully ambush Saladin's army in a mountain pass (the ambush taking the place of the historical
Battle of Montgisard figuring in the novel). The film ends with Cecilia receiving word that Arn is still alive.
Production
The film production was headed by
Svensk Filmindustri in conjunction with
Film i Väst,
TV4 (Sweden),
Danmarks Radio (
Denmark),
YLE (
Finland),
TV 2 (
Norway) and
Telepool (
Germany). With a total budget of around
US$30,000,000 for the whole production, it's the most expensive production in
Scandinavian film history.
SVT originally was one of the biggest sponsors of the project, but they pulled out and their role as a major sponsor was taken over by TV4.
Filming locations
The Swedish parts of the film are filmed mostly in the province of
Västergötland, while the foreign scenes are filmed in
Morocco and
Scotland.
Language
The film is mainly in
Swedish, but to create a realistic feel it features the languages that would have been spoken in different countries and by different people. The
monks Arn grow up with speak
Latin,
English, Swedish and
French, while the scenes in the Holy Land features English and
Arabic, including quotations from the
Qur'an.
Cast and characters
- Mikael Bohlin as Young Eskil
In other media
Soundtrack
The music for the movie was composed by
Tuomas Kantelinen.
Laleh also recorded the theme song for the film, entitled "
Snö,". The track was released as a
single in 2007 and was later placed as a track on her 2009 album
Me and Simon. "
Snö" peaked at #14 on the
Swedish Singles Chart.
Track listing
- "Tempelriddarnas tema" - 0:59
- "Till Varnhems kloster" - 1:48
- "Axevalla tvekamp" - 2:31
- "Tempelriddarnas triumf" - 1:28
