Arn - Tempelriddaren (2007)

Director:

Peter Flinth

Writers:

Jan Guillou (novel)
Hans Gunnarsson (screenplay)

Release Date:

25 December 2007 (Sweden)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Drama | Romance | War

Plot:

Arn, the son of a high-ranking Swedish nobleman is educated in a monastery and sent to the Holy Land as a knight templar to do penance for a forbidden love. |

Plot Keywords:

Based On Novel | Character Name In Title

Cast

Joakim Nätterqvist	...	Arn Magnusson
Sofia Helin	...	Cecilia Algotsdotter
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Morgan Alling	...	Eskil Magnusson
Bibi Andersson	...	Mother Rikissa
Joy Andersson	...	Canoness
Johan Arrenius	...	Young Knut
Mikael Bohlin	...	Young Eskil
Tomas Bolme	...	Priest
Nicholas Boulton	...	Gerard De Ridefort
Josef Cahoon	...	Sigge Folkesson
Simon Callow	...	Father Henry
Jakob Cedergren	...	Ebbe Sunesson
Anders Baasmo Christiansen	...	Harald
Julia Dufvenius	...	Helena Sverkersson
Lina Englund	...	Katarina Algotsdotter
Christian Fiedler	...	Karle
Titus Fisher	...	Master at Arms 2
Thomas W. Gabrielsson	...	Emund Ulvbane (as Thomas Waern Gabrielsson)
Nicklas Gustavsson	...	Gunnar
Annika Hallin	...	Sister Leone
Donald Högberg	...	Algot Pålsson
Douglas Johansson	...	Brother Stefan
Tobias Karlsson	...	Arnäs Hirdman
Barnaby Kay	...	Frankish Knight 1
Joel Kinnaman	...	Sverker Karlsson
Charmouti Laarbi	...	Frankish Knight 3
Jørgen Langhelle	...	Erik Jedvardsson (as Jörgen Langhelle)
Charlotta Larsson	...	Dorotea Röriksdotter
Josefin Ljungman	...	Gunvor
Svante Martin	...	Karl Sverkersson
Michael Nyqvist	...	Magnus Folkesson
Nijas Ørnbak-Fjeldmose	...	Sune Folkesson
Elise Pärnenen	...	Alde (as Elise Pärnänen)
Vincent Perez	...	Brother Guilbert
Göran Ragnerstam	...	Bishop
Fanny Risberg	...	Cecilia 'Blanka' Ulfsdotter
Driss Roukhe	...	Fakhir
Noa Samenius	...	Young Arn
Frank Sieckel	...	Sigfried De Turenne
Robert Sjöblom	...	Hirdman Sven
Bill Skarsgård	...	Erik Knutsson
Gustaf Skarsgård	...	Knut Eriksson
Stellan Skarsgård	...	Birger Brosa
Valter Skarsgård	...	Jon Knutsson
Milind Soman	...	Saladin
Magnus Stenius	...	Knight
Ingmar Svensson	...	Priest
Mikael Svensson	...	Soldier
Sven-Bertil Taube	...	Bishop
Karl Oscar Törnros	...	Joar (as Carl Oscar Törnros)
Mirja Turestedt	...	Sigrid
Bisse Unger	...	Young Arn
Steven Waddington	...	Torroja
Martin Wallström	...	Magnus Månsköld
Bo Wettergren	...	Hirdman Svante
Robert Willox	...	Master at Arms #1
Alex Wyndham	...	Armand De Gascogne
Chems-Eddine Zinoune	...	Saladin's Servant (as Zinoun Chams-Eddine)

Also Known As:

Arn - Tempelridderen (Denmark) (Norway)
Arn - Temppeliritari (Finland)
Arn 1 (Sweden) (working title)
Arn: The Knight Templar (International: English title)

Runtime:

139 min

Country:

UK | Sweden | Denmark | Norway | Finland | Germany

Language:

Swedish | English | Arabic | French | Latin

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

Finland:K-13 | Sweden:11

Filming Locations:

Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland, UK

Company:

Arion Communications Ltd.

Trivia:

Swedish Public Service (SVT) withdrew support from the project only months before it's release, citing lack of quality and unsatisfying amount of material as main reasons. The studio (SF) instead claimed the disagreement was due to budget concerns. Rival broadcaster TV4 stepped in as co-financier.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Arns mother is about to die, he walks outside the monastery and sees a man practicing with a bow. At a distance, you can see the man shoot his third arrow. But when closing up, he shots again, this time it is also his third arrow (in both shots you can see two (2) arrows stuck in the target).

Quotes:

Saladin: This is my brother, Fakhr.

Movie Connections:

Followed by Arn - Riket vid vägens slut (2008)

For those who have read the books - a great disappointment (as expected, I guess). For those who haven't read the book - be aware of that this is not a plain action movie!

1. Trailers and impression from commercials

The movie trailers have given the impression that this is an action movie, with lots of battles fought with swords and spears in addition to dramatic spoken scenes. This have appealed to people that especially enjoy action movies. Those people are greatly disappointed when they after a first introduction action scene, are turned back to calm scenes in the description of the Arn's childhood and youth. I asked myself several times why the makers of this move haven't been so honest and told what kind of movie that this actually is: a historical drama that happens to include some battles? Then the movie would have appealed to the right kind of people: those who like to be seduced by the drama of dialogs and calm scenes. At the cinema I was sitting next to some teenagers that obviously was waiting for the great battles, and while waiting they were talking and "play fight" with each other. They were in addition totally unable to understand the impact of Christianity at that time and were lacking background knowledge of the historical events (just the word "Tempelridder"/"Knight Templar" made them laugh!). My point is that they had been fooled to see this movie instead of some other "Lord of the rings"-like movie.

2. The motion picture

The three books by Jan Guillou about Arn Magnusson are so extremely brilliant in construction of the story and in the build-up of the sentences. The only actions that had to be taken to make these books to a movie-success would simply be to translate the books into a manuscript! This would have given a brilliant drama movie with lots of conspiracies, political plots and a description of the forces that was between the rivaling families (as described in the first book). Unfortunately this movie never reaches an acceptable quality as a drama movie, nor as an action movie, but falls in between as unsuccessful in both genres! The life of Arn and the events in Sweden is told so swiftly and with so little depth that it is impossible to get familiar with the characters and to develop feelings for them. Do people that haven't read the book even get the chance to really understand the drama that happened at this time? Even Arn is described in few details, and it is impossible to understand his deep religiosity (trusting that everything that happens to him is God's will) and respect for all living creatures he developed during the years in the monastery. Instead, Arn is as a grown-up presented with an anxious and frightened look during the whole screenplay in Sweden. I am really sorry that the actor didn't get the chance to get deeper into his character. How would the audience be interested in the rest of the movie, if the feelings for Arn, Cecilia and the other persons are missing? (While reading the book, I even got feelings for Arn's horse! And that tells very much about the greatness of the books, and not about myself as a reader.)

The motion picture is stuffed with to many cliché scenes (children playing and running, Cecilia's joyful dancing in the garden, the free horse riding in the woods, love scenes) in addition to the motion of the camera itself: focusing on something exterior (the sky, tree tops, building etc.) and then slide into the center to capture the people.

3. Music

I am a person that is very fond of classical music, and have also interest in orchestral music in movies. Some music found in movies really has great quality and originality. However, I cannot give the same statement for the music in this movie. The music is too simple and flat! The clichés are so obvious and annoying: all joyful scenes are accorded to "beautiful" music of strings and woodwind. It really made me sick! And the few action scenes are accompanied by brass instruments and complete orchestra in a typical manner. Sorry, but this movie will not give you a great music experience.

Nevertheless, I should remark that I previously have read Guillou's books with great enthusiasm. My similar great disappointment of this first movie is thus inevitably coloring my comment posted here.