Arn – The Kingdom at Road's End

Arn – The Kingdom at Road's End

Theatrical poster.
Directed by Peter Flinth
Produced by Waldemar Bergendahl
Written by Jan Guillou (novels)
Hans Gunnarsson (screenplay)
Starring Joakim Nätterqvist
Sofia Helin
Stellan Skarsgård
Milind Soman
Narrated by Sven-Bertil Taube
Music by Tuomas Kantelinen
Distributed by AB Svensk Filmindustri
Release dates
  • August 22, 2008
Country Sweden
Finland
Norway
United Kingdom
Denmark
Germany
Language Swedish
Norwegian
English
Danish
Arabian
Budget SEK210,000,000
(ca. US$30,000,000) (total budget of both films)

Arn – The Kingdom at Road's End (Swedish: Arn – Riket vid vägens slut) is a 2008 epic film based on Jan Guillou's trilogy about the fictional Swedish Knights Templar Arn Magnusson. It is the sequel to the 2007 film Arn – The Knight Templar, but both films were combined into a single cut for the English release on DVD in 2010.

Filmed in Scotland, Sweden, Damascus, Syria and Morocco.

Plot

The plot of the film loosely follows the book of the same name – the third volume of the Crusades trilogy, spanning the period of about 1187 to 1205.

Arn is the commander of a Templar garrison in Gaza. He is commanded to join a Templar force intercepting the army of Saladin. Due to the arrogance of the new Templar Grandmaster Gerard de Ridefort, the Crusaders are destroyed in the ensuing Battle of Hattin. Arn is wounded but Saladin recognizes him and saves Arn from execution. Arn wakes in Damascus, his wounds treated; Saladin sends him home with his friendship as he prepares to take Jerusalem.

Cecilia is finally allowed to leave the monastery where she has done penance for twenty years, meeting her son Magnus for the first time. She soon hears of the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Templars and believing Arn dead decides to become a nun for the rest of her life, being offered the post of Abbess by the Folkung clan. Arn meets her as she is just about to enter the convent, and they marry at last, building an estate, Forsvik, where Arn has gathered craftsmen from all over Europe and the Holy Land. Arn is introduced to his son Magnus, born in his absence; after a little time a daughter named Alde is born, and Forsvik grows rapidly. Arn takes young men and boys to become knights-in-training.

Six years later King Canute I of Sweden dies, leaving children as heirs. King Sverker II retakes the crown with Danish help and attempts to murder the sons of Canute, prevented by the intercession of a Folkung who has tricked Sverker into thinking he was a double agent. Forced to war, the first of what is to be a nearly 600-year-long conflict between Sweden and Denmark, Arn leads the Folkung against the Sverker-Danish force at the Battle of Lena, aided by Arabic craftsmen and the Norwegian Templar, Harald. Arn destroys the Danish cavalry tricking them to charge into a rain of arrows. Arn charges forward on horseback to attack King Sverker, and is intercepted by Ebbe Suneson, the leader of the Danes; in the ensuing duel Arn kills him, taking a fatal wound in the exchange. The Folkung emerge victorious, but Arn dies of his wound upon his return to Forsvik. The film concludes with an epilogue foreshadowing the completion of the consolidation of Sweden into a unified kingdom a generation later through Birger Jarl, identified as Arn's grandson.

Cast and characters

Language

In addition to Swedish as the film's primary language, several other languages were used in the dialogue to heighten the cultural differences: Norwegian, Danish, English, and Arabic.

English was used to represent Latin and French speakers.

The part of the dialogue that is not on the Swedish subtitled in Swedish.

Music

Music composed by Tuomas Kantelinen. Closing song by Marie Fredriksson, the lead singer for Roxette.

See also

External links