Arn – The Knight Templar

Arn – The Knight Templar

Theatrical poster
Directed by Peter Flinth
Produced by Waldemar Bergendahl
Leif Mohlin
Jan Marnell
Written by Jan Guillou (novels)
Hans Gunnarsson (screenplay)
Starring Joakim Nätterqvist
Sofia Helin
Stellan Skarsgård
Simon Callow
Vincent Perez
Bibi Andersson
Michael Nyqvist
Milind Soman
Narrated by Sven-Bertil Taube
Music by Tuomas Kantelinen
Cinematography Eric Kress
Edited by Olivier Bugge Coutté
Anders Villadsen
Distributed by Svensk Filmindustri
Release dates
 25 December 2007 (2007-12-25)
Running time
 139 min
Country Sweden
Denmark
Norway
Finland
Germany
Language Swedish
English
Latin
Arabic
French
Budget SEK 210,000,000
(ca. US $30,000,000) (total budget of both films)
Joakim Nätterqvist as Arn Magnusson (promotional wallpaper)

Arn – The Knight Templar (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, but both films were combined into a single cut for the English release on DVD in 2010. 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. US $30 million) for both films, it is the most expensive production in Swedish cinema.

Summary

The plot of the original movie follows the first two volumes of the trilogy. There is an "international" cut which incorporates this and the sequel Arn – The Kingdom at Road's End into a single movie with a duration of approximately 130 minutes.

Arn Magnusson is a son 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, the brother Guilbert, who resides in the monastery. Arn is also discovered to be ambidextrous. One day while wandering the woods he encounters three men trying to force a young girl into marriage. When the girl begs Arn for help two of the men attack Arn, who kills them in self-defense. Although the monks tell Arn he did nothing wrong, they question Guilbert training him into being a warrior. Guilbert replies that Arn is not meant to be a monk but is destined to be a soldier of God. 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 Västra Götaland. He helps his friend Knut Eriksson to kill the old king Karl Sverkersson. This leads to war between the two factions; Arn and his fiancée Cecilia Algotsdotter are excommunicated for premarital relations (in reality a plot to hurt Knut) and are forced to undertake twenty years of penance, Cecilia 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. Saladin thanks Arn by warning him away from Jerusalem, because he is leading a vast army towards the city. As Saladin marches upon Jerusalem, Arn is given the order to intercept the Saracens before they reach the city, 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 movie ends with Arn gaining a letter discharging him from his service in the Holy Land from the Templar Grandmaster Arnold of Torroja, and Cecilia giving praise to God on hearing news of Arn's survival.

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 is 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

Most of the Swedish scenes were filmed in the province of Västergötland. Other scenes were filmed in Scotland and Morocco.

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 grows up around speak Latin, English, Swedish and French,[1] while the scenes in the Holy Land feature English and Arabic, including quotations from the Qur'an.

Cast

In other media

Soundtrack

Arn - The Knight Templar (Music from the motion picture)
Soundtrack album by Tuomas Kantelinen
Released 2007-12-19
Length 45:28
Label Bonnier Music
Singles from Arn - The Knight Templar soundtrack
  1. "Snö"
    Released: December 19, 2007

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

  1. "Snö" by Laleh - 4:30
  2. "Prologe" - 1:07
  3. "Desert Hunt" - 2:49
  4. "The Templar's Theme" - 0:59
  5. "To Varnhems Abbey" - 1:48
  6. "Longing" - 3:34
  7. "Avresan" - 1:04
  8. "Gratias" - 3:26
  9. "Arn & Cecilia" - 3:20
  10. "Adiago" 2:17
  11. "Nightmare" - 1:06
  12. "The Sword" 1:45
  13. "The Abbey" - 2:03
  14. "Axevalla tvekamp" - 2:31
  15. "The Templar's triumf" - 1:28
  16. "Saladin's camp" - 0:37
  17. "The land of home" - 1:48
  18. "The Arrival" - 1:09
  19. "Nuns" - 0:58
  20. "West Götaland" - 2:35
  21. "Reward" - 1:27
  22. "The End" - 2:36
  23. "Snö" by Laleh - 4:30

See also

References

External links

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