MovieChat Forums > Bröderna Lejonhjärta (1977) Discussion > Logical errors in the story:

Logical errors in the story:

posted 14 years ago by Totta
10 replies | jump to latest

Logical errors in the story:

ERROR 1:
Jonatan says that if Karl dies first, he will only have to wait for about 2 days until Jonatan, who by then is 90 years old and dies of old age, will arrive.

This means 2 things:

1. If that would have happened, then Jonatan would be 90 years old in Nangijala. Probably not the big brother Karl would have wished for.

2. If 90 earth years is 2 Nangijala days, where are their parents? Surely they would have died too during the weeks the story handles?

3. Since Jonatan dies first and Karl just a few days later. Howcome it seems Jonatan has been in Nagijala for months, getting to know everybody, establishing him as a freedom fighter etc. If should have been a few seconds between the boys' arrivals.

ERROR 2:
If you come to Nangilima when you die in Nangijala. Why is everyone afraid to die?

ERROR 3:
When Karl in the end tells Jonatan that he will carry him to the cliff and jump together. Howcome he says: "I can see the light. I can see the light" before they even jump?

Although, maybe none of the above are errors if we assume that everything was just a feverish dream by Karl. That would also explain why Jonatan knew everything about the after life.

[–] ilves 14 years ago

It's been a while since I saw this movie, but at least a couple of those things are different in the book.

1) Jonatan was dead for longer time before Karl died. Maybe months.

2) Karl sees the light the moment he touches the ground. I guess it would have been harder to put that in a movie.

To some of your other points, my opinions:

- I think your right about the parents thing. THe fact that there where old people in Nangijala was also weird to me.
- Why is everyone afraid to die in Nangijala? Maybe they don't know about Nangilima. Anyway, one of the biggest questions in every world. Why is everyone afraid to die? Even those who seem so sure about afterlife.

Wait! Does this also mean putting out doesn't get you love?

[–] sparklesparks 14 years ago

Well, I don't think there's any point in trying to be logical or find a rational explanation for these things.

"Error 1": Who says the time passes the same way in Nangijala? Why should it?

"Error 2": I never thought Nangijala and Nangilima were places where everyone went. It's just the boys, their dream, their adventures. That's why the whole story is so beautiful. Wouldn't it be comforting to believe that the after life is exactly the way you imagine/wish it to be? The way I see it, people in Nangijala - wherever or whatever it was - were born there and live their own life there and are naturally afraid to die.

"Error 3": How is this an error? "Seeing the light" is often just a metaphor of some kind.

I don't really remember the movie that well (aside from that hilarious dragon puppet that had my Swedish class dying of laughter) but I adore the book and I've never worried about these things. Every important thing makes perfectly sense in the story.

The opposite of war isn't peace - it's creation!

[–] furienna 14 years ago

Hmmm... You've got some good points. I too have wondered for years about some things about this story. For example, is everybody in Nangijala really people, who have died on Earth, or does that only apply to Karl and Jonatan? And if you die in Nangilima, which world do you come to then? Or doesn't anyone die there?

Your first two errors can, as you said yourself, be explained away, if it all only was a dream. About error 3, I've always imagined, that Karl and Jonatan already had hit the ground and died, when they see the light.

Intelligence and purity.

[–] BrainGremlin 14 years ago

If you come to Nangilima when you die in Nangijala. Why is everyone afraid to die?

Let's look at the real world: even people who believe in the afterlife do not want to die. So I do not think that's a mistake, no. Neither is the third thing you pointed out, which merely seem to be a thing you don't understand -- that does not make it an error. Can't say anything about "error 2", though.

In all my life, I will never love a woman the way this officer loved that lip ferret.

[–] perorewen 14 years ago

I've never considered the time-thing to be a problem in this story. I've always figured that whenever you come to Nangijala, you don't age - at least not in the normal sense. I always thought that the people coming there - and that goes for more or less everyone - is the same age as they were when they died. At least for a very long time.

If we're going to talk about errors, how come Jonatan is a man in his 20's in this film, when he's only about 13 or 14 in the book?

**********
- Who's the lady with the log?
- We call her the Log Lady.

[–] furienna 13 years ago

I guess a young man in his late teens/early 20s comes across as a more credible hero than a 13-14-year-old boy. Or maybe they couldn't find any actors that age, who applied for the role?

Intelligence and purity.

[–] highlyoriginal 12 years ago

I know this post is two years old, but still.

ERROR 1:
Jonatan says that if Karl dies first, he will only have to wait for about 2 days until Jonatan, who by then is 90 years old and dies of old age, will arrive.

I always believed Karl never thought about it that way, and that perhaps Jonatan would have arrived in Nangijala how Karl remembered him (although I'm not sure whether Jonatan knew he was going to be old or young - perhaps he wasn't sure).
Karl arrived looking the same, but days/weeks/months might have passed since he last saw his brother. Since he wasn't sick or anything and he can suddenly do things he wasn't able to on earth, my best guess is that the characters are supposed to arrive in their "prime", but... Better. Sort of like the ending to Titanic, even though I know that's a silly comparison. They just go back to the way they remember each other.

I don't think they had a father, at least not one they knew. I don't remember the book that well, but don't recall him being mentioned there either... As for the mother, my theory is that time doesn't "exist" in Nangijala the same way that it does on earth. What feels like months to Karl and Jonatan might be seconds for the mother back on earth, or the other way around. I don't really think it's relevant to the story, because if the mother had died she probably would have showed up somewhere in the movie. If you think about it, Mattias doesn't have any family there with him either, but I think it depends on his relationship with them. Maybe he didn't know his parents and that's why they're not there, [i]or[/] they could of course still be alive.
Only Astrid would know the answer.

ERROR 2:
If you come to Nangilima when you die in Nangijala. Why is everyone afraid to die?

They would still have to leave behind everyone they knew in Nangijala, just like on earth. I could see why they wouldn't want to do that (again).

And about Karl seeing the light... Maybe Jonatan saw the light before he hit the ground with Karl on his back?? And Karl saw the light because he knew he was going to die now and the only difference was that this time [i]we[/] got to see it, too? Personally, I just think it was a nice transition to the headstone,

[–] highlyoriginal 12 years ago

I know this post is two years old, but still.

ERROR 1:
Jonatan says that if Karl dies first, he will only have to wait for about 2 days until Jonatan, who by then is 90 years old and dies of old age, will arrive.

I always believed Karl never thought about it that way, and that perhaps Jonatan would have arrived in Nangijala how Karl remembered him (although I'm not sure whether Jonatan knew he was going to be old or young - perhaps he wasn't sure).
Karl arrived looking the same, but days/weeks/months might have passed since he last saw his brother. Since he wasn't sick or anything and he can suddenly do things he wasn't able to on earth, my best guess is that the characters are supposed to arrive in their "prime", but... Better. Sort of like the ending to Titanic, even though I know that's a silly comparison. They just go back to the way they remember each other.

I don't think they had a father, at least not one they knew. I don't remember the book that well, but don't recall him being mentioned there either... As for the mother, my theory is that time doesn't "exist" in Nangijala the same way that it does on earth. What feels like months to Karl and Jonatan might be seconds for the mother back on earth, or the other way around. I don't really think it's relevant to the story, because if the mother had died she probably would have showed up somewhere in the movie. If you think about it, Mattias doesn't have any family there with him either, but I think it depends on his relationship with them. Maybe he didn't know his parents and that's why they're not there, or they could of course still be alive.
Only Astrid would know the answer.

ERROR 2:
If you come to Nangilima when you die in Nangijala. Why is everyone afraid to die?

They would still have to leave behind everyone they knew in Nangijala, just like on earth. I could see why they wouldn't want to do that (again).

And about Karl seeing the light... Maybe Jonatan saw the light before he hit the ground with Karl on his back?? And Karl saw the light because he knew he was going to die now and the only difference was that this time we got to see it, too? Personally, I just think it was a nice transition to the headstone, and probably a way to make the ending seem more beautiful than tragic.

[–] Jessica000 11 years ago

Astrid Lindgren confirmed in an interview a long time ago that the adventures in Nangijala is all in the dying Karl's imagination. When he see the light in the end, that's when he really dies on the kitchen sofa. That explains all the errors.

[–] MizzNijna 10 years ago

ERROR 2:
If you come to Nangilima when you die in Nangijala. Why is everyone afraid to die?

I have thought about Nangilima to be kinda like Valhalla, everybody doesn't come there, to Valhalla came those who died a warrior, I saw on Nangilima to be kinda like that, but you didn't have to be a warrior but brave in some way. If you were brave, did some brave thing in Nangijala then you could come to Nangilima.

I haven't read the book and don't know if this is explained in it, but that is how I always saw Nangilima.