MovieChat Forums > A Viking Saga: The Darkest Day (2013) Discussion > Wrong title for film

Wrong title for film

posted 10 years ago by kaguth27
5 replies | jump to latest

Should be called, The Darkest Day: An Anglo Saxon Chronicle, because it's told completely from the Saxon perspective, including the demonic way they portrayed the Norse. Not that I think the Norse were saints or anything, they had a nasty agenda during raids, but the rape scene of a 70 year old man was just going over the top i think. The director was going for shock value with that. The main thing I had a problem with was the fact that the viking leader was so hell bent on obtaining the book. Would a pagan viking really care all that much? Maybe if he thought he could sell it off for a big profit. If there is some historical fact in this plot point let me know, I don't know for sure. Also no viking shields in this, which I was disappointed by. Aside from the negatives there were some really positive aspects to the film. First of all the cinematography looks great, for a low budget film its shot very well and the costumes look great too. They may not be completely historically accurate (I didn't see any obvious giveaways) but they are designed well. The acting is also pretty darn good, although a little over-dramatic in places. Overall worth a watch if you like dark films or films from the period. Shouldn't be rated so low.

[–] Fyrdsman66 10 years ago

I agree it was the wrong title and also a misleading cover, but i'd put money on that being the people-behind-the-scenes deciding on those things.
''Vikings are cool, vikings sell. Put a horned viking on the cover and call it viking-something, that'll do.''

It certainly makes a change being from the Saxon/English point of view, it must be nearly unique in that aspect, and long over-due.

I echo your comments at the end about the good acting and costumes.
As for a viking leader caring about a holy book, he would if it was covered in gold and a treasure in itself as the Lindisfarne gospels were. I've read up on this time period and it seemed believable to me. It was also a great tool to move the movie along.

Hidden gem, this one and one i'm glad to have discovered.

[–] kaguth27 10 years ago

Yes i agree, I'm amazed at how good this looked given that it was a low budget film. Props to the cinematographer. Actually another good movie that I would recommend from the anglo-saxon perspective (battling the norse), is 1066: battle for middle earth. It's also low budget but a very respectable effort at depicting the most important year in English history.

[–] will-694 10 years ago

Yeah, the Madison Avenue boys with their comic book understanding of the world screwed this one up in pretty much every imaginable way.

Stupid, historically inaccurate and artistically inaccurate poster art inaccurate title . . . I'm sure is was all poll tested with a bunch of teenage boys (the perennial target audience for action movies. I doubt the even considered that this movie isn't geared towards that audience, but a more mature audience capable of following a slower more in depth story.

[–] fluffchop 10 years ago

Should be called, The Darkest Day: An Anglo Saxon Chronicle, because it's told completely from the Saxon perspective, including the demonic way they portrayed the Norse

Agreed. I couldn't care less about some monk bitching about things. I want to see a Viking Saga not a little bitch ass.

[–] Wuchak (8081) 6 years ago

Agreed. I couldn't care less about some monk bitching about things. I want to see a Viking Saga not a little bitch ass.

The young simpering monk in the movie, Hereward (Marc Pickering), represents the view of absolute pacifism while the noble warrior, Aethelwulf (Mark Lewis Jones), represents limited pacifism. The movie's about the story arc of "little bitch ass" as he learns a valuable thing or two from Aethelwulf -- how absolute pacifism is a foolish & asinine ideology and limited pacifism -- resorting to violence when justified -- is the way to go. Notice how, at the end, Hereward is ready to kick some wussy Viking ass (I say "wussy" because -- contrary to popular belief -- Vikings were ignoble plunderers who preferred to prey on weak, undefended peoples; they were far from the noble warrior ethic of Aethelwulf).