Vikings in movies

Northmen: A Viking Saga

Adventurers, Warriors and Villains

Vikings feature as the face of barbarism and as adventurous entrepreneurs in the movies. As bestial monsters they hunt innocent Saxons down in Viking: The Berserkers, while as freedom-seeking adventurers they head west for America in The Viking (1928). The one thing all of these cinematic Vikings have in common is little relationship to the historical Vikings. Some films seek to be historically accurate, as The Vikings (1958) did when building the ship used in it, while others try to ensure that clothes, armour and weapons are accurate. However, all films reflect the time they were made and the concerns of that time. There is no real engagement with Viking Age attitudes, something that might even be possible in many ways, but the attempt is never made.