The movie starts with the moment Ahmed and the blonde-haired woman are laying down in the hay. She was there only as a relief, it was nice to hear how Ahmed showed his conservative side, “A gentlemen does not say his business about a woman.” The warriors seek guidance from the oracle, which tells the warriors that they must kill the leader than the Wendols will go away. As the remaining warriors gallop away to find the Wendols, they find themselves puzzled about where to find these creatures. Ahmed revealed his intellect by having the moment of realization. He knew that the Wendols wore the bearskin as a camouflage. If they wear the bearskin, then where do bears sleep in the winter? A cave!
The moment the warriors find the cave, this scene resembles when Beowulf had to go beneath the waters to find Grendol’s mother’s lair. The warriors slyly make their way inside the deep, dark cave. When they reach a group of Wendols without their bearskins, one of the warriors demands Buliwyf to kill the leader. He enters a scary lair of beheaded heads floating on vines, and he finds the evil mother. She kind of looks like Calypso from Pirates of the Caribbean, but she also reminds me of Helena Bonham Carter as Bellatrix LeStrange in Harry Potter. Buliwyf uses his mighty sword to slay her head; it was an epic moment which only lasted for a couple seconds. But he was stabbed with poison from a snake. So his arm is slowly, but surely causing him to die.
As the warriors were trying to find an escape, I thought the movie was about to end, since it seemed like there was nowhere else to go. But thankfully, with Ahmed they find an underwater tunnel to the outside of the cave.
Here is when the warriors were relieved, yet again, the fog was coming. The fight was about to begin, and Ahmed threw his armor and sword on the ground, kneeled and prayed Allah for guidance and support to make his last remaining time on the Earth memorable. Buliwyf knew he was dying and he did not want to just sit in the back and watch his warriors (Comitatus) die. He limped his way to the fort and he stood there waiting for the Wendols to attack. This scene was similar to when Beowulf had to fight the dragon in order to save his kingdom. All the warriors were determined to save the village and finally the Wendol’s leader comes out to lash out at Buliwyf. Buliwyf takes him down and the Wendols are called away from a horn. As Buliwyf sits amongst the fort, he dies staring into the wildness. He has died with honor. Hrothgar stated that he would be buried like a king, since Buliwyf said all he has is his hands which make him a pauper. Restoration is now stored, and Ahmed leaves the Norseman. The fight is over and he accomplished his duty to serve as the 13th Warrior.
Ahmed prooved to be quite the perceptive guy in this film. Not only did he figure out that their enemies would be in a cave somewhere, he also figured out how to speak their language in a short time just by listening to them speak it. I guess someone might be able to do that, but I probably had a bigger problem that he would be able to go back and figure out everything they said before he even learned the language. He was able to go back and understand word for word how the guy had insulted him the first time they met. This particular part was probably the least believable part of the film for me.
ReplyDeleteThis runs more like a synopsis than your reaction.
ReplyDeleteI do think your reaction to the epic confrontation against the Wendol woman points out a discrepancy between fiction and reality. These huge moments of epic confrontation seem so huge in most stories and films but in reality they tend to be over in seconds. Even in Buliwyf's stand off against the Wendol leader, there is no staring across the battlefield at each other, no majestic charge. Buliwyf whacks him off his horse, smacks him a couple times with his sword and then skewers him. Not quite what we expect to see.