''Arn: The Knight Templar'' ( sv, Arn: Tempelriddaren) is an epic film based on

Jan Guillou Jan Oskar Sverre Lucien Henri Guillou (, ; born 17 January 1944) is a French-Swedish author and journalist. Guillou's fame in Sweden was established during his time as an investigative journalist, most notably in 1973 when he and co-reporter Pe ...

trilogy A trilogy is a set of three works of art that are connected and can be seen either as a single work or as three individual works. They are commonly found in literature, film, and video games, and are less common in other art forms. Three-part wor ...

about the fictional

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

Knight Templar , colors = White mantle with a red cross , colors_label = Attire , march = , mascot = Two knights riding a single horse , equipment ...

Arn Magnusson. The film was released to cinemas in Sweden on 17 December 2007 and the sequel, '' Arn – The Kingdom at Road's End'' (''Arn – Riket vid vägens slut''), was released 22 August 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 ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

and

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. 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 Swedish cinema is known for including many acclaimed films; during the 20th century the industry was the most prominent of Scandinavia. This is largely due to the popularity and prominence of directors Victor Sjöström and especially Ingmar B ...

. The film grossed $22.5 million according to BoxOfficeMojo. The original movie follows the first two volumes of Guillou's

. An "international" version has been created which incorporates this film and its sequel '' Arn – The Kingdom at Road's End'' into a single cut with a duration of approximately 130 minutes.

Plot

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 and is trained there in archery, swordsmanship and horsemanship by a former

Knight Templar , colors = White mantle with a red cross , colors_label = Attire , march = , mascot = Two knights riding a single horse , equipment ...

, the brother Guilbert. Arn is also discovered to be

ambidextrous Ambidexterity is the ability to use both the right and left hand equally well. When referring to objects, the term indicates that the object is equally suitable for right-handed and left-handed people. When referring to humans, it indicates that ...

. 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 him and he kills them in self-defense. Although the monks tell Arn he did nothing wrong, they question Guilbert training him in 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 powerful families 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 and falsely accused of having relations with Cecilia's sister (in reality a plot to hurt Knut) and 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

Saracen upright 1.5, Late 15th-century German woodcut depicting Saracens Saracen ( ) was a term used in the early centuries, both in Greek and Latin writings, to refer to the people who lived in and near what was designated by the Romans as Arabia Pe ...

s. Cecilia gives birth to Arn's son but the son is taken away from her and she only hears of his survival, and name of Magnus, through another woman who is also named Cecilia, the future queen of Sweden, Cecilia Blanka. While pursuing a band of thieves, Arn comes across the enemy of all Christendom,

Saladin Yusuf ibn Ayyub ibn Shadi () ( – 4 March 1193), commonly known by the epithet Saladin,, ; ku, سه‌لاحه‌دین, ; was the founder of the Ayyubid dynasty. Hailing from an ethnic Kurdish family, he was the first of both Egypt and ...

, and saves his life. Saladin thanks Arn by warning him away from

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

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 he and his men successfully ambush Saladin's army in a mountain pass (the ambush taking the place of the historical

Battle of Montgisard The Battle of Montgisard was fought between the Kingdom of Jerusalem and the Ayyubids on 25 November 1177 at Montgisard, in the Levant between Ramla and Yibna. The 16-year-old Baldwin IV of Jerusalem, seriously afflicted by leprosy, led an o ...

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 Arnold of Torroja ( ca, Arnau de Torroja; ? – 30 September 1184) was a knight of Crown of Aragon and the ninth Grand Master of the Knights Templar from 1181 until his death in 1184. Personal life While no date of birth survives for Torroja; ...

and Cecilia giving praise to God on hearing news of Arn's survival.

Cast

Joakim Nätterqvist Dag Joakim Tedson Nätterqvist (; born 24 October 1974) is a Swedish actor, theatre director, musical artist, singer, and acting coach. Background Nätterqvist was born in Gamla Uppsala. He is the son of competitive equestrians Ted and Pia L ...

as Arn Magnusson * Sofia Helin as Cecilia Algotsdotter *

Stellan Skarsgård Stellan Skarsgård (, ; born 13 June 1951) is a Swedish actor. He is known for his collaborations with director Lars von Trier appearing in ''Breaking the Waves'' (1996), ''Dancer in the Dark'' (2000), '' Dogville'' (2007), ''Melancholia'' (201 ...

Birger Brosa Birger Brosa Old Norse: ''Birgir Brósa'' (died 9 January 1202) was jarl of Sweden from 1174 to 1202. Biography He was a son of Bengt Snivil and a member of the powerful House of Bjälbo. In the medieval texts he is either called the '' jarl ...

, uncle of Arn *

Vincent Pérez Vincent Perez (born 10 June 1964) is a Swiss actor, director and photographer. He played the title character, Ashe Corven, in '' The Crow: City of Angels'', and starred in ''Queen of the Damned'', playing Marius de Romanus. Some of his films in ...

as Brother Guilbert *

Simon Callow Simon Phillip Hugh Callow (born 15 June 1949) is an English film, television and voice actor, director, narrator and writer. He was twice nominated for BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for his roles in ''A Room with a View'' (19 ...

as Father Henry * Steven Waddington as Torroja * Jørgen Langhelle as

King King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...

Eric IX of Sweden (Erik Jedvardsson) * Gustaf Skarsgård as

Canute I of Sweden Canute I ( Swedish: ''Knut Eriksson'', Old Norse: ''Knútr Eiríksson''; born before 1150 – died 1195/96) was king of Sweden from 1173 to 1195 (rival king since 1167). He was a son of King Eric the Saint and Queen Christina, who was a granddaug ...

(Knut Eriksson) *

Michael Nyqvist Rolf Åke Mikael Nyqvist (; 8 November 1960 – 27 June 2017) was a Swedish actor. Educated at the School of Drama in Malmö, he became well known for playing police officer Banck in the 1997–1998 Martin Beck TV series and for his leading ro ...

as Magnus Folkesson, Arn's father * Bibi Andersson as Mother Rikissa *

Milind Soman Milind Soman (born 4 November 1965) is an Indian actor, supermodel, film producer, and fitness enthusiast. He was a contestant on '' Fear Factor: Khatron Ke Khiladi 3''. Early and personal life Soman was born on 4 November 1965 in Glasgow, ...

Alex Wyndham Alex Wyndham (born 1 January 1981) is an English actor, known for his role as Gaius Maecenas in the HBO television series ''Rome'' (2007). Biography He was educated at Winchester College and has a degree in history from the University of Oxfo ...

as Armand de Gascogne * Nicolas Boulton as Gerard de Ridefort *

Thomas W. Gabrielsson Thomas Waern Gabrielsson (born 29 June 1963) is a Swedish actor, active in Sweden and Denmark. He was born in Gothenburg. Stage career In 1998 Gabrielsson performed solo in the 70 minute monologue dramatisation of The Evil at the Theater ''La ...

as Emund Ulvbane * Jakob Cedergren as Ebbe Sunesson * Julia Dufvenius as Helena Sverkersson * Lina Englund as Katarina, Cecilia's sister * Morgan Alling as Eskil Magnusson, Arn's brother * Fanny Risberg as Cecilia Blanka * Anders Baasmo Christiansen as the Norwegian templar Harald Øysteinsson * Driss Roukhe as Fakhir *

Mirja Turestedt Mirja Viveka Turestedt (born 24 September 1972 in Borås (grew up in Malmö and Gothenburg)) is a Swedish actress. Turestedt studied at Gothenburg Theatre Academy 1998–2002. She appeared in ''Slott i Sverige'' at the Royal Dramatic Theatr ...

as Sigrid * Joel Kinnaman as Sverker Karlsson

Production

Development

The film production was headed by

Svensk Filmindustri SF Studios is a Swedish film and television production and distribution company (both Swedish and international) with headquarters in Stockholm and local offices in Oslo, Copenhagen, Helsinki and London. The studio is owned by Nordic media cong ...

in conjunction with

Film i Väst Film i Väst (English: "Film in West") is a film company located in Trollhättan, Sweden, nicknamed "Trollywood"), founded in 1992 by the Älvsborg County Council. Lars von Trier used its facilities in his movies, such as ''Dogville'' and ''Mand ...

TV4 TV4 or TV 4 may refer to: *TV4 (Poland), a private Polish television station *TV4 (Sweden), a Swedish television network **TV4 Group, owners of the Swedish television station *South African Broadcasting Corporation TV4, a channel operated by the st ...

(Sweden),

Danmarks Radio DR (), officially the Danish Broadcasting Corporation in English, is a Danish public-service radio and television broadcasting company. Founded in 1925 as a public-service organization, it is Denmark's oldest and largest electronic media enter ...

(

YLE Yleisradio Oy ( Finnish, literally "General Radio Ltd." or "General Broadcast Ltd."; abbr. Yle ; sv, Rundradion Ab, italics=no), translated to English as the Finnish Broadcasting Company, is Finland's national public broadcasting company, found ...

(

), TV 2 (

) and Telepool (

). With a total budget of around US $30,000,000 for the whole production, it is the most expensive production in

Scandinavia Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Swe ...

n 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

Most of the Swedish scenes were filmed in the province of

Västergötland Västergötland (), also known as West Gothland or the Latinized version Westrogothia in older literature, is one of the 25 traditional non-administrative provinces of Sweden (''landskap'' in Swedish), situated in the southwest of Sweden. Väs ...

. Other scenes were filmed in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

and

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria t ...

. Most of the actors in the film speak

, while others speak

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

, English, and French. The scenes in the Holy Land use English (although historically it would have been

Medieval Latin Medieval Latin was the form of Literary Latin used in Roman Catholic Western Europe during the Middle Ages. In this region it served as the primary written language, though local languages were also written to varying degrees. Latin functione ...

and

Old French Old French (, , ; Modern French: ) was the language spoken in most of the northern half of France from approximately the 8th to the 14th centuries. Rather than a unified language, Old French was a linkage of Romance dialects, mutually intellig ...

) and

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...

, including quotations from the

Qur'an The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation from God. It is organized in 114 chapters (pl.: , s ...

Soundtrack

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 ''Me and Simon'' is the third studio album by Swedish singer-songwriter Laleh, released on 21 January 2009 on Warner Music Sweden records. The album peaked at number two on the Swedish Albums Chart. First single from the album is the track "S ...

''. " Snö" peaked at #14 on the

Swedish Singles Chart Sverigetopplistan (, lit. "the Sweden top list") is the Swedish national record chart, formerly known as Topplistan (1975–1997) and Hitlistan (1998–2007) and known by its current name since October 2007, based on sales data from the Swedish ...

Track listing

#" Snö" by Laleh - 4:30 #"Prologe" - 1:07 #"Desert Hunt" - 2:49 #"The Templar's Theme" - 0:59 #"To Varnhems Abbey" - 1:48 #"Longing" - 3:34 #"Avresan" - 1:04 #"Gratias" - 3:26 #"Arn & Cecilia" - 3:20 #"Adiago" 2:17 #"Nightmare" - 1:06 #"The Sword" 1:45 #"The Abbey" - 2:03 #"Axevalla tvekamp" - 2:31 #"The Templar's triumf" - 1:28 #"Saladin's camp" - 0:37 #"The land of home" - 1:48 #"The Arrival" - 1:09 #"Nuns" - 0:58 #"West Götaland" - 2:35 #"Reward" - 1:27 #"The End" - 2:36 #" Snö" by Laleh - 4:30

Reception

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' credited the film with an exciting plot and convincing acting, and locations that "you don't get bored ffor a second". However, it criticised the story for not being very believable as the Knights Templar were religious fundamentalists, not "tolerant and multicultural-friendly crusaders".

References

External links

Official website
* *
''Arn: The Knight Templar'' at SF International

''Arn: The Knight Templar'' preview on european-films.net
{{DEFAULTSORT:Arn: The Knight Templar 2007 films 2000s action drama films 2000s historical romance films 2000s war drama films Films set in the 12th century Films based on Swedish novels Historical action films 2007 3D films Crusades films Knights Templar in popular culture Films directed by Peter Flinth Films shot in Edinburgh Films set in Västergötland Swedish action films Swedish epic films Films scored by Tuomas Kantelinen War epic films Films set in Jerusalem 2007 drama films 2000s Swedish films