Seattle Film Festival- Days 16-18: A Day in the Life

Article published on June 12, 2006

And speaking of bad buzz, I can't tell you how many people tried to talk me out of sticking around for the next screening at the Egyptian. But I'm glad I stuck around to see the visually arresting BEOWULF AND GRENDEL. I know why people had problems with it. First off, purists won't like it because Grendel is given a pretty elaborate back story that includes a murdered father, a freakish mother, and a witch's offspring. And there is some jarring contemporary sounding language (although some of the crude language is little more than good old-fashioned Anglo-Saxon vulgarity.) And then there's the entirely made-up witch (played by prettty Sarah Polley) who's unrealistically hygenic for a 6th century Dane, what with her porcelain skin and all.

I agree with much of the above, but here's what I liked about it. It's meant to be a kind of post-9/11 Beowulf (and Grendel.) The Icelandic director made that very clear in his pre-film and post film comments. From the Egyptian stage, Stella Gunnarsson introduced the film by saying it was about somebody who thinks he's a hero by going overseas to slay a monster. If that was a bit oblique, his post-film statements were not. He explained that the Beowulf legend that has been passed down to us was a Christianized 900 A.D. version of a 400-year-old PRE-Christian legend. Christianity had turned the tale into a battle between absolute good and absolute evil. Gunnarsson maintains Christianity demonizes the Other (in this case, Grendel) and what his film attempts to do is rehabilitate the image of Grendel as something other than a monster. He then hinted at contemporary political parallels, where the powers that be (USA, UK, perhaps?) demonize what they don't understand. That may feel like a stretch but it does make B&G a somewhat more interesting film. FYI - even the film's detractors admit, the Icelandic shore and countryside where the film is shot is absolutely stunning.

Okay, by the time the lengthy Q and A with Gunnarsson gets over, it's getting late. I get home about about 12:30 am and decide to cap off my long day the way it started - by plopping myself in front of the TV to watch another World Cup game, this time England nipping Paraguay 1-0, on a brilliant Beckham shot that was "headed" into the goal by a Paraguayan. See? Bending it like Beckham - the perfect fusion of FILM and FOOTBALL.

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