Beowulf

Beowulf, the old English 8th century epic poem, comes to the big screen this time as a motion-capture animated film. And oh by the way, make sure you see it in 3-D.

Beowulf is set in the 6th century A.D. in Denmark. There is a great monster, Grendel, terrorizing a small kingdom. King Hrothgar (Anthony Hopkins) is at his wit's end after another slaughter. He is willing to give half the gold in his kingdom to anyone who will come and slay Grendel. Enter Beowulf (Ray Winstone), who comes with his band of Geats to fight not for money, but for glory. At the time, the hero is renowned for many great feats, including defeating sea-monsters. He is supremely confident and perfectly brave. He baits Grendel, then takes him on butt-naked without a sword.

There are some inaccuracies with the storyline (especially with regards to Grendel's mother, Angelina Jolie), but that is almost irrelevant. Beowulf itself is a poem written down after hundreds of years of oral tradition, where it could have been changed time and time again. The point is that the hero's legend grows. He is great, he is bold, he is courageous, he is human.

What is a hero? That is the central question of the film. Beowulf comes from a land far off to slay the wicked monsters and to win fame and glory. He is the very definition of a hero. Yet the film sprinkles in references to the Christ God that I found very interesting. First they wonder if this God will save them, they might as well pray to him too. But King Hrothgar says that the gods will not help them with what they will not do themselves (echoes of Ben Franklin's "God helps those who help themselves"). Later, it is said that "the time of heroes is dead, the Christ God has killed it, leaving humankind nothing but weeping martyrs." It is supposed to be a stab at Christianity, but there is deep truth in it. Jesus is not like all the ancient epic heroes. He is opposed to them. Jesus could have called down all the angels, led Israel out of Roman occupation, and even taken down Satan himself. But he didn't, instead he became the ultimate martyr. He sacrifices himself for the good of all mankind, for the good of the whole world. Jesus is the ultimate hero. The people of Beowulf would see Him as a weakling, as do many today. But Jesus' life and death was the be-all-end-all of courage and strength. We have to reexamine what we believe a hero to be. It hasn't changed much since Beowulf was committed to paper (or since the beginning of time for that matter). Yet, Jesus shows us another way, the true way.

The film itself has an intriguing storyline. The human condition is front and center. Human pride and human greed are examined and found to be a plague. Even the great Beowulf cannot resist the wiles of sin. Humankind has not changed much in 1500 years. Beowulf is exciting, the animation is truly fantastic most of the time (except sometimes, when it looks like a video game). It was actually quite gratuitous for a pg-13 film, in terms of gore and sex. The 3-D adds quite a bit to the visual aspect of the film, without it the film would probably be mediocre. Overall, this film captures the spirit of the ancient epic (glory, bloodshed, the human condition) quite well.