Cavatica didn’t know where I borrowed and changed the chant in the beginning of my ThunderCats post previous to this one so I decided what better way to answer his question than using one of Lisa Marie’s favorite past features in the blog. I always did enjoy her “Scenes I Love” posts since it showed that even a bad film could have a redeeming quality with that one perfect scene that redeems the rest. Or it could be a scene that just reinforces just how great the rest of the film truly is.
So, my first attempt at “Scenes I Love” happens to be from the final battle in John Mctiernan’s epic tale of an Arab chronicler becoming sword-brothers with a band of Viking warriors and their king, Buliwfy. I love this scene for the reciting of the Viking Death Prayer by the few defenders left at the end of the film. Buliwfy, the Viking king, begins the prayer to be followed by the rest then finished by Ahmed Ibn Fadlan (Antonio Banderas) just in time to stand fast against a charge of the inhuman “Eaters of the Dead” (really just a remnant tribe of neanderthals).
That prayer is very powerful and with Jerry Goldsmith’s rousing music providing a proper background it’s definitely hard for one not to pick up a sword or axe and stand fast against the incoming horde.
The original Viking Death Prayer
Lo, there do I see my Father..
Lo, there do I see my Mother
And my Sisters and my Brothers..
Lo, there do I see the line
Of my people back to the beginning..
Thay do bid me to take my place among them..
In the Halls of Valhalla,
Where the Brave may live forever.
Through the Shattered Lens 
Nice one. I really enjoyed this film – seen it twice.
As I remember it, that scene was especially powerful because the king had already been mortally wounded in a previous battle, and rose to make that final stand, which inspired his men. (SPOILER) – What we don’t see in that clip is that after planting his sword into the ground, he dies on that seat, having summoned his last reserve of strength. Great scene.
I’ll have to watch this one again sometime soon.
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That was a pretty good scene! Though I myself have never seen this one, it’s popular in my family. I’ll have to add it to my queue. 🙂
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“What do you think the leader of this… encampment… calls himself?” Ahmed asks his friend. “Oh, ‘Emperor,’ at the very least,” his friend replies. Ahmed scoffs and sneers his way through the next 15 minutes, repulsed by the violence and barbarism of the pagans around him.
Weeks later (an hour for us), Ahmed is fighting for his life in a village far to the north, black night illuminated by burning thatch huts and filled with the screams of war. On instinct, he cuts down one of the bear-shaped monsters in front of him, steps on the head, looks down, and realizes to his shame and horror… “it’s a man.” And, surrounded by smoke and blood and the dead, Ahmed realizes that there ARE barbarians in the world… but the distinction isn’t as easy as he once thought it was…
What a great movie. Why did it do so poorly? The thin line between one man and another… and the sometimes thinner line between a man and a beast… “Civilization” vs. “savagery.” The clash of cultures. Strong, likable characters. Political subterfuge! Horses! Maybe one of 10 Arabian heroes in Hollywood! What’s not to like about this?!
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