uI got out on December 1st, Troll is about a mountain creature who awakens after thousands of years. And that destroys everything in his path to Oslo, with exciting battles between him and the population trying to save themselves.
between suspense, special effects, military operations and counter-operations of a paleobiologist on the verge of madnessthe film holds firmly glued second typically Hollywood codes. Also for the fact – not secondary – that this giant he is a kind of ogre of the mountains fished in Scandinavian mythology. And we know what fantasy does to the public. However, Trollis also the spokesperson for a positive message: respect nature. Simple but effective.
Troll: a (beautiful) Americana?
With the only one at the center troll survived the massacre carried out by Norwegian royalty in the early 1900sthe film sinks into the folklore and fairy tales that characterize Scandinavia. The typical wooden mountain houses, with simple and proud people, accustomed to the harshness of the peaks, are typical of Norway, as well as the contrast with the order of the capital and its citizens.
Yet one gets the impression of being in America. In New York even when the scene is in the middle of the most angular rocks. It’s a question of rhythm, dialogues and way of conceiving the action. Things that the whole film is steeped in. When the paleobiologist Nora Tidemann (Ine Marie Wilmann) has just fulfilled a dream of finding dinosaur remains in a remote spot in the Norwegian mountains, and she is chosen by the government to figure out how to solve the riddle of the mountain which suddenly landslides and destroys everything, how is it brought into the halls of power? With a military helicopter, noisy as only in anti-terrorist operations, who takes her against her will.
Even the irony that springs up every now and then has an American aftertaste (like, when Nora says: “Now you need muscles”, the government emissary who follows her, Andreas, Kim S. Falck-Jørgensen, a good and skinny “Quattrocchi” renamed “the serious one”touches the bicep he doesn’t have).
Not to mention the military action scenes, with the soldiers looking like marines and with the chief of operations, the Captain Kristoffer Holm (Mads Sjøgård Pettersen) always with the rifle planted in his arms. And not to mention the government task force that seems to be in the oval office of the President with stars and stripes.
Captain Kristoffer Holm (Mads Sjøgård Pettersen), paleobiologist Nora (Ine Marie Wilmann) and government emissary Andreas (Kim S. Falck-Jørgensen). (Netflix)
In between Godzilla And King Kong
And then there’s the real star of it all: the troll. Made of stone and earth, he wakes up due to the work to build a tunnel in the mountain that will serve to pass the railway (the references to man who rapes nature are very clear). It dies in the sunlight, it is 40-50 meters high, it has a monstrous appearance. It’s scary, but it’s not bad after all. He destroys everything, but saves a child. He only seeks justice, that is, he wants to return to his place (his old house, on which the Royal Palace was later built) from which he was kicked out decades earlier.
The special effects are superb (the film at the cinema would look good, on the contrary), the creature is described very well even in its emotional tensions (it is moved when it sees the skull of a relative), and it is impossible not to think about Godzilla or King Kong. A giant horrific enough to terrify, who as soon as he moves brings destruction, but who has noble motives. In the end, American or Norwegian it doesn’t matter: the film shows itself and for this reason it is a success.
Who are the trolls
In Scandinavian mythology trolls are humanoids with a huge nose and tail. They populate almost all the local fairy tales. And it is said that they steal sleeping children, leaving a troll puppy in their place (for this reason, it was said, children are born deformed). In Norwegian folklore they can’t stand the sound of bells, would in fact have been destroyed by Christianization. Their feature is that they cannot stand daylight: in fact, in contact with light, they burn, therefore they die.
Both literature and cinematography have often been inspired by these horrendous creatures. Tolkien he describes them as rough, wicked, accustomed to destroying villages and stealing livestock. One also appears in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone: it’s huge, dangerous and also stupid.
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