Notes: The Northman
I would like to relay a few things I noticed about the Northman, a film directed by Robert Eggers. It has many merits, but I would like to focus on the tribal aspects of Native Spirituality of Europe and spiritual pan-Europeanism within the movie. Beware, there may be some spoilers along the way.
Native Spirituality
One of the most critical themes of this film is the depiction of animist or tribal aspects of pre-Abrahamic native European religion, notably because of how politicized this issue has become. To be clear, before the rise of monotheism, all ethnic groups of this planet had, and some continue to have, a form of animist and polytheist religion, which organically springs from a given people's psyche. The Northman conveys Native Spirituality of Northern Europe both through a psychological prism and in the full glory of its magic, simultaneously debunking it - catering to a modern secular audience; showing its development - to the pleasure of scholars of religion; and glorifying the rituals - a high five to the modern-day practitioners.
The Northman entails many aspects antithetical to the leftist ideology, but it is the tribal aspect of Norse paganism that does not sit well with the leftists. Their narrative simply can't accept that "white" people or European people were once 'indigenous' too and had a tribal culture, notwithstanding their role in colonization. Instead, the far-left aims to dehumanize the "colonizer" and portray whites as mostly evil oppressors that can only be the invading force and never the victims of the invasion (e.g., 'Massacre of Verden'). To show that whites were once just as indigenous as other peoples of the world erases the universal image of the power dynamic of the oppressor the left is trying to paint over the history of Europeans. Thus, the film shows that Europeans were not the "bad guys" of history but underwent the same development as other nations. The true villain is the power-hungry human nature and dynamics of developing civilizations.
The Northman is anti-leftist in many other regards (just like the ancient traditional world is opposed to the modern progressive one): it shows the importance of blood ties; ritual as a moderator of the strict hierarchy; traditional gender roles - the list goes on. However, I will not discuss those issues because each may take up an article of its own.
Pan-Europeanism
While the movie shows more than just spiritual pan-Europeanism, I would like to highlight the spiritual aspect because it is not talked about enough. Amleth (played by Alexander Skarsgård), the protagonist of the Northman, has a vision of a völva (portrayed by Bjork) while pillaging an Eastern European town. She appears under the pillar of the Slavic god. Can a Norseman be advised by a Slavic seeress or see a völva ('seeress' in Icelandic) in a foreign land? This is a critical aspect overlooked by today's heathens: Native Spirituality of the world had iterations within each ethnic group (in fact, it varied from family to family and from village to village) that varied by the environment, language, aesthetics, etc. In other words, it was folkish. And yet, it was connected through basic human psychology. That's why there is a study of comparative mythology, and that's why when polytheist Romans invaded Germanic tribes, they could see the similarities between their Gods and the Gods of the Germans and use it to make attempts at assimilation. Thus, the Native Spirituality of Europe varied with the same underlining idea. That's why it is plausible for a Viking to see a vision in a foreign land.
That is why it is possible for a person with no blood ties to one of the Gods to still be able to hear their call. Unfortunately, monotheist expansion successfully managed to destroy the memory of most Gods. As a result, those of us who are awake or immune to the spell of Abrahamic demiurge, the demon with no name and no face that is trying to unify the planet under its rule, tend to find cognate Gods of other nations that correspond to our archetypical tendencies. Notwithstanding our ability to be able to dedicate ourselves to Gods of foreign pantheons, let’s remember that it is our duty to make our best effort to restore the old Gods of our own native lands.