Beowulf (2007): Review

When you take on a story that has its very own plank in the foundations of Western literature, you risk running afoul of a lot of closely-held notions. You can either carefully tiptoe around those notions and interpretations in making something that will meet with the approval of the experts, or you can cast the desire to conform to the wind.

The cinematic Beowulf does and doesn't do the second. In the epic story, there are three monsters killed. Beowulf leaves his men behind, over their protestations and plunges to the bottom of a lake, where he defeats Grendel's mother by casting away the sword he brought with him and taking another sword from the trove that surrounds them. 

The Jungian analysts tell us that these elements of the original story tell us about the balance of trusting in your own strength and trusting the strength of others; and how the key to overcoming great enemies begins with facing the enemy within. 

Neil Gaiman (Anasazi Boys, American Gods, the Sandman), one of the writers on Beowulf, is a knowledgeable mythologist. He brings that skill and discipline to this movie. So while the film Beowulf does not fight Grendel's mother to the death at the bottom of a lake, he is haunted by the failure to face oneself. Hrothgar, king of the Danes, fails to admit his own weaknesses to the hero, and the hero proceeds blindly into a trap. In that trap, he fails to be honest about his own weaknesses and repeats the error of the king.  The third act of the story comes when Beowulf is presented with the opportunity to lie or to be honest about the results of his earlier failure. 

 By presenting the story this way, the authors manage to make a whole piece of what appears to be an assemblage of heroic stories in the original manuscript. They make the third act a consequence of the first two, rather than a story that is removed by time and distance from the other two. 

Another thing the Jungian analysts tell us is that water is symbolic of the feminine. Gaiman's knowledge of myth allows them to make a substitution to make the filming easier. Beowulf must now make decisions about swords and cups rather than swords and water. 

A student in English literature won't be able to pass a test on Beowulf based on the plot details of the film, but the themes and meaning of the story remain intact. The visual presentation of the film invites a new generation to grapple with the question of the monsters that lie within.