“The 13th Warrior”, by John McTiernan in the screen version of Michael Crichton novel Eaters of the Dead, is an epic story of historical and mythological proportions of Arab chronicler Ibn Fadlan, acted by Antonio Banderas. A slave from Islam’s Baghdad – Ibn becomes a Moorish diplomat immersed in the anarchic Viking society and thus, from an undefined oddity, rises to be a people’s leader, brothers in arms – giving a strong multiculturalist message of friendliness through adversity.
Thus the film never strays in a simplistic black and white manner of good vs evil which is portrayed by Wendol apelike figures representing the darker sides of man. The director proved to develop the aesthetics marvellously, where the cinematography presents the richness of nature together with the simple and severe Asiatic life of Vikings and the production design portrays the life of 922 A.D. Despite the fact that the movie can sometimes get a little slow, the filmmakers more than make up for that with the passionate scenes and action.
Jerry Goldsmith who composed the score for the movie takes it to another level where actions collide with character experience to provide deep experience. It was good to see Banderas take the role and portray real brotherhood, respect, and acceptance that is portrayed by the Viking actors. Finally, “The 13th Warrior” provides a rightful representation of identity as a universal value that exhorts people to unite in search of empathy and compassion regardless of one’s cultural differences in the modern world.
