The Last Viking – Film Review
by R Sheedy

Director: Anders Thomas Jensen
Starring: Mads Mikkelsen, Nikolaj Lie Kaas, Sophie Grabol, Soren Malling, Lars Brygmann

The Last Viking is a dark comedy from Anders Thomas Jensen (Riders of Justice, Men & Chicken) and his familiar collaborators, Mads Mikkelsen and Nikolaj Lie Kaas. It premiered a year ago at the Venice Film Festival; it’s now getting a well-deserved subtitled international release.

Opening with an animated storytale, the plot follows the relationship between two brothers, Anker (Lie Kaas) and Manfred (Mikkelsen). We start with the older brother, Anker, escaping from a robbery, making his way home and entrusting his clearly neuro-diverse younger brother with the job of hiding the stolen money back at their late parents’ house.

Fifteen years go by, Anker is released from prison, and returns home to find his brother still living with their sister, Freja, but no longer responding to his given name, Manfred, but to “John Lennon”, a result of Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID). and having developed a dose of dog kleptomania (yes, he steals dogs).

What follows is a dark comedy that “explores how our identities are shaped by the perceptions of the people around us, along with our own ambitions of who we want to be”, as the press release says. I think it does more, and reflects on the impact of environment on identity and mental illness.

Manfred/John is clearly a danger to himself, responding violently to being called “Manfred”, and in the course of a hospital visit caused by Manfred/John jumping out of a moving car, Anker meets a Psychiatrist, Lothar, who hatches a plan to bring together other DID patients who think they’re Beatles, and through this to bring them back to their original personae. Unsurprisingly, it does not run smoothly!

The underlying story of the protective relationship between the brothers in the face of an abusive father is developed nicely here, with flashbacks to their childhood, and Manfred/John’s desertion fears being fleshed out based on history.

The film delivers a very human message via the dark comedy, allowing us each to be more than one thing, and encouraging tolerance and acceptance of what you don’t understand. All done with blood and guts, though! Strong performances all around – Lie Kaas manages bewilderment throughout, with Mikkelsen, being cast against type, delivering a tender performance, supported by an excellent cast.