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On 21 October 2023, my movie watch was an English-dubbed Norwegian fantasy movie entitled The Ash Lad: In the Hall of the Mountain King.
Directed by Mikkel Brænne Sandemose, and
released in Norway in 2017, The Ash Lad:
In the Hall of the Mountain King was inspired by the 18th-Century Norwegian
folktales of Askeladden ('Ash Lad'). It also takes its English subtitle from the fourth movement in Norwegian classical composer Edvard Grieg's Peer Gynt Suite #1 (in 1875 he wrote two such suites, originally as accompaniment music for Henrik Ibsen's 1867 stage play Peer Gynt), in which the titular hero encounters the mountain-dwelling troll king and his minions.
The Ash Lad is the nickname given by his two older brothers (Per and Pal) and his father to daydreamer Espen (played by Verbjørn Enger, whose practical abilities in every-day life on their farm seem limited to stirring the ashes in their homestead's fireplace in order to keep its fire alight – and one day he even causes disaster with this simple task, resulting in their homestead catching fire and burning to the ground!
However, Espen comes into his own when he and his brothers find themselves on a quest to rescue their monarch King Erik's headstrong daughter, Princess Kristin (Elii Harboe), who has been abducted by the biggest and meanest troll in all of Norway – the dreaded Mountain King – and earn a sufficiently sizeable reward to rebuild their homestead.
Along the way, the fraternal trio encounter all manner of untoward entities. The first is a hideous witch, but because Espen treats her with respect and kindness, she provides him with a magical map that reveals their required route to the cave in which the Mountain King is keeping the princess imprisoned until she agrees to become his bride.
Then they meet some beautiful, seductive forest nymphs, whose true, anything-but-beautiful, deadly nature is perceived only by Espen, who rescues his two enchanted brothers in the nick of time from their lethal clutches.
Later, they do battle with the conniving Prince Fredrik (Allan Hyde), who is also seeking to rescue the princess but secretly plans to kill her after marrying her so that he can become sole ruler of her kingdom, and barely escape with their lives from Frederick and his men.
Then Espen has to free himself from the clutches of some lake-dwelling botanical humanoids who do their utmost to drown him, before the brotherly trio finally – but not least of all – confront the formidable Mountain King himself. In short, their trek across rural Norway is nothing if not eventful!
The Ash Lad: In the Hall of the Mountain King's CGI special effects, though not up to Hollywood standards, are very satisfactory; and unlike the unremitting darkness of tone and content that often pervades this kind of fantasy movie nowadays if produced in Hollywood, there is much more humour and light here, and with no wokeism to speak of either, plus a traditional, uncomplicated happy ending (remember those?).
In 2019, a sequel was released, The Ash Lad: In Search of the Golden Castle, which follows on from this present movie and is based upon the famous Soria Moria fairy tale that I well remember from childhood, so I'll be sure to look out for it. Meanwhile, this present movie is a joyful, escapist family film that everyone of every age can – and should – enjoy, just like I did.
If you'd like to watch The Ash Lad: In the Hall of the Mountain King in its entirety for free on YouTube, be sure to click here.
Finally: to view a complete chronological listing of all of my Shuker In MovieLand blog's other film reviews and articles (each one instantly accessible via a direct clickable link), please click HERE, and please click HERE to view a complete fully-clickable alphabetical listing of them.
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