[Jelena]

Originally Posted by Ninja Dodo

Also saw the second Arn movie, Riket vid vägens slut. Good movie. It managed to successfully distill the books without losing too much of the story and even if you haven't read them I think the film stands on its own merits pretty well.

I read the books right away when they were released and loved them. I never thought a film would do them justice and after having watched the first one I felt I was right. Perhaps I should watch the second film and see if it works better.

In a way Guillou has sort of created a founding mythology of Sweden somewhat like Tolkien did for England, though without the fantasy... it's a bit like the Steven Saylor style of taking history and filling in the blanks.

Guillou did thorough research before he wrote the books. For instance the home of Arn as a child: Arnäs is based on a real location called Aranäs.
Forshem church is a real church which above the entrance has a stone relief of a knight handling over the keys of the church to God. And above the knight there's a Knight Templar's cross. Guillou got inspired by the relief and started thinking about events that could lead to a Knights Templar building a church in Sweden during the 1100s.

Also saw Fanny & Alexander which I'm ashamed to admit is the first time I've ever seen a Bergman movie. Very interesting. Really explores the characters and does so with great visual flair and an eye for detail. I shall have to watch some more...

I'm not a fan of Bergsman's but Fanny Alexander is fantastic.