The Brothers Lionheart (1977 film)

The Brothers Lionheart
Swedish DVD cover
Directed by	Olle Hellbom
Produced by	Olle Nordemar Olle Hellbom
Written by	Astrid Lindgren
Starring	Staffan Götestam Lars Söderdahl Allan Edwall Gunn Wållgren Folke Hjort Per Oscarsson
Music by	Björn Isfält Lasse Dahlberg
Distributed by	Svensk Filmindustri
Release dates	23 September 1977 (1977-09-23)
Running time	102 minutes
Country	Sweden
Language	Swedish

The Brothers Lionheart (Swedish: Bröderna Lejonhjärta) is a 1977 Swedish fantasy film directed by Olle Hellbom and based on the book with the same name, written by Astrid Lindgren. It won Sweden's Guldbagge Award for Best Director in 1978.

Selected cast

• Lars Söderdahl as Karl "Skorpan" Lion(-heart)
• Staffan Götestam as Jonatan Lion(-heart)
• Allan Edwall as Mattias
• Gunn Wållgren as Sofia
• Folke Hjort as Jossi
• Per Oscarsson as Orvar
• Tommy Johnson as Hubert
• Jan Nygren as Veder, Tengil-soldier
• Michael "Micha" Gabay as Kader, Tengil-soldier
• Georg Årlin as Tengil
• Bertil Norström as Pjuke, Tengil-soldier

Production

The film was shot in Sweden, Denmark and Iceland. Filming locations included Stockholm and Skåne County in Sweden, Århus in Jutland, and Þingvellir in Iceland.

Reception

Box office

In Sweden, the film grossed SEK 8,963,000 at the box office. Its screenings were attended by 553,000 people.

Differences from the novel

Although the film mostly stays true to the book some notable differences can be seen.

• In the film, Karl is shown succumbing to his illness before he wakes up in Nangijala, a scene which is not featured in the novel.
• In the novel Hubert is described having long, curly red hair and a big, bristly beard, while actor Tommy Johnson had short, normal red hair and a moustache.
• In the novel, Jonatan rescues one of Tengil's soldiers who is later killed in the battle. This soldier does not appear in the film.
• In the book when Karl tries to find Jonatan one night, he stays in a cave where he suddenly gets surrounded by angry wolves but is quickly saved by Hubert. This is omitted in the film.
• In the book Jossi tells Veder and Kader about Karl after getting the "Katla mark" on his chest. In the film when he arrives, he tells them before getting labeled with the mark.
• In the novel the "Katla mark" is a dragonhead. It was a flame in the film.
• Veder and Kader's fate is not shown. In the book they are killed by Orvar and Sofia.
• In the film, Mattias dies at some point during the final battle against Tengil's forces. In the film, he is killed by a thrown spear before the battle starts after one of Tengil's men sees him release a white dove carrying a message to Orvar.
• Karm, the lindworm is omitted completely. Karm is described in the novel as Katla's enemy and that he has been around since the dawn of time awaiting the moment he will get to kill Katla. As he is restricted to water and Katla to land, this has been impossible until Jonathan pushes a rock onto Katla, making her fall into the Karma Falls. In the film, Katla is simply knocked over a ledge by the rock dislodged by Jonatan and perishes in a pool of lava.
• The ending is softened a bit and does not explicitly show the brothers committing suicide.

Critical response

The film was well received by Swedish critics. Often interpreting the film in contemporary terms, they compared Staffan Götestam's portrayal of Jonatan to Che Guevara, and Georg Årlin's portrayal of Tengil to Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, Augusto Pinochet, Richard Nixon and Saddam Hussein.

Accolades

• 1978 Guldbagge Award for Best Direction (Olle Hellbom)
• 1978 Berlin International Film Festival, OCIC Award (Special Mention)

• Golden Bear nomination (Olle Hellbom)

• 1982 Fantafestival, Best Direction (Olle Hellbom)

External links

• The Brothers Lionheart at IMDb
• The Brothers Lionheart at the Swedish Film Institute Database
• The Brothers Lionheart at Rotten Tomatoes