Review
Based on Nordic legends and shot in New England, Killian's Chronicle is an appealing and eye-opening look at the cultural interaction that took place a thousand years ago on the Atlantic coast of North America. Its title character is an Irish slave who escapes from his Viking captors and befriends a tribe of Native Americans in what is now New England. The film was made by Cambridge-based writer-director Pamela Berger, whose copious research on Native American life shows in the believable details of life among the tribe members. Killian's Chronicle also exhibits the we-can-all-learn-from-each-other humanism that has marked Berger's other works ( Sorceress and The Imported Bridegroom ), which also dealt with culture clash and the struggle against intolerance. But even people who don't walk into a movie theater to have their multicultural horizons widened will get something out of Killian's Chronicle. We 're not talking Conan the Barbarian here, but Killian does contain some satisfying elements of action-adventure, especially the brash performance by Robert McDonough as the bad-guy Viking Ivar, who seeks the coveted navigating stone that Killian possesses. Another winning element of the drama is the romance that develops between Killian and the young Indian woman Turtle. An educated young man, Killian (Christopher Johnson) takes advantage of some turbulence among his violent captors and escapes after they have reached North America. He vows to return to his homeland a free man and to this end begins building a boat. He writes down his experiences in a journal. A curious little boy comes upon the stranger. Kitchi (the terrific Jonah Ming Lee) teaches Killian his language, and Killian teaches Kitchi chess. After he is bitten by a snake, Killian is nursed back to health in the village, where he befriends the hunter Contacook (Gino Montesinos) and is smitten with Turtle (Eva Kim). Killian accompanies a trading party to a settlement of Vikings, where he stays in the background for fear of being recaptured and enslaved. The encounter proves calamitous, leading to a battle between the Indians and whites. But the ultimate showdown is not between the two races, but between Killian and Ivar, in a test of brains over brawn. Berger depicts the evolution of Killian's communication with the Native Americans in an interesting way. In his first encounters with Kitchi, the two rely on sign language. As Killian learns the tribe's language, that is what we hear and the film is subtitled. Then a slain Indian friend appears to Killian in a vision speaking English, so the rest of the film plays out in English... Johnson, who is in just about every scene as well as providing voiceovers, is sympathetic as Killian. Eva Kim shows a gentle assertiveness as the relationship between Turtle and Killian develops. And McDonough steals every scene he is in as Ivar. The woodland and seaside locations are beautiful; it's almost astounding to see so much scenery untouched by modern life. A bit of text at the end of the film reminds us that the Native Americans lived another 500 years peacefully on these shores - then in 1492, they found Christopher Columbus, who was lost. --Boston Globe, October 5, 1994
Product Description
Summary:Killian's Chronicle carries us back to a different beginning, five centuries before Columbus, when the Vikings were lost on these shores. To find their way home they needed the navigating stone, stolen by Killian, the Irish slave who escaped from their ship. This film tells the story of Killian's flight to freedom and his encounter with the Original People of America. They rescued him; they healed him. He learned how they hunted, how they worshiped, and how they loved. He became a brother to the tribal hero Contacook and a friend to the youthful Kitchi. He became enamored of the girl named Turtle. For the Irish slave mentioned in the ancient Viking sagas, it was a time of danger, as the native people fought the Viking intruders, and forced them out, except for one, Ivar, who was determined to settle an old score. This film, built on the fragments of ancient Viking texts, as well as on archaeological discoveries in Newfoundland, will change the way we view our distant past, for Killian's Chronicle becomes, in a sense, the first story of America. Note on the Sources: When the Vikings penetrated into the woodlands of the North Atlantic coast around the year 1000 AD, those they encountered called themselves Algonquians, which means People of the Other Shore. These encounters are described in the Greenlanders Saga and in the Saga of Eric the Red. The recent archaeological discoveries in Newfoundland have corroborated the Saga accounts. Thus the first recorded chapter of the history of our continent can be pushed back five hundred years before Columbus. When the Viking first landed, they sent out two Celtic slaves to explore, therefore making them the first recorded Europeans to set foot on these shores. That segment of the sagas, as well as other sections dealing with the Norse encounters with Native Americans, was recreated in this film. The events are told through the eyes of Killian, the name we gave to one of the Celtic slaves. The ambiance of the native people portrayed in the film-- their canoes, villages, vessels, weapons -- was recreated based on archaeological finds of the period. Mythology and folklore served as the inspiration for several scenes, and much of the dialogue was taken from Native American or Irish folklore. Speakers of indigenous languages of the region (such as Passamaqquoddy) helped to fashion the perspective and content of the script. The differences between the viewpoints of the Norsemen and the Native Americans are woven into the dialogue and visual structure of the film, sometimes seriously, sometimes humorously. Some dialogue, particularly in the trading and battle scenes, was lifted directly from the sagas and then adapted for the modern screen. The Irish perspective of Killian was inspired by stories of the Irish saint Brendan the Navigator. From scripting, to the making of the props, costumes, and sets, through the directing work with the actors, those of us who made this film confronted the challenges of recreating a visual analogue for the ancient texts and archaeological finds. But we also tried to humanize the characters. We imagined a family context, friendships, sexual attraction, hate and love. Inspired by the above documents, and in as authentic an ambiance as possible, we imagined a story personalized through the life of a young Irish captive whose journey helps him understand what it really means to be a free man. An expanded version of this note appears in a booklet accompanying the DVD. The film can be enjoyed by children as well as by adults. The Boston Globe and the New York Times recognized that this film is appropriate for all ages. Inquire about a teacher's resource book from Berger@bc.edu
