*This review may contain spoilers*
This one hour and 42 minutes long story-telling saga is a place you're hauntingly swept into when watching.
From the rather ordinary modern daily life of two young boys living in the 1970's, to an abruptly grinding halt when they one after the other dies and is transported into another land, called Nangijala. There the world is a much more clear place of good and evil, but also much more cruel and more beautiful than the one they've just left. Here, the evil stonehearted knight Tengil rules with absolute iron-fisted power.
But there is also an existing hidden movement among the peaceful farmers, almost like in a strange saga-version of WW2 France, there is a "La Resistance" that works to hinder the dark and violent forces of Tengil. Among the heart-achingly beautiful valleys of Cherry Blossom Valley and the Briar-Bush Valley, there grows an ever stronger, but silent cry of freedom from the oppressors. But it is so beautiful here, that one cannot even start to suspect that anything else can be evil, not in such a warm cosy world such as this?
Not until you meet the dark-helmed, dark-mantled warriors of Tengil and learn their cruel ways of vile heartlessness. Then you understand how incredibly fragile the farmers world are, how defenseless the warm and friendly people of the two Valleys are. Ripe for the taking by the mailed hand of Tengil,his cruel warriors and as if that isn't enough, also their immensely powerful ally, Katla the Dragon.
This story is like an early but very successful paralelled story to the Lord of the Rings, only in a much smaller scale. But that doesn't matter, as the heart-pounding feelings of righteousness are just as strong here. You want the weak ones to carry the torch in just the same manner as in LoTR, and burn down evil against all odds in the same way. The only real difference lies in the start of this story, as the two brothers live in our world. And that makes the 'reality' of it all so much more true. You can understand the hopelessness here, the hatred, the cold cruelty, the love for beauty of the heart - because it all comes from people of our own world. No CGI-created computerized creatures here, even if the dragon is really badly made. None.
And this is only understandable when you see it. So do not miss this for the world. You win the views of two worlds here. With tears.
This one hour and 42 minutes long story-telling saga is a place you're hauntingly swept into when watching.
From the rather ordinary modern daily life of two young boys living in the 1970's, to an abruptly grinding halt when they one after the other dies and is transported into another land, called Nangijala. There the world is a much more clear place of good and evil, but also much more cruel and more beautiful than the one they've just left. Here, the evil stonehearted knight Tengil rules with absolute iron-fisted power.
But there is also an existing hidden movement among the peaceful farmers, almost like in a strange saga-version of WW2 France, there is a "La Resistance" that works to hinder the dark and violent forces of Tengil. Among the heart-achingly beautiful valleys of Cherry Blossom Valley and the Briar-Bush Valley, there grows an ever stronger, but silent cry of freedom from the oppressors. But it is so beautiful here, that one cannot even start to suspect that anything else can be evil, not in such a warm cosy world such as this?
Not until you meet the dark-helmed, dark-mantled warriors of Tengil and learn their cruel ways of vile heartlessness. Then you understand how incredibly fragile the farmers world are, how defenseless the warm and friendly people of the two Valleys are. Ripe for the taking by the mailed hand of Tengil,his cruel warriors and as if that isn't enough, also their immensely powerful ally, Katla the Dragon.
This story is like an early but very successful paralelled story to the Lord of the Rings, only in a much smaller scale. But that doesn't matter, as the heart-pounding feelings of righteousness are just as strong here. You want the weak ones to carry the torch in just the same manner as in LoTR, and burn down evil against all odds in the same way. The only real difference lies in the start of this story, as the two brothers live in our world. And that makes the 'reality' of it all so much more true. You can understand the hopelessness here, the hatred, the cold cruelty, the love for beauty of the heart - because it all comes from people of our own world. No CGI-created computerized creatures here, even if the dragon is really badly made. None.
And this is only understandable when you see it. So do not miss this for the world. You win the views of two worlds here. With tears.