Film
What's on at the cinema plus reviews of the latest movie and DVD releases
Bookmark this pageThe Navigator: A Medieval Odyssey (1988)
Director: Vincent Ward
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
A bold fusion of history, myth, and futuristic fantasy, Ward's imaginitive medieval odyssey ravishes the eye, challenges the mind, and stirs the heart. When young Griffin's older brother Connor returns to their 14th century Cumbrian mining village with horrifying tales of the Black Death, the elders fear the small community is doomed. But in a prophetic dream, Griffin sees a religious pilgrimage by which a resolute band may triumph over the pestilence through an act of religious faith. Their quest, to erect a new spire on a distant church steeple, will take them deep into the bowels of the earth and make them strangers in a strange land, because they emerge from their tunnels into the glass towers, monstrous machinery and religious scepticism of modern-day New Zealand. There is a powerful allergorical undercurrent, too, which draws a parallel between the plague-threatened village and the modern city, itself living under the spectre of a nuclear Armageddon.Author: NF
Cast & crew
Director: Vincent Ward
Producer: John Maynard
Cast: Bruce Lyons, Chris Haywood, Hamish McFarlane, Marshall Napier, Noel Appleby, Paul Livingston, Sarah Pierse full cast
Genre(s): Fantasy
Duration: 91 mins
Top Stories
Ridley Scott interview
Director Ridley Scott tells Cath Clarke why he's making a science fiction comeback
Cannes Film Festival 2012: half-time report
Dave Calhoun reports on the hits, misses and a shocking new masterpiece from Michael Haneke
What do you think?
Post your review now