Beowulf: Prince of the Geats (2007)

Directed by

Scott Wegener

Genre

fantasy film

Country

United States

Rating

6.0 of 10 from 3 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

A low-budget film adapts the Old English epic Beowulf with a Black actor in the lead role. The story follows a prince from an African father and a Northern European mother who seeks to prove himself as a hero. The movie uses the classic plot to address colonialism and racism.

thoughtfullow-budgetsincerecontroversialearnestquietly intensemodernized

What happens

Beowulf: Prince of the Geats is a 2007 film based on the Anglo-Saxon epic Beowulf. The film was made by Scott Wegener on a shoestring budget with proceeds benefiting the American and Norwegian Cancer Societies. The film was shown only briefly in theaters, but that its central character was played by a Black actor generated much racist online commentary. The film addresses issues of "colonialism and exploitation", according to Kathleen Forni. Unlike earlier film versions, the main character is played by a Black actor. Director Scott Wegener had cast the African-American actor Jayshan Jackson for the main part, and then reworked the script accordingly: in Wegener's version, Beowulf's father was a fisherman from an African people, who ended up in Northern Europe where he fathered a child with a local woman. This led to protests from neo-Nazis and other white supremacists, via email and on websites. Neo-Odinists, who consider Beowulf as equivalent to a sacred text, were offended by Wegener's choice. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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