Richard Bangs' Adventures with Purpose: Norway, Quest for the Viking Spirit Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		3.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		0.0
Overall		4.0

Richard Bangs' Adventures with Purpose: Norway, Quest for the Viking Spirit Blu-ray Movie Review

Is the Viking Spirit one of death and destruction, or peaceful co-existence? Richard Bangs tries to have it both ways in this enjoyable outing in the 'Adventures With Purpose' series.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman March 19, 2010

Richard Bangs starts Norway: Quest for the Viking Spirit with a description of the marauding hoards of Norsemen who invaded England in the late eighth century. By the end of the episode, Bangs is extolling the virtues of Norway’s peace loving inhabitants, holding them up as a prime example of mankind’s ability (despite its proclivities not to) peacefully coexist with each other. If these two elements seem too disparate to really be successfully reconciled, they’re part of the fascination, along with a glorious scenic element, that makes this one of the more interesting outings in Bangs’ Adventures with Purpose series, a television offering which is once again making the rounds of PBS stations nationwide.

Though anyone who is a fan of the old Richard Fleischer film The Vikings, with Kirk Douglas in one of his most emblematic roles, may be excused for thinking that the term refers to a tribe, Bangs makes clear fairly early in this episode that Viking actually refers to an era in Norse history, roughly from the eighth through the eleventh centuries. But the term Viking has entered the general lexicon to denote an enterprising explorer who, when push came to shove (literally), wasn’t above hacking an enemy’s head off to attain his goal. What is perhaps more than a bit surprising is that most of the Vikings (in the generally understood usage of the term) were actually farmers, who took to raping and pillaging only in their “off months” from planting and harvesting.

The Norway episode features some amazingly gorgeous scenery.

Star Trek aficionados are well acquainted with Gene Roddenberry’s thesis that sooner or later mankind will wake up and realize war is futile, and that everyone will learn to “just get along.” That same sort of evolution is on display in Norway: Quest for the Viking Spirit, as Bangs himself explores how a war-happy tribe that helped to literally open new worlds for exploration, often taking them by storm, ultimately developed into a peace loving people who inhabit one of the most eco-friendly and conflict free regions in the world. Somewhere along the way the desire to conquer other peoples gave way to a perhaps nobler desire to simply conquer unknown lands, leading to Norway becoming one of the leading centers of late 19th century and early 20th century forays into then exotic locales like the North Pole and Antartica.

While the North Pole is only a stone’s throw from some of Norway’s finger-like protrusions (and in fact Bangs visits a whole section of the country which is actually north of the Arctic Circle, as strange as that may sound), it was one of Norway’s most famous explores, Roald Amundsen, who won the race the get to the South Pole as the 20th century was dawning. Though perhaps less well known outside of his home country than is Amundsen, explorer Fridtjof Nansen is perhaps held in even higher esteem in Norway, as several interview subjects make clear. After an amazing career as a polar explorer, Nansen went on to win the Nobel Peace Prize for his humanitarian efforts. One of the more interesting, and even touching, segments has Bangs interviewing Kon Tiki’s Thor Heyerdahl’s son, Thor Heyerdahl, Jr.. Bangs’ admiration for the elder Heyerdahl’s accomplishments is easy to spot, and the pioneering spirit which Heyerdahl epitomized seems to be a guiding light for our host himself.

Bangs also visits a very interesting reliquary of ancient runes and petroglyphs, some of them over six thousands years old, by scholars’ best estimates. These are fascinating images of early life in the northern climes, and include the first ever image of a fence being used to reign in animals in preparations for the slaughter. What Bangs fails to address (in one of very few omissions the host is guilty of throughout the largely well explicated Adventures with Purpose series) is how these petroglyphs achieved their ruddy red appearance. I personally would have loved a little more physical detail about the glyphs.

While Bangs’ never fully comes to grip with the anachronistic elements of the Norwegian soul, he nonetheless does an exemplary job providing insight into Norway’s rather grittier past, as well as its serene presence. While the nationalistic issues Norway suffered at the hands of both Denmark and Sweden are glossed over rather quickly, the Norwegians’ stolid insistence on their own national identity comes through rather clearly in several concise interviews Bangs conducts with various people. One thing that has never changed in the country, going back to earliest Viking times, is the rather unexpected equality of women, and Bangs spends several brief sequences describing both the historical roles women played as well as modern Norwegian females’ opportunities.

While all the history and philosophy is streaming by, some of the most glorious scenery in any of the Adventures with Purpose is also fully on display. Norway is undoubtedly one of the most awe inspiring locales on our planet, and this episode has some truly stunning images of waters, peaks, and some of the most charmingly colorful villages you could ever hope to lay eyes on. Bangs is his usual affable self throughout the hour or so that Norway: Quest for the Viking Spirit runs. If that quest still leaves a few unanswered questions, and Bangs never really makes a completely compelling case as to how marauders became peace-mongers, it’s still a voyage full of beauty and intriguing characters, proving that getting there is more than half the fun.

Richard Bangs' Adventures with Purpose: Norway, Quest for the Viking Spirit Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

If you can get past some artifacting issues which seem to regularly plague these Topics Adventures with Purpose releases, Norway: Quest for the Viking Spirit is easily one of the most picturesque offerings in the series. Encoded via MPEG-2, with a 1080i 1.78:1 image, Norway offers stupendously bright colors, always brilliantly saturated. This episode is a wonderful panoply of both natural and man made palettes, from the unbelievably deep blues of several inland waterways, to the beautiful purples and yellows of floral arrays, to some really, really cool villages where the roofs are multi-colored (something that has to be seen to fully enjoy). Detail is very sharp and precise throughout the episode, with amazing depth of field in the exterior locales. What prevents Norway from being a completely winning Blu-ray is the same annoying shimmer and video noise on such items as heavily leafed trees which has consistently been a problem throughout this series.

Richard Bangs' Adventures with Purpose: Norway, Quest for the Viking Spirit Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Though there is no surround sound option on Norway: Quest for the Viking Spirit, we at least have a lossless LPCM stereo track. That said, even a lossless track may be a bit of an overkill in a series like this which features very little ambient sound, and is instead largely Bangs' onscreen or voiceover narration, intercut with onscreen interview segments. This is a clear and precise soundtrack, with no anomalies or issues to report. Fidelity is excellent, though directionality, even within a narrow stereo soundfield, is virtually nonexistent. Bangs is unfailingly front and center, as are all of the interview subjects. As with some of the other Adventures with Purpose titles, there's a notable, if not ultimately very distracting, disparity between what I assume is Bangs' recorded live and post-dubbed segments.

Richard Bangs' Adventures with Purpose: Norway, Quest for the Viking Spirit Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

As I've mentioned in previous Adventures with Purpose reviews, someone really dropped the ball with respect to supplements. All of these titles so far include an advertisement for the SD-DVD versions, which tout the DVDs' "over two hours of bonus material." Not a whit of any of that has made it to any of these Blu's. Odd, don't you think?

Richard Bangs' Adventures with Purpose: Norway, Quest for the Viking Spirit Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

It's probably going to be the scenery which will most likely conquer you in Norway: Quest for the Viking Spirit. The history lesson is very interesting, if Bangs never totally explains how we got from raping and pillaging to loving everyone equally, but the imagery here is unforgettable.