This leads to war between the two factions. He helps his friend Knut Eriksson to kill the old king Karl Sverkersson. When Arn leaves the monastery and returns to his family, he is soon pulled into the struggle between powerful families fighting for the crown of Västra Götaland. Guilbert replies that Arn is not meant to be a monk but is destined to be a soldier of God. Although the monks tell Arn he did nothing wrong, they question Guilbert training him in being a warrior. When the girl begs Arn for help, two of the men attack him and he kills them in self-defense.

One day, while wandering the woods, he encounters three men trying to force a young girl into marriage. Arn is also discovered to be ambidextrous. He grows up in a monastery belonging to the Cistercians and is trained there in archery, swordsmanship and horsemanship by a former Knight Templar, the brother Guilbert. See also: The Knight Templar (Crusades trilogy)Īrn Magnusson is a son of the powerful Folkung dynasty in the mid-12th century. An 'international' version has been created which incorporates this film and its sequel Arn – The Kingdom at Road's End into a single cut with a duration of approximately 130 minutes. The original movie follows the first two volumes of Guillou's trilogy. The film grossed $22.5 million according to BoxOfficeMojo. US $30 million) for both films, it is the most expensive production in Swedish cinema. With a total budget of around SEK 210 million (ca. While the film is mostly in Swedish and most of the production was made in Sweden, the film is a joint production between Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland and Germany. The film was released to cinemas in Sweden on 17 December 2007 and the sequel, Arn – The Kingdom at Road's End ( Arn – Riket vid vägens slut), was released 22 August 2008, but both films were combined into a single cut for the English release on DVD in 2010. US $30,000,000) (total budget of both films)Īrn: The Knight Templar ( Swedish: Arn: Tempelriddaren) is an epic film based on Jan Guillou's trilogy about the fictional Swedish Knight Templar Arn Magnusson.

The Road to Jerusalem by Jan Guillou