It’s the unholiest of alliances in hollyweird and it all comes together beautifully (sarcasm) in the gorgeous and all engrossing film. The departure from history is intentional and gross. Beowulf is a tale that predates Jesus’s time on earth by a thousand years I want to say. Am I wrong because I’ll be honest and say all I got to read of it was the middle or old english version of the poem in college. Hard to follow. It seems they took great liberty to juxtaposition the hedonist against the christian.
The anti-Christian symbolism peaks at the end when you see the cross of the viking ship mast crumble and fall into the sea simultaneous to the earth goddess hedonists appearance and immortal triumph over Christianity, which according to this swisher Zemeckis, ends with death. Their message. Faith is a farce. Hedonism timeless.