Nordic cinema since the 2000s has turned to history to a greater degree than before, employing historical subject matter and settings to entertain, show off costumes and tell stories, but also to contribute with images and sounds to what historian Robert A. Rosenstone calls ‘that larger History … that web of connections to the past that holds a culture together, that tells us not only where we have been but also suggests where we are going’ (Rosenstone 1995: 23).

This chapter discusses the connections to the past made by the genre of the historical film. By historical film I mean films that create stories that take place in the past and not the present. The main questions are: How do Nordic filmmakers interpret and construct Nordic history? How do Nordic filmmakers engage with the past? And, what constitutes history for current filmmakers in the Nordic countries?

I discuss four different feature films, from four different countries, in order to show the scope of the new Nordic historical film and different varieties of engagement with the past. The films are not necessarily typical of their countries, but they represent important aspects of the national film industries as well as important aspects of the historical film genre in the Nordic countries. In all of the Nordic countries, the study of history is important, and the publication of numerous history books as well as historical fictions is proof that history not only fascinates a large audience in itself, but plays a role in the construction of contemporary national identities. Even though the genre deals with the past, the historical film will always reflect its time of production, and most Nordic historical dramas use the past for the purposes of the present.

NORDIC HISTORICAL FILM

Compared to contemporary dramas relatively few films produced in the Nordic countries have been consciously historical in their subject matter or attempted to represent the past. Although some Nordic national cinemas, especially Finnish cinema, have relied on historical representations throughout their history, there are far fewer historical films than ones set in the present. The main reason lies in the small markets of Nordic cinema and the big budgets of most historical films. The extra cost of creating a believable historical past through costumes and settings, instead of filming a contemporary story, proved too expensive for many filmmakers and production companies.