An ambitious young man steals forbidden knowledge from a sacred plant. He falls to its darker temptations and in so doing, unleashes ages of suffering onto mankind. As his power grows over the years, those who stand against him are a daring tomb robber, star-crossed lovers, a maniacal necromancer, winged assassins, and an undying guardian.

The struggle between the strictures of religion and humankind's brute animal nature plays out amid the beautifully forbidding landscapes of remote Iceland in this stunning psychological epic from director Hlynur Palmason. In the late nineteenth century, Danish priest Lucas made the perilous trek to Iceland's southeastern coast to establish a church. There, the arrogant man of God finds his resolve tested as he confronts the harsh terrain, temptations...

Set in the 15th century, two strangers dressed as minstrels arrive at a castle in advance of court festivities, and it is revealed that they are actually emissaries of the devil himself, dispatched to spread heartbreak and suffering. Their plans, however, are thwarted by an unexpected intrusion: human love. Often interpreted as an allegory for the Nazi occupation of France, during which it was made.