Ronja The Robber’s Daughter is basically a screen adaptation of the children’s fictitious book titled Astrid Lindgren by the same name and written by Swedish author Astrid Lindgren in 1981.
It’s not the first time this has been turned into an adaptation – remember Studio Ghibli animated series based on this novel? However, it still has enough meat to make you want to watch it if you knew about the earlier programme or read the book.
This production was filmed in different parts of Sweden with a cast and crew that are all Swedish. Such is the beauty of its location photography in this fantasy drama that you may decide to plan your next holidays here and enjoy this beautiful country. Only, don’t run into those gray dwarves or harpies (which are called wile wings within them) – they won’t encourage any positive review on TripAdvisor.
For example, Ronja (Kirstin Linden), a young girl who lives in a robbing group led by Mattis (Christopher Wagelin) as her dad, is at heart of this somber story. She lives with him, her mother and a gang of robbers in a fort where they’re safe from patrolling soldiers and another bandit gang known as the Borkas named after their leader.
However, Ronja had lived a secluded life until she wanted to move out so her parents felt it was time for her to go out alone in nearby forest. Unfortunately there she met up with harpies and grey dwarves among other creatures including Rumphobs which are friendly little folk residing there. Also hidden amongst them are unearthed or supernatural beings who shift forms taking on what appears most desirable to its victims since they parade themselves as always wanting to be seen.
Well then despite all of those risks below and above ground, Ronja feels excited about deciding what’s around her country. While she feels more alive when she gets closer to the boy named Birk (Jack Bergenholtz Henriksson), Mattis’ rival’s son Borka (Sverrir Gudnason). Meeting him makes her happier because she has never had a friend of her age before. Even though she wants to spend time with him, both of them are held back by their fathers who don’t like each other.
Dark fantasy sets the tone of Ronja The Robber’s Daughter first episode where harpies fly above but not too scary and red-eyed dwarves that peep out from under the earth. Those who enjoy macabre tales with a touch of horror will enjoy seeing some of the horrors Ronja faces in this initial segment, however, they will be disappointed as the series goes on because there is less fantasy stuff happening.
That doesn’t mean that they are no more confrontations with various beasts of this land rather these become secondary as Ronja becomes closer to Birk. They fear exposure by their dads due to deep-rooted family enmity dating many years back.
The remaining 5 episodes of Ronja the Robber’s Daughter focus on the rivalry between two clans and how Mattis, Ronja’s father, engages in cruel acts to defeat his enemy after the dark first episode. Meanwhile, a subplot develops around a notorious bailiff who enters the village and becomes its new sheriff with an aim of hunting down criminals such as Mattis among others which are partially revealed throughout the series.
Ronja The Robber’s Daughter is one show that has multiple plotlines that interweave and converge towards the end in a few episodes only. However, Netflix does not provide answers to all questions raised by this series as it concludes later this year in its sixth season. This could be disappointing to some since episode six ends with suspense but at least there is anticipation for subsequent seasons when they become available for streaming.
Netflix is increasingly becoming known as a platform for fantasy book adaptations. Shadow and Bone, Cursed, Locke & Key and recent Orion and the Dark are just examples of several movies that have been brought into their catalogues over time. We think there will be many more titles to follow, but right now you can watch Ronja The Robber’s Daughter if you like well-made adaptation from classics.
In spite of being in Swedish (with English dubs available), it is easy to follow: even with subtitles; therefore anyone watching should not struggle appreciating various aspects of character development or plot movement. True, some storylines might appear puzzling but it has nothing to do with translating them into Swedish; instead ambiguity arises from cryptic dialogues meant keep secret information hidden before last episode.
So we recommend Ronja The Robber’s Daughter for you kids below ten years old might want to avoid few scary scenes but young adults and teenagers would probably enjoy the magical environment based on Scandinavian mythology where extremely good friends grow up from children while hiding inside intriguing plots together.
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