THE MOVING PICTURE BOY ARCHIVE

THE NAVIGATOR: A MEDIEVAL ODYSSEY

Title: The Navigator: A Medieval Odyssey
Year of Release: 1988
Director: Vincent Ward
Genre: Mystery, Fantasy, Adventure
Country of Production: New Zealand
Length: 1 hour, 31 minutes
Language: English
Availability: A blu-ray (region B) was released by Arrow Video.
Principal Boy: Hamish McFarlane plays Griffin

Synopsis
In this fantastic, hallucinatory masterpiece from Vincent Ward, it is 1348, and a Cumbrian mining village lives in terror of the approaching plague. Boy seer Griffin (Hamish McFarlane) tells the people his dreams and visions: disaster can be averted if a group of pilgrims from the community dig a tunnel to the other side of the world and erect a crucifix on a cathedral in "God's City". A band set out, led by Griffin's older brother Connor. Burrowing through the earth with the aid of a battering contraption, the pilgrims emerge in Auckland, New Zealand, in 1988, where they find a society as much terrified by plague (the unfolding AIDS crisis) and Armageddon (the prospect of nuclear war) as their own society. To make matters worse, Griffin sees in a vision that one of their party will die.

Further information
For analysis and commentary, see The Navigator: A Medieval Odyssey by John Downie (Senior Lecture in Theatre and Film at Victoria University, Wellington), published by Flicks Books, 2000.

The trailer for the movie can be viewed on Youtube here.

Screenshots