Shadow of the Sword

2005

1h 55m

IMDb RATING

5.8/10

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Central Europe, early 16th century: two childhood friends, Martin & Georg, find themselves on rival sides of a religious war with both of them struggling to do the right thing.

Directors

Simon Aeby

Writers

Steve Attridge(writer by)

Susanne Freund(writer by)

Stars

Steven Berkoff

Nikolaj Coster-Waldau

Julie Cox

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Top cast

Steven Berkoff

Inquisitor

Nikolaj Coster-Waldau

Martin

Margaretha

Librarian's daughter

Anna

Maria

Margaretha's Maid

Bertram

Bernhard

Fabio

Jakob

Georg

Archbishop

Directors

Simon Aeby

Writers

Steve Attridge(writer by)

Susanne Freund(writer by)

All cast & crew

Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

Ok, so the writing and much of the acting do rather let this down, but it has assembled a surprisingly decent cast and the standard of the production is really fairly good for what must have been a fairly low-budget affair. It’s all about two lads who were separated at a young age. One - “Georg” (Peter McDonald) is headed for holy orders, the other “Martin” (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) is seconded into the military service of the emperor. Years pass and events now dictate that the former man be the prior in a small town where the latter is sent - as it’s executioner. John Shrapnel is probably the most lauded Thespian in this drama, but his role of the bishop is predictable and undercooked suggesting he only had one or two filming days to give this. Steven Berkoff is here too, but he is nowhere near his maniacal best as the menacingly titled “inquisitor” and at just short of two hours, it all takes far too long to get anywhere near the sharp end of it’s blade. Aesthetically, it does look good and it does give us a sense of the mud-strewn life lived by a population that lived in fear of a church that was very much of the “do as I say, not as I do” frame of mind and you like the genre then it’s a sort of “Cadfael” with gore, - and I didn’t hate it.

Geronimo196702 Aug, 2025