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This is an exciting and enjoyable presentation of some of history and legends behind the magnificent Old English poem Beowulf, with excerpts of a stirring performance (primarily in translation) by Julian Glover, and a discussion with Seamus Heaney of his translation. There are visits to suitably gloomy locations in England, an authentic-looking reconstruction of an Anglo-Saxon mead-hall, and some lovely shots of the rune-incribed Ruthwell Cross in what used to be Northumbria and is now Scotland, where it was brutally vandalized by Presbyterians.

I enjoyed it a great deal, but the history and philology are often sloppy. I've added some goofs to this page; a larger one is more opinion than an Error In Fact: The poem is _not_ a lit-crit hero's journey ending in self-discovery: the poem ends with Beowulf's concern for his people and his fame, not for himself.