10 Recent Movie Scenes That Shocked The World
6. Olga's Unexpected Defence Mechanism - The Northman
Producing one of the most raw and uncompromising features of modern times with his epic tale of Viking prince Amleth's attempts to gain revenge for his father's murder, Robert Eggers seemingly made it his mission to shock and beat his audience into a slack-jawed mess over the course of The Northman's 137-minutes of madness.
Yet, even though Alexander Skarsgård's aforementioned Amleth understandably grabbed most of the headlines with his routine feats of savagery throughout the flick, it was Anya Taylor-Joy's Olga of the Birch Forest who provided audiences with easily the most startling beat the flick had to offer.
With the director frequently alluding to the sickening threat of rape being ever-present in these barbaric Viking times, Eggers deployed an unexpected tactic in one particular scene to avoid the actual visual of Olga being taken against her will. Lifting up her dress to reveal she's very much on, Olga would then proceed to smear the despicable dude attempting to take her's face with her menstrual rag to hammer home the point some more.
As it goes, said exchange was actually Taylor-Joy's idea, with Eggers only all to happy to oblige as he'd later note the brilliantly shocking beat "was great".