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Why Dracula Untold? I have one very legitimate reason: Luke Evans. Admit it, as an actor he knows what he's doing. And he’s brilliant at it.
But let’s start at the beginning. In all fairness, I don’t really like vampires. They scare me. And I wouldn’t want to be a vampire myself. That said, I love Twilight (read the book already!), I watched The Vampire Diaries for a little while, I have seen Vampire Academy (once, not twice) and I absolutely adore Dracula Untold. Why?
The answer is – as always – love.
In Twilight it’s not really about vampires and werewolves. That’s just something to keep the story going, to give Bella and Edward a reason to fight, kiss and make up. But they do it so well and they take themselves so seriously I can’t help but respect them for it.
The Vampire Diaries and Vampire Academy left a brief, but distinct impression. It’s all about who gets the girl (The Vampire Diaries) or boy (Vampire Academy). The supernatural stuff is there just for the fun of it.
Now, to my main theme. Dracula Untold. I couldn’t care less about Dracula, but I do care about Vlad. More importantly, I care about his family. Before he was a vampire, he was a son, a warrior, a ruler, a husband and a father. He was once a boy and then grew to become a man. Before the monster Dracula there was the man Vlad.
Okay, so things are not entirely black and white. Vlad has the makings of a vampire in him. He is known for his cruel way of killing adversaries – and innocents. That begs the question: how much does Mirena know about her husband’s dark past? It seems she knows enough to understand him, to feel for him, to love him.
I personally very much like how Mirena handles the truth about Vlad becoming a vampire, albeit temporarily. She’s got his back. She lies for him, she has faith in him, she does not try to alienate their son from his father – which is remarkable in its own right and a heroic deed as far as I am concerned. As we can see, Vlad has a worthy counterpart to balance him out. She is a light to his darkness and in the end she gives up her light, her life and her blood because she believes that Vlad is still fighting on the side of good (and he is). It is unclear whether she dies from the injuries she sustains because of the fall or whether Vlad is directly responsible for her death. In any case, I don’t really see her as a victim because she chooses her fate.
“Why think separately of this life and the next, when one is born from the last? Time is always too short for those who need, but for those who love, it lasts forever.”
This is a message of hope that finds its way through what is undoubtedly a grim story. It is this message that Mirena and Vlad, two responsible parents, manage to teach their son. Nothing is ever truly lost and however desperate things seem to become, there is no need to despair. Light, life, and love always return.
And it is the young boy, Ingeras, who is the focal point of the story. Everything revolves around his future. Will he grow up much the same way his father did or will he live out his life in freedom? He loses both parents during the course of the film. His mother to death and his father to the eternity of night. Yet he always believes what his parents want for him is what is indeed the best route. In the beginning, he is ready to sacrifice himself to save his family, his home and his people. He is willing to become a hostage, claiming he “can do it”. It is Vlad who refuses to accept his sacrifice and offers a different kind of sacrifice: he will give up his humanity to spare his son from losing his.
Have you noticed how Ingeras never doubts his father? Yet he is witness to pretty much everything. He watches Vlad lose his temper, do battle, transform into a cloud of bats, drink blood, impale, kill etc. But the kid doesn't miss a beat. He loves and trusts his father. The vampiric bits and pieces are nothing compared to that.
Vlad is much the same, only in reverse. Vampire or not, his family is sacred and comes first. He is a terrible liar and is unable to hide the truth from his wife. He is only ready to give up his son when he is absolutely positive it is the only right thing to do. It is love that defines him, not thirst. True, in the end, he is mostly just a vampire. His wife is dead. He is separated from his son. He is left with nothing but the night and its protective cover, blood and its resurrecting properties. Yet several hundred years later he is still able to remember the face of his wife. He still recalls their wedding vows. He is not just a vampire. He is a vampire who remembers he became a vampire not because he wanted power or revenge or immortality, but because of love.
Have you noticed how everything happens on a larger scale if you’re a vampire? Love and hate run deeper, consequences of one’s actions are never truly over and memories do not fade. I daresay most vampires seem more human than some humans. I suppose that is part of their attraction. But that is not my point. To love is to be human. To hurt is human. I guess it comes with the territory. But there is one aspect of humanity that Vlad possess in enormous quantities. I don’t have a name for it, so I’ll just describe it.
It starts with being in love or feeling love. When you love, responsibility takes on a whole new meaning. You rejoice at the possibility of being responsible for the person you love. You shoulder your part of the responsibility for his or her happiness and you are grateful for it. You would do it again. You want a chance to do it again. It’s like a drug. It’s like breathing. You do not walk away from that kind of responsibility. You cannot. You do not want to.
At the same time, there is pain. The joy of being consciously responsible for someone’s happiness mingles with a painful feeling in your stomach. It is a warning. However you try, the person you love will never be completely safe, nor will ever absolutely belong to you or only you. You care, you love, you ache, you worry, but you do not own. You cannot possess and you do not want to. It sets you free – all that responsibility and its joy with all that vulnerability and its pain. Love is when you are able to hold both in your heart at the same time and that is the ultimate freedom. No one can wound you when you are that vulnerable, no one can tarnish your purpose because it is completely selfless.
If you haven’t thought about it, go see Dracula Untold again and watch Vlad’s face when he’s with his wife and son. It’s all there. The joy, the pain and the determination he will give up neither of these feelings. Being a vampire transforms him, but it does not change how he feels.
And that is the true reason why I think writing fan fiction about this film is worth the bother. It could have all happened so differently! Vlad and Mirena seem to have so much in common, but how do they find a middle ground where they can grow towards love? Ingeras might have been a more fearful child – if he feared his father, how would it taint Vlad’s perception of himself? Does trust protect Mirena and her son from the violence of a thirsty vampire? Or is Vlad basically a self–sacrificing individual who gets some sort of kick out of being a martyr?
The film shows the best possible train of events – everyone keeps their integrity. But what if they didn’t? How would they fail? How many times would they stumble before they fell? Think about it. There are so many possibilities how things could have been different!
And my very own reason for emotionally investing in this film (I have said it and I will say it again): Luke Evans is just adorable as Vlad. I can’t help but want to give him a happy ending, but I know it is not possible because Vlad is a tragic figure in this film and since luck is not on his side, sun rises just five minutes too soon.
Do you have five minutes to think about what kind of love you are seeking? Vlad has all the eternity, he’s a vampire. He can wait forever for Mina to turn up. Humans cannot afford that luxury.