The Snow Walker - Wettlauf mit dem Tod

A tale of survival, The Snow Walker is the story of a Canadian hot shot pilot who flies a single engine prop plane into the Canadian wilderness near Manitoba on a regular basis. One day, Charlie drops off some drums at a remote area where he meets some Inuit Eskimoes who give him a pair of valuable ivory tusks as trade in order to have him take back a young woman to a hospital, as she is coughing up blood and may have tuberculosis. He reluctantly agrees, and while on the journey, the plane breaks down and they crash land in the middle of nowhere. He jumps up and down, cursing their dilemma, while the Eskimo girl calmly uses a piece of string to catch fish. Her outdoor skills are formidable, and he soon realizes that she is much better then he is in the great outdoors. They walk a long way and eventually he decides it would be better to return to the plane to await a rescue. They set up camp and most of the film shows the two learning to communicate and teaching each other their very uncommon cultures. The scenery is beautiful, and the young actress a natural, which makes The Snow Walker a trip worth taking.

The Snow Walker, following the Farley Mowat book 'Walk Well My Brother' introduces the characters Charlie Halliday, a self-absorbed pilot (played by Barry Pepper) and Kanaalaq, a quiet, resourceful Inuit girl (played by Annabella Piugattuk). The film is directed by Charles Martin Smith, the man who played the main character in Farley Mowat's 'Never Cry Wolf' which must have inspired him to translate this Mowat book into another film. The movie is exceptionally well made, especially considering its low 10 million CDN budget. The camera is well controlled, and the beautiful scenery is captured as well as in any film. Barry Pepper is, as always, a natural talent. He takes the arrogant Charlie on a journey not only of Canada's Northwest Territories, but of character development. Annabella Piugattuk is wonderful as the succinct Inuit girl. Despite language barriers, the two characters manage to communicate well enough, and their relationship blossoms in a fascinating way. You'll find this film exciting, and it is much more entertaining than you'd expect. My only wish was that the film's conclusion was extended; I wanted to see more. I look forward to both Charles Martin Smith and Barry Pepper's next efforts. 9/10

I hired 'Wimbledon' but upon opening the case there was the wrong disc. Instead it was this film called 'The Snow Walker'. Had full intentions of taking it straight back to the video store but it was late at night and figured I'd just put it on while I did something else.

I found myself fully engrossed in this film. It was such a nice simple story that's been wonderfully acted. Some of the scenery was nice and what was there was very well shot. Good use of what was available. The music really fit the film well.

Sometimes the films that we have no intention of watching turn out to be nice little surprises.

Terrific cast and subtle direction from Martin makes for an emotional journey in Canada's high arctic. I was quite impressed with the casting, especially the lead Inuit girl. In many ways, the partnership of Pepper and the young Innu girl elevate this film above the standard plot.

Its unexpected poignancy in dealing with spiritual matters and the theme of redemption of Charlie Halliday's special blend of charm and arrogance deserves special mention.

It would have been easy for this film to degenerate into melodrama, but the cast and director continue striving towards offering the audience mature and interesting choices.

Score was a titch "movie-lite", but that is a small quibble. Kudos to entire production for bringing this astonishing vision to fruition.

Having spent several years in air search an rescue, this movie is most excellent on how people react when things go wrong. The producers went to great lengths to give accuracy as seen by the detailed mock up they had of the Norseman and the great amount of mosquitos encountered. To rate this movie in a low category would indicate to me that the commenter has had very little to do with wilderness survival in the high arctic.

Even the crash details were reasonably accurate in that the floats on the aircraft had crumpled at the tips. The anger of the pilot after the crash is indicative of shock reaction in such and incident. His methods of survival versus her small fire and small shelter add to the realism of this movie.