The Snow Walker

Every once and a while a movie comes along that is meant to be, in my humble opinion, seen. The Snow Walker is that movie.

The storyline is simple: a bush pilot is asked to bring a young sick Inuit girl to a Yellowknife hospital but the plane crashes in the Canadian tundra. As simple as that. What develops between the two characters is a bond that only two people trying to survive in that situation could experience.

Charles Martin Smith's direction is perfect. He gives both Barry Pepper and Annabella Piugattuk free rein in their performances that gives us the impression of improvisation. Their friendship enfolds slowly, as any friendship would, if you where with a stranger battling the tundra, which in this movie, is almost like a third character. As flat and as barren as the tundra may appear, it is shot in such a way that has your eye searching for detail as if you were looking at a painting.

The Snow Walker is an example of straightforward storytelling that proves the fact that less is sometimes more. There are no car chases, no gunfights and yet I found myself completely engrossed. I came upon this movie by chance when I read the review in a local newspaper that gave it 4 stars and yet I never saw a single trailer or advertisement for it.

What a shame that this great movie will not be seen by a larger audience.

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.

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.

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.

I just finished watching this film and it was absoloutly gorgeous. The vastness and emptiness of the arctic tundra is so foreign in this day and age of big cities and suburbs, it was just refreshing to watch. Barry Pepper has never been a good actor in my mind, but this film shows his real potential, he made the character of Charlie a believable one, and the change he experiences didn't come off as clichéd like in so many other movies. The young Inuit girl who played Kanalaaq(sp) was so impressive, more so when you learn she can do many of the things her character in the film did!!! She is very beautiful and talented and i can't wait to see where this takes her!

The directing is very good as well. The idea to use as little music as possible adds to the feeling of isolation and barreness of the arctic, and the shots of the sky especially the Northern Lights were gorgeous!!

All in all i loved this film ***/5