Where Eskimos Live

Driving thru Park City on a frantic trip to get back to Pennsylvania before law classes started again I was happy to be able to get into any movie, even one that sounded like it was going to be a 90 minute Warholesque still shot of an igloo.

However, I was pleasantly surprised to get an drama spliced with some action with I guess a touch of realism thrown in for good measure.

I am not giving away much of the plot to say that Hoskins is basically a man trying to get a child out of a war torn country. You needn't know much more than that. It could be set in any country during any war but the fact that is is so close to the present gives it a very cool feel. If you are looking to be blown away but want to have a pleasant movie experience I say check this puppy out.

I generally stay away from war movies. Its hard for me have to watch what people have to endure on a daily basis. It is especially hard to have to think about all the children out there who are orphans because of it. That is the basis of the movie. Sharkey has papers to get a 9 yrs old boy out of the country, so he searches for a boy that fits the profile. He runs into a gang of orphans who banned together to take care of each other. The boy who designated himself the leader will only let him take a grown boy with learning disabilities. As Sharkey continues on his quest, a young boy sneaks away from the group to see if Sharkey will take him. He is the right age, so Sharkey sets off with the boy. This is the story of their journey of running into other gangs, road blocks, dodging gun fire and other dangers. When he gets to his destination, he wonders if the boy is in just as much danger. He has to figure out how to get him out of that situation. It was a good movie, depressing and disturbing at times. But it was made very well and the acting by Sharkey and Vlado was wonderful. I am sure it did a good job of realistically depicting the horrors of war.

Last night, on Amazon Prime, I watched the movie, "WHERE ESKIMOS LIVE", and learned about a problem I didn't know existed.

During the Balkans wars, a man impersonating a United Nations official tours the war zone seeking an orphan whom he kidnaps to sell to traffickers intent on harvesting the child's organs for transplanting.

However, the movie does eventually have a happy ending.

BUT, does this same situation currently take place in the Russia Ukraine War?

And, why should I need to write more and give away the plot to those who have yet to see this movie, even though the Internet Movie Data Base administrators require so much unnecessary revelations?

A good movie critique should be brief, but enticing.

WHERE ESKIMOS LIVE is one of those surprise films that appears out of nowhere, without ballyhoo, not apparently having been on the theatrical release circuit, yet once discovered serendipitously in the video store and watched, makes such an impact that its anonymity is a puzzle. Writer/director Tomasz Wiszniewski (with Robert Brutter sharing the writing credits) has created a unique and brave little film that takes advantage of some unknown terrain and retains the flavor of a country in all manner of representation.

The place is Bosnia during the war when entire cities were being destroyed, leaving the children homeless, without parents, fending for themselves in any way possible. They live in squalor, in famine, stealing what they can to survive, yet holding together as a group with some sense of hopeless dignity. Among these boys is Vlado (Sergiusz Zymelka), a street-smart kid always on the lookout for his Down's Syndrome friend while seeking any way possible to escape his fate. Enter Sharkey (Bob Hoskins) brandishing a UNICEF passport and badge (he is from Norway where Eskimos live...!) trying to 'save' one small boy from the war to freedom and protection across the border. He meets all manner of opposition, especially from the military Colonel Vuko (Krzysztof Majchrzak), who decides to let Sharkey pass on the condition that Sharkey take his sole young daughter to safety. Fate strikes, the jeep with the Colonel's daughter explodes and Sharkey narrowly escapes with the Colonel in hot pursuit mistakenly thinking the landmine that destroyed the jeep was engineered by Sharkey. Sharkey encounter's Vlado's gang and eventually Vlado talks Sharkey into taking him as the 'saved' boy, fully realizing that Sharkey's Unicef badge is a cover for his unlawful child marketing. The two bond slowly and in time each uses the other for their private goals and gradually they grow to need each other to survive. Their relationship is radiant and inspiring and leads them to surprising changes in their lives.

The cast is extraordinary: Hoskins knows how to make an evil con man grow on his viewer and Sergiusz Zymelka is a gifted young actor. The film is difficult to watch at times because the camera does not shy away from the heinous crimes and gore of war, but that fact only serves to make the story more credible. The dialogue is a bit shallow and awkward at times, but the message is obviously from the heart. This is a fine low budget film from a Polish director and cast that makes us take notice of unknown talents. It is a fine little film! Grady Harp

Where Eskimos Live caught my heart. It made me laugh and cry. It is a stunning accomplishment, showing the cruelties of war bluntly and without glossing over the facts of inhumanity and destruction. It is a simple but very convincing movie, centering around two very different characters and how they learn to trust and love each other in the sinister world of death, child trade and deceit.

Sharkey (Bob Hoskins) is an obscure man who travels around war-torn Bosnia in 1995. He claims to be a caseworker for UNICEF, a camouflage he makes use of to get orphaned boys for a Russian mafia syndicate in Poland. He is in his fifties, apparently rough and callous; a loner always chasing an opportunity to make as much money as possible. Vlado (Sergiusz Zymelka) is a nine-year-old boy, orphaned by the war and now a member of a gang of pre-teen hoodlums who fool the military and steal food whenever they get a chance.

After Sharkey's unlucky encounter with a colonel, who now claims him responsible for the death of his daughter and is hard on his heels, he meets Vlado's gang. Eventually, the young boy follows him, as Sharkey pretends coming from Norway – that is where Eskimos live, and Vlado always wanted to go there. So the two of them walk off, heading for the border. Of course their journey is not as smoothly as Sharkey would have preferred it to be; they have to survive various dangerous adventures, in the course of which they gradually grow quite close. Having dealt with the colonel and managed to leave Bosnia, Sharkey and Vlado arrive in Poland. Now they have to face the Russians, which means new challenges. Sharkey's cunning deceit almost proves too daring, but again they manage to survive.

The movie is set and shot entirely on locations in Bosnia and Poland. The setting – both time and place – is the story's backbone. Thus it is a movie dealing with two characters and how they manage to survive amidst death and havoc in a war-torn country. The cruelties of war are shown in appalling images, visualized in all their crushing brutality and atrocity. Sharky and Vlado are surrounded by these images, by death and despair. They encounter deserters who are shot to death at a checkpoint on the street; they have to run for their lives when shells explode in their vicinity; they find piles of dead corpses, shot to death and terribly deformed. They are surrounded by these images and emotionally affected in a subtle but pervasive way, which leads to the establishment of an emotional bond between them that would have never attained its honesty and depth if it had not been for the hostile environment that makes them rely on each other.

The acting performances of the two protagonists are outstanding. Sergiusz Zymelka in particular delivers so genuine scenes that I was moved to tears occasionally. His handsome appearance, his vivid and bright eyes, his cleverness and his disarming charm make him shine. The scene when Sharky attempts to make a photograph of the boy for a new passport features an hilarious Vlado who makes faces and displays his childish gaiety. Apart from that I deeply appreciate his knowledge of English, which is remarkably well-developed for a boy his age.

Where Eskimos Live is a road movie; it lives by individual sequences that define its quality. The scene after the shooting of the two deserters is just awesome, so natural and authentic that I could almost feel the emotional scars inflicted in Sharky and Vlado. They lie down in the grass and scream – they have just escaped death, and it is moving how Vlado makes Sharkey release his pent-up emotions.

This movie is never stereotypical or corny. It tells the story of one man who was looking for money but rather found something that was worth much more – a boy who pins all his hopes on him, a boy who makes him a better person, and, above all, a boy who loves him. The movie won various awards, giving ample evidence for its essential quality. It is brutal, sometimes vulgar and thus hard to digest for young children, but flawless and never awkward. Honest authenticity and a wonderful father-son relationship make this low budget production a more than worthwhile experience that shows how two characters undergo challenges and changes, which strengthens their bond and deepens their love.