Inuit

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.

We meet Charlie Halliday, a young bush pilot, as he and his friends are spending a night of drinking and just having fun. Halliday, and his friends, are mean toward one Inuit man that comes to the tavern trying to sell them a little animal skin. Little prepares this young man for what happens to him the following day.

Director Charles Martin Smith does wonders in this movie. The action takes us all over the Canadian arctic tundra. The director, and his cinematographers, captured in all its glory this part of the vast country most of us will never see. This movie celebrates the human instinct of survival and deals with how Halliday, a man who clearly shows his disdain toward the Inuit, at the beginning of the film, has to depend on a young girl that shows him a thing or two about how to survive in that hostile climate.

Barry Pepper surprises us in the film in the way he portrays Halliday. We see the transformation, for the better, as he realizes how his salvation depends on Kanaalaq. Annabella Pingattuk, who plays the young Inuit girl is an asset in the film. James Cromwell is seen as Shepherd, the man in charge of the pilots.

"The Snow Walker" shows a lesson in acceptance, and endurance when all hope is lost by a person. Thanks to Charles Martin Smith and his collaborators for a satisfying film.

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

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.

All too often, people write off movies that come from countries that don't have the Hollywood budgets. The Snow Walker is a Canadian production and every bit as good as anything produced in Hollywood. This is NOT a "Hollywood" film, however, and that's what makes it so great. The movie is made by veterans of the industry (directed by Charles Martin Smith (American Graphiti) and stars Barry Pepper with James Cromwell. It takes place in northern Canada and tells the story of a pilot who crashes is a desolate area of the north along with a young sick Inuit girl who he is trying to get to a hospital to save. Much of the story is about the survival of these two people in the desolate north.

The scenery is amazing and very genuine as the movie was shot in Nunivut, northern Manitoba and B.C. It is based on a story by one of Canada's great authors, Farley Mowat.

This is a definite must to go and see or rent. If you like a great story, this story is for you. If you love movies that are true to the culture they are portraying, this definitely is for you. The Inuit woman (Annabella Piugattuk) who stars in this film is from Nunivut and in real life really does live in a traditional Inuit fashion. This movie is very real to the Inuit way of life.

A very touching movie and one that everyone will enjoy. I completely recommend it for everyone.