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By EDDIE COCKRELL
Covering virtually the same
wild narrative real estate as "Never Cry
Wolf," widescreen survival adventure "The
Snow Walker" is lovely to look but will evoke
a sense of deja vu from those who remember helmer
Carroll Ballard's film, which preemed 20 years
ago. Also adapted from the work of Canadian nature
writer Farley Mowat and directed by the star of
Ballard's movie, new pic is hampered from becoming
a solid family favorite only by a puzzling reliance
on R-rated language, lustily delivered by star
Barry Pepper as a self-absorbed bush pilot whose
bacon is saved by an indigenous lass.
It's 1953, and hotshot stick jockey Charlie Halliday
(Pepper) flies for Golden North Air Charters out
of Yellowknife, in the southwestern region of
the Northwest Territories. When he's not mouthing
off to boss Walter Sheperd (James Cromwell) or
drinking with a gang of co-workers that include
the hostile Pierce (Jon Gries), he's in the sack
with g.f. Estelle (Kiersten Warren).
While on a routine delivery
to the Queen Maude Gulf at the far north of the
territory, a reluctant Charlie is persuaded by
payment of ivory walrus tusks to transport tubercular
Inuit beauty Kanaalaq (Annabella Piugattuk) to
a hospital for immediate treatment. When the yellow
Norseman plane nosedives into a shallow lake well
off course, the pair must learn to communicate
with one another in order to survive their prejudices
and the elements.
The pilot's slow acceptance
of his predicament is played against frantic efforts
to locate him by Sheperd and his staff. As he's
finally declared dead, Charlie is in fact valiantly
dragging Kanaalaq through a fierce blizzard, desperate
to save the woman who has, in fact, saved him.
"Never Cry Wolf"
star Charles Martin Smith (who also played Toad
in "American Graffiti") was so taken
with the great white north and the Inuit people
that he subsequently bonded with Canadian national
treasure Mowat, who in turn gave the actor free
reign in choosing a story to direct. While Smith's
love and respect for the land comes through clearly
in every frame, generic nature of story -- civilization
bad, wilderness good -- renders each dramatic
chapter, no matter how vivid, fairly predictable.
Though his swearing distracts
from pic's measured vibe, Pepper turns the whiny
Charlie into a sympathetic figure by sheer force
of personality. Whether engulfed by mosquitoes
or chasing down a herd of caribou with a homemade
spear (one of many sequences that summon echoes
of "Never Cry Wolf"), Pepper renders
Charlie's comic anger with aplomb.
As the eternally patient,
almost mystical Kanaalaq, diminutive newcomer
Piugattuk (19 when the film was shot) excels as
the serene heart of the proceedings, breathing
fresh life into the Inuit message that living
off the land can be infinitely more satisfying
for the body and the soul than a dependence on
weapons and devices. Cromwell's in compassionate
authority mode as the frustrated Sheperd.
Tech package is formidable
and impressive, with crisp widescreen lensing
of Manitoba and new arctic territory Nunavut locations
a major plus under what must have been arduous
conditions. Smith and co-producer William D. Vince
began planning pic as they toiled to make 1997
Disney comedy "Air Bud."
Camera (color,
widescreen), Paul Sarossy, John Joffin; editor,
Alison Grace; music, Michael Danna; production
designer, Douge Byodin; sound, Chris Duisteldick.
Reviewed at Toronto Film Festival (Special Presentation),
Sept. 9, 2003. Running time: 109 MIN.
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at: http://www.variety.com
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