Strong and Moving!

Boring, long, and too preachy.

Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

A touching and poignant survival drama about a Canadian bush pilot whose life is changed after an encounter with a sick young Inuit woman. Their challenge, to survive the harsh conditions of the Northwest Territories following a seaplane crash. People will remember the marvellous performance Barry Pepper gave as the sharpshooter in Saving Private Ryan and he is a force in this one too. His co-star, Annabella Piugattuk, gave a wonderful debut performance too, imbuing a naturalism that allowed her to display the emotional and spiritual nature of her people. Some scenes are padding, such as backstory to the pilot's psychological challenges, and there are some false notes too with Pepper's girlfriend back home. But, the power of the picture scrapes this into special territory.

How interesting, I was waiting for Michael Buble to start bursting out in song. I did not know that he was ever in a movie from before he became famous. Anyways, remember the part in Castaway when 'Wilson' drifts away and you feel a burst of emotion for Hanks. I felt the same burst of emotion, a happy emotion, rather, when Happy try's out his new watertight pelt boots and the joy he feels by jumping around. I do not think you can compare a movie like Dances with Wolves and The Snow Walker, nonetheless, I love this movie! For some reason, I cannot figure out why I love this movie so much. It is missing the amazing John Barry soundtrack and multi-million dollar cast and crew benefits. There are just some movies were you feel like you can put yourself into a role. I wonder what I would do if I were in Charlie's position. Would I survive a year, a month, a day? Just a wonderful movie!!!

This movie has quite a bit in common with Never Cry Wolf. Farley Mowat wrote it. Charles Martin Smith directed this film and starred in Never Cry Wolf. The main character in both is the North. In both the hero faces ghastly ordeals. In the Snow Walker, the ordeals are much more life threatening. The same wolves appear in both.The casting is interesting. The actors looks familiar, but you can't quite place them. When you look them up on IMDb you figure out why. They are playing roles quite unlike the ones you usually see them in. That boy who looks like Michael Bublé really is Michael Bublé. The hero Barry Pepper you saw playing RFK. James Cromwell you saw in Star Trek playing the time-travelling Zefram Cochran, the inventor of warp drive. The movie would have great appeal to ten year olds because of the gross-out scenes of eating raw caribou guts, raw fish, raw groundhogs and aged Spam. It has a Disney-like old Yeller ending that might be too overwhelming for younger kids. The credits claim no animals were harmed though I was somewhat incredulous that I had not seen fish killed and three caribous butchered with pointed stakes. The butchering and raw-meat-eating scenes were so real I had to leave the room. Despite his reputation, our hero was a perfect gentleman. There was no sex and no sexual innuendo. Had they put it in, the movie would have completely put off the ten-year old audience. The mosquitoes mysteriously missing from Never Cry Wolf appear in this movie in one of the most terrifying scenes in cinema. Hitchcock eat your heart out. Oddly though they disappear without explanation. The hero starts out as a childish, petulant, self-indulgent Charlie Sheen sort of character. But the ordeal and the influence of the young girl's Inuit culture matures him. The downsides. A young Inuit girl is presented as on death's door, probably TB. Yet her eyebrows are elegantly tweezed and her face made up as if she just left some expensive shop at the mall. No matter what the ordeal she had just endured, she appeared freshly changed and clean in the next scene. It just was not believable. She marches hundreds of miles, climbs, builds fires, goes trapping and fishing, prepares skins with energy I wish I had, all while supposedly about to die.There is a ham-fisted product placement for Nestlés. The hero even sings their jingle. At least the Inuit girl stares at the chocolate as if it were poison.There is a bit of the supernatural in this movie, but not overwhelming. I don't like it when that mush is inserted into young brains. Leave it for clearly silly movies where it is clear it is not to be taken seriously. One of the culture clashes was what you are supposed to do about the possessions of the dead. Charlie, the hero, a rationalist, said you use them to survive, obviously. The girl believed, to respect the dead, you must bury them. She prevails. I found that improbable and infuriating. They were in deep trouble. This was no time for pleasantries. Charlie was too much of a chauvinist to surrender so meekly.

This is one of those rare English films that is focused on a plot not an agenda. I saw a piece of the film on TV. Then I rented it not expecting much. I was very impressed. I had not seen a real tear jerker in years. This is not the typical Hollywood template. Real time and effort was invested in its creation. The female playing the Eskimo girl is actually an Eskimo girl! Wow. What a concept! I"m serious! She has actually done all of the things she is depicted doing in the movie in their attempts to survive. Remember the classic western where all the indians are white men painted red? And you kept seeing the same actors in movie after movie? The fact that she's a new face and an Eskimo makes it all the more believable. Standard Hollywood fare would have had someone like Julia Roberts or Nicole Kidman on the back lot in a parka eating simulated raw meat. That would not have been convincing or memorable.The extras about the making of the film were outstanding such as the difficulties they encountered in making the film from dodging polar bears to arctic blizzards. Extras, worthwhile or otherwise, are another rarity in English films today hence the rare memorable film.This is one of those unique films you can buy absolutely anyone for a gift and it is appropriate and appreciated.Don't miss this one!