Snow Walker

Year: 2003

Grade: B

Country: Canada

Director: Smith

Review

the best canadian film i’ve seen in a while. takes place near the arctic circle and revolves around barry pepper, who plays a hot shot ex-war pilot who runs contraband for his boss. while making a drop he comes across some inuit who have a woman who is sick, apparently with TB. while transporting her back to civilization (for a fee of course) the plane breaks down and they crash land in the middle of nowhere. the remaining story is essentially a survival tale of two people who couldn’t be more different. it actually begins at the end, with a single figure carrying something off in the distance. seemingly giving the ending away like this is like saying: “we (the filmmakers) are aware that you (the audience) know this is a film and, as such, there’s going to be a happy ending. this film isn’t about the ending, so instead of focusing on whether they get out alive or not, focus on the journey each takes.” this approach works quite well.