This movie is the proof that the world is becoming a sick and dumb place

Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

Simply A Masterpiece

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

This movie, about love lost and found, started out full of promise. An Eskimo village in the Canadian arctic is visited by a British mapmaker in 1931 who befriends an orphaned native, Avik. Avik contracts tuberculosis and the mapmaker flies him to Montreal, where he is raised in a Catholic hospital/school. He heals, learns English and meets a girl who, like him, is a half-breed, and they enjoy an episode of puppy love until she is whisked away. So far, so good. We anticipate the two meeting again. A decade later he ends up as part of an RAF bombing crew in World War II. Coincidentally, the girl is also working for the British military, reading the photographs taken by Avik on his bombing runs. Also, she is involved with the man who rescued young Avik years earlier. This was one of those movies that sent one to the kitchen after the first act to microwave some popcorn and enjoy the rest. Unfortunately, the second half was disappointing. The characters, relationships and situations don't live up to expectations. Much of the cinematography is excellent, and it's not a total waste. But the film could have been so much more.

This movie will rip out your heart. It's the story of an Eskimo man that seems to be cursed from his very birth to lose everything that ever touches his life. It starts out with tragedy and it ends with tragedy. It was a lovely movie but just too sad for me. I used to be in charge of Movie Night at our school's library and we picked this one. By the end of the movie, the other tech and I were the only ones left-everyone else had walked out. Over and over we see this poor guy just get nailed by life. At the end, we finally think things are going to work out for him and BAM! Screwed again. I love movies that evoke deep emotion but this was too much-too depressing for me. Still gave it a good rating thought because it is beautifully done.

I saw this film based on IMDb reviews, and I've got to say, you got me. That star rating at the top of the page? Fooled me! Now why was this film so bad? I'm sure that director Vincent Ward had grand swirling ideas about this film, but most of it feels like a mid-quality Lifetime movie. The dialogue is bad, and making it worse is the delivery by the so-so actors. Jason Scott Lee's performance is so melodramatically over the top that my wife and I laughed most of the time that he was supposed to be "upset" or "sad". Patrick Bergin just simmers and leers, and when he talks about the bombing of Dresden and why he's ordering it to be bombed is just silly and over the top.Like I said, most of the film feels like a Lifetime movie. Having sex on a barrage balloon? Above the dome at Albert Hall? And when Anne Parillaud drops one of her stockings down into the orchestra pit, both my wife and I said, "It's WWII, isn't that stocking going to be a little hard to replace?" When Lee's daughter shows up at the end of the film, she says the stupidest thing in the movie. You're in the Arctic circle and you say, "I'm cold."? Of course you're cold, idiot! Most of the situations are set up as artistic and auteur-ish, but they just comes across as silly. Some of it is pretty, but it's just not worth your time.

This is an engrossing love story and adventure, told in flashback. The film does not resort to lurid melodrama, to recycled storylines, but seems to grow organically and unpredictably. The imagery of the film resonates long afterwards. We experience the horrors of war and the exhilaration of reunited lovers, and the film's final scene is truly haunting and heartbreaking. A remarkable achievement.