Just perfect...

hyped garbage

A Major Disappointment

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

When I started this movie I thought OK another story from the frozen north. It sure is that, but as it moved on I found that a great tale was slowly unfolding based on the simple theme of young love & social responsibility or lack there of.There are a number of great actors & actresses in this show & they all deliver. Some of the performances are not "to type" either. I was never a fan of Lou Diamond Phillips but he pays us all by being great in this. Jennifer Tilly, his love interest, wound up being the best character in the show (who knew?). Donald Sutherland plays a fine "Dirty Dan" here. Toshiro Mifune as the Inuit's Shaman is great in a part not written as you might expect.The up-close look at Inuit life is wonderful because it's focused on differences but not overly long. I bought this for my wife who loves these shows & only stumbled into watching it myself. This is recommended for all ages & tastes. A surprisingly good movie, if allowed to develop & one of the best endings to a story in a long time. NO ONE WILL GUESS THE END OF THIS SHOW.My wife & I loved "Iron Will" but this is a half star better. Broadens your knowledge of the world.

I like the story and its plot, especially dealing with the cultural clash of what is right and wrong and what is law. We are invited into the thinking of a proud tribe intruded by white people, who install dependence and betrayal. White traders cashing in furs for cheap alcohol, lowering prices so Inuit people can barely live. Agaguk, a proud chief's son gets impatient and kills a trader who wants to betray him. I like how Agaguk gets challenged by life and the attack of the white wolf, learns to respect his wife and let go of his anger. Lots of shamanic principles are to be found in this film, such as young people live alone on the edge of adulthood and the belief that if you take in some of the flesh of the enemy you might inherit his power. Only behind this background the end is understandable to "white" audience.What I did not like at all, the German tape version shows the killing of Donald Sutherlands character, in which there is a part of his private parts being cut off. Ofcause the Canadian DVD version cut the scene out. I think it is severe damage to the cultural picture you may get from this film. Why do "white filmmakers" always want to imply that "white" morals cannot be inflicted by actually showing a stone age still existing tribe's actions. Its like showing a cuddly wild cheetah on the screen without any hunting scenes. I hate how native people are downsized to harmless "pets" when it comes to be portrayed in a movie!Rather leave the shocking scenes in and rate the film for a higher age!

Lou Diamond Phillips deserves a lot of credit for even tackling this subject. A well photographed movie about the lives of the Inuit, this just isn't a commercial item. The fact alone that it was shot on location must have cost a fortune. This film shows a lot of loving tender care in the making and the cast is great throughout. Too bad that it just wasn't commercial enough.I happen to meet Lou in my town when he was appearing as King Arthur in a production of Camelot. I told him how much I liked the film and it was unfortunate that it went straight to video. I also asked him how he liked working with Toshiro Mifune.He replied that it was a great experience, that Toshiro Mifune was a great actor and very good to work with and it was an honor to play his son in the film.It must have been one rugged location, those films set at either of the Earth's poles usually are. The performances by Lou as the young Inuit outcast, Toshiro Mifune as his father the medicine man of the tribe and Donald Sutherland as a Mountie are uniformly excellent.Don't miss this very neglected item.

The Far North in 1935 is the setting for this dull film. An Eskimo man falls out with his father, the tribal leader, over which of them gets "the woman". He and the woman must flee to parts unknown after he kills a man in self defense. Soon a mountie is on his trail which forces him to brave the frozen tundra alone while being stalked by a white wolf. All this sounds like it made for a good adventure tale, but it was just plain boring. And who was the moron who cast Jennifer Tilly as an eskimo? She looks about as much like an eskimo as the Reverend Jesse Jackson. This was a been there, done that, lame film from the very outset. Avoid!