SNOW WALKER, THE
Released: March 5, 2004
It made sense that American character actor Charles Martin Smith, who starred in the Farley Mowat 1983 novel-to-screen flick "Never Cry Wolf" would want to direct Mowat's story "Walk Well My Brother". The events are set in the summer/winter of 1953-54 in Canada's Northwest Territories (in an area now part of the new territory of Nunavut). A brash cowboy-style bush pilot (Barry Pepper) flies supplies and people around in the vast far north. His plane crashes when he is reluctantly transporting a sickly young Inuit woman (first-time Nunavut actress Annabella Piugattuk) to hospital. How the two relate and try to survive their crash into the unpopulated tundra is somwhat expected - she shows him how to live off the land. But ultimately, the story is one of tolerance and courage. The story also refuses to give the audience the expected ending, earning big points. See it for the story, the beautiful scenery and the brilliant work from Pepper and Piugattuk. Also starring James Cromwell.
103 Minutes
Lions Gate Films