Far North (2008)

So much average

Awesome Movie

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

FAR NORTH is one of those simple little under-the-radar movies that you never heard about until it turns up in the middle of the night and you gradually become enthralled watching it. With no buzz, publicity, or plot spoilers, I had no idea what to expect when I sat down to watch this, and I was pleasantly surprised by a film that confounded all of my expectations. The film is almost like a fairy tale in its simplicity: a mother-and-daughter team, living alone in the icy Siberian wastes, are joined by a soldier gone A.W.O.L. The film is about what happens next: how the power shifts and inevitable romance affects each character, and three people in such an isolated setting can never really work.Visually, the film is stunning. The inhospitable climate is a personality all in itself and the harshness of the landscape is captured in stunning detail – no more so than in the shocking opening sequence. There isn't a great deal of dialogue, but what we do get is natural and realistic. Key flashbacks add to the viewer's understanding and the film finishes on a shocking twist. Best of all is the acting: three actors giving excellent, against the grain performances.Michelle Krusiec is the young unknown, holding her own against two experienced hands. Sean Bean is a gentle and romantic man, giving a more touching performance than we usually see. Michelle Yeoh is the older woman, an outsider struggling to come to terms with the meaning of her life. Out of all three, it's Yeoh who gives the most stunning performance; she's totally cast against type (usually playing a kick-ass kung fu heroine) and she gets her character across wonderfully. What a revelation!

In an unspecified land of tundra and ice, a mother and daughter, estranged from their tribes-people, alone and on the run from a brutal hired army, are struggling to survive in this harsh, desolate landscape. Into their lives walks an escaped press-ganged soldier, barely alive, and a tragic chain of events is set in motion.London born film-maker Asif Kapadia knows how to capture isolation. He finds it in the sombre monochrome landscapes of this Arctic tale, and equally in the eyes of his lead actress, Michelle Yeoh. She plays Saiva, a woman who has borne a curse since birth foretelling that she will bring misfortune upon anyone who gets close to her. Forced out of her tribe, she lives nomadically, with only her grown-up daughter for company. Theirs is a never ending routine of hand-to-mouth survival and constant relocation to ever more lonely shores. The films' establishing shots of expansive ice flows are set to a soundtrack of groaning, creaking tension and cracks beneath the surface. Once Sean Bean's on- the-run Soldier arrives to upset the balance of their simple existence, it soon becomes apparent that Saiva shares much in common with the ice pack surrounding her.So effectively does Asif conjure the quiet, contemplative mood and pace of much Scandinavian or Russian cinema that it comes as quite a shock when the main trio of characters open their mouths (which they do only rarely) and talk in English. The point is that it does not matter what language they speak, as the location and even the precise period of this story is kept deliberately vague. Just as it matters not what strange language it is that the other invading soldiers speak to themselves, only that it is not familiar. They are the aliens here.For much of its short running time not a lot seems to be happening here, but there is not a wasted moment or unnecessary scene. Judicious use of flashbacks provide insight into the moments that have forged Saiva's tough and ruthless survival instincts. While in the present, much is communicated in silence by the glances of desire and jealousy that the trio exchange. Sean Bean comfortably inhabits the role of decent but morally weak man, but it's Michelle Yeoh's steely, haunted central performance that grabs and pulls you in. Like some Merchant-Ivory period drama stripped of all its airs and finery, we are in a world of suppressed emotions and mounting tensions. The palpable sense that something has to give is the overriding drive towards the startling climax.

For those of you who missed it, and that appears to be most who posted on here, the film is essentially a allegorical tale (ie a metaphor that appeals to the imagination rather than reason). In this film we are treading the difficult path of archetypes, mixed with shamanism from a pan-cultural Arctic perspective. Savia is the Exile, cursed from birth to bring destruction to those around her, she is also the Witch who once spurned by the fleeing near-dead Adventurer exacts revenge on her Ward by stealing her face to entice and deceive her spurning Lover. In a sense Bean's Loki pays the price for choosing the physical beauty and youth of Krusiec's Anja over gratitude to his Saviour Saiva (who by the way when he asks 'How can I repay you? Savia replies 'We shall see' implying she sees he has the debt of his life owing to her);An interesting addendum to this is that 'Loki' is the Scandinavian Trickster or Fool (much as he appears at the beginning of the film carrying his belongings this time on a sledge). Unlike the wise Fool who pays his debt however he takes the path of the real Fool and spurns the one who saves him. For this both have then to pay the price.Beautifully shot and directed, in lengthening the story it resembles many folk-tales of many cultures.

I thought that Far North really reflected traits that all humans hold, however deeply we may bury them. Greed, survival and the need to be loved.When Saiva, Michelle Yeoh, was born her tribe shaman told her mother that she would grow to be evil and that everyone close to her would die. So as soon as she is old enough she is banished to travel and live alone. But she soon meets a tribe when they are rounding up the caribou and she becomes close to one man in particular.Then the Russians invade their land and she comes back from a short trip to discover soldiers have killed the whole tribe, except her man friend and a baby. They are still there, though, and they rape her after slitting the man's throat. She escapes with the baby, though we are never sure whether it is her daughter or someone else's. We cannot be sure of the time frame in these flashbacks, as Kapadia has left this open to interpretation.I'm not sure whether this is good or bad, good in the sense that spectators can defend Saiva's actions at the end if they so wish or bad because it requires less effort to speculate on facts rather than assumptions.The ending itself is truly disturbing, it kept me thinking and reflecting for days on end. 'Disturbing' was the word I used to describe it to others, quickly adding that this was a good film. I did enjoy it; the scenery itself was almost overwhelmingly beautiful and was matched in its beauty by the cinematography. The performance from Yeoh was lovely to watch, and in my opinion her character was easy to make an allegiance with, as I could understand her reasons for doing what she did at the end.Her performance was strongly supported by Michelle Krusiec and Sean Bean, although it could perhaps be said that Krusiec made her character a bit too ahead of her time. And judging by the ending for Mr. Bean, I think I can safely assume that he'll be staying in climates above 0 degrees Celsius for quite sometime...wearing as many layers as possible.