SMILLA'S SENSE OF SNOW (1997)
A Film Review
Copyright Dragan Antulov 2005
Compared with the rest of Europe, Denmark looks like small country. But
this perception changes if Danish self-governed territory of Greenland,
which happens to be the world's biggest island, is taken into account.
Few people are, however, aware of that because Greenland – with 81% of
its surface being covered by ice - is also one of the least hospitable
and least populated places on Earth. And, like many of those utterly
inhospitable places, Greenland is incredibly beautiful, which might be
seen in the very opening of SMILLA'S SENSE OF SNOW, 1997 Danish suspense
thriller directed by Bille August.
The film, based on the best-selling novel by Peter Hoeg, begins in 1859
when a huge meteorite suddenly hits Greenland. This catastrophic event,
witnessed by its only victim – a lonely Inuit fisherman - remains out of
history books until present day when the protagonist, tough-minded
mathematician Smilla Jaspersen (played by Julia Ormond), would have to
deal with some of its long-term consequences. Smilla, daughter of
physician Moritz Jaspersen (played by Robert Loggia) and Inuit mother,
was born in Greenland and spent first six years of life there. Despite
being brought to Copenhagen after mother's death, she never really
adapted to urban way of life and now lives as a moody recluse, dedicated
to mathematics and study of snow and ice. The only person with whom she
connects is Isaiah Christensen (played by Peter Hoeg), deaf Inuit child.
When child dies falling from the roof of the building, Smilla sees some
suspicious details and tries to warn authorities of a possible foul
play. Her efforts are greeted by "friendly" suggestions that she should
forget about whole affair. Smilla nevertheless continues with her
investigation and discovers that boy's father – who had been working for
Greenland Mining Company - also died in mysterious circumstances. The
only person willing to help Smilla in her quest of justice is a
mysterious neighbour (played by Gabriel Byrne) who wants to have sex
with her.
SMILLA'S SENSE OF SNOW is visually stunning film. Jörgen Persson's
cinematography has captured beauty of Greenland's icy landscapes and
made sharp contrast with dark, depressive and claustrophobic
surroundings of Copenhagen. Beauty of landscapes is well-matched with
the beauty of film's heroine. Julia Ormond, British actress whose career
choices weren't always fortunate, probably never played such a strong
and impressive character. Unfortunately, Danish director Bille August,
who had been forced to use British cast and have English dialogues for
commercial reasons, wasn't that lucky with the rest of the cast. Gabriel
Byrne is very bland in his role and has little chemistry with
protagonist. However, that doesn't prevent August from maintaining high
level of suspense and convincing audience that they are watching
something extraordinary.
Unfortunately, in last thirty minutes of the film it becomes evident
that SMILLA'S SENSE OF SNOW is triumph of style over substance. What
began as atmospheric and engrossing thriller with some political
overtones thrown for good measure, suddenly begins to drown in cheap
B-movie clichés, transforming into unconvincing combination of science
fiction and action genre.
However, despite the disappointing ending, SMILLA'S SENSE OF SNOW is a
satisfying movie experience. Good cinematography, very good acting,
unusual settings and characters are reasons why unoriginality of the
plot should be forgiven. And, despite all of its shortcomings, this film
was also very influential, at least judging by better known and vastly
inferior movie version of THE X-FILES, inspired by its atmosphere and
imagery.
RATING: 6/10 (++)
Review written on March 30th 2005
Dragan Antulov a.k.a. Drax
http://film.purger.com
Film Reviews in Croatian/Filmske recenzije na hrvatskom
http://draxreview.blogspot.com
Draxblog Movie Reviews
http://www.ofcs.org
Online Film Critics Society
========== X-RAMR-ID: 39631 X-Language: en X-RT-ReviewID: 1373342 X-RT-TitleID: 1074907 X-RT-SourceID: 1650 X-RT-AuthorID: 1307 X-RT-RatingText: 6/10
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