Amazon.com video review:
Carroll Ballard's 1983 adaptation of Farley Mowat's
autobiographical novel turns his life-changing experience studying
the wolves in Canada's inhospitable North into a moving drama of one
man's courage and discovery of nature's majesty. Charles Martin Smith
plays green biologist Tyler, sent by the Canadian government to
"prove" that the wolves are depleting the caribou herds, but what he
finds is a natural world in perfect harmony where he becomes a
tolerated outsider. Dumped unprepared in the wilds by a hard drinking
bush pilot (Brian Dennehy), Tyler learns survival skills from the aged
Eskimo who saves his life and the rules of coexistence from a
neighboring wolf (which results in a literal pissing contest as man
and beast mark their respective territories). Tyler's journey
culminates in the majestic run with the wolf pack, an exhilarating
sequence where for an instant he becomes one with natural environment
of the wilds. For all its beauty, however, Tyler's experience becomes
a bittersweet lesson as the encroachment of hunters, tourism, and the
social landscape threaten the natural order. As in his previous film,
the delicate and lovely The Black
Stallion, Ballard's astounding visual treatment captures the
awesome natural beauty of the Canadian wilderness with power and
poignancy. Kevin Costner's Oscar-winning Dances with Wolves
explores many of the themes presented in this film, but without the
resonance or beauty of Ballard's unsung masterpiece. --Sean
Axmaker
