SMILLA'S SENSE OF SNOW
A film review by Thomas Skogestad
Copyright 1997 Thomas Skogestad
Starring: Julia Ormond: Smilla Jasperson Gabriel Byrne: Mechanic (or is he?) Richard Harris: Tork Robert Loggia: Moritz Jasperson (Smilla's father) Vanessa Redgrave: Elsa Lubing Clipper Miano: Isaiah
Directed by Bille August Written by Ann Biderman, based on the novel by Peter Hoeg Contains sexual dialogue, sexual situations, violence
Smilla Jasperson lives alone in a Copenhagen apartment. Her closest friend seems to a little boy called Isiah. Sadly he dies after falling to death from the top of the apartment building roof. Why? Well that's what Smilla wants to find out. She starts investigating, and finds a conspiracy involving prehistoric worms (!).
The movie starts out quite good, with a scene that is not the book. A meteorite (or something) crash lands not far away from where a man is seal hunting, this starts an avalanche (or whatever) and he (his dogs actually) has to run for his life. Quite well made, and the scenery that preceded it is quite stunning.
I have not read the book (OK, I've read the first fifty pages), I do however own the paperback. On the back it states something like blah blah political blah blah (LA Times). That must have the book, because a "critique of society" is nowhere to be found in this book. Unless the movie's moral (?) - bad guys are bad (!) - counts.
Bille August has made directed several movies based on books. The ones I have seen (Zappa, Pelle the Conqueror, The House of Spirits) all have in comon that they in fact make sense. Even without having read the books one could understand what was going on - but maybe not why. Or as Variety puts it: Smilla Jasperson's motivations may not always be clear to the uninitiated.
That is also true of this movie. Without having read much of the book, the first hour still seems to capture the spirit of the book (or I'd guess it does). Just like The Firm. However after an hour or so it turns into "Smilla Bond", which is quite unbelievable. It seems quite unlikely that Smilla has learned to climd down ships, trek across Greenland etc. I do not know if this was in the book, but I hope not.
I have seen several movies that were incomprehensible without having read the book (and with, say, Clear and Present Danger, that didn't help much either). I have often seen movies based on books that have made not want to see the movie. After seeing the first hour I thought that I might want to read the whole book. After seeing the second hour I'm not so sure. It could be that Peter Hoeg is not much of a crime writer and had no idea as how to wrap things up. Or it could be that the book's (and the movie's) ending in fact is crap. The ending in fact seems like a cross of something like a Michael Crichton book (perhaps The Andromeda Strain) and Superman III. (I'll get back to the ending.)
Julia Ormond is quite pretty to watch, but she certainly does not look anything like a Greenlander (or Eskimo). She also seems to have some sort of Danish accent - which no one else in the movie has. Although the much of the movie is set in Copenhagen, Denmark, almost everyone speaks perfect English. One guy acts more English than Danish, and reminded me of a commercial for Fisherman's Friend.
Somewhat irritating is the score. Intense situations = very intense music. The cinematography is at time quite stunning (is there any other kind as Roger Ebert would have said). Buy why is stock ice footage used? Note to filmmakers: it's distracting.
The ending is probably the stupidest I have seen in quite some time, and reminds me of Superman III. Though the movie is downhill only during the second half, they could surely have thought of something better? Towards the end of the movie we get to see *the* *most* *unbelieable* version of "hope the baddie doen't turn his head another inch or he'll see me".
The explanation as to why the boy plunged to his death? Stupid! Turns out that Smilla knew all along what happened. Why on earth couldn't she have revealed this during the first hour?
Hm... This review turned out more negative than I planned. Oh well.
Rating: total: ** 1/2 out of **** (first hour only: add a star)
-- Thomas Skogestad - thomas@chembio.ntnu.no
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