Customer Reviews

Lost in the Barrens

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Hi,i gave this 5 stars,because it is a good interesting movie that doesent use swear words or have violence,so what does it then have? answer it has a very interesting plot ,and you might just get a warm fuzzy happy feeling, one thing is for shure by the time the adventure is over you will be thankfull to have a warm house to be in ,i always snuggle in a cozy quilt when i watch it,i also am proud of the movie because it was based in canada, and made in Canada,as i also live in canada,i enjoyed it because in canada we don't make alot of movies. The movie has a good plot,and is very educational and was made from a classic novel,and when i went to school we even got to watch it in english class ,it also shows a lot of pretty canadian wilderness. the story takes place in the 1940's or so ,in the most northern part of manitoba canada ,which we call the barren's, because there is a lot of tundra(flat land with yellow dead grass) and tree's for shelter are very few ,and in the winter it get's deadly cold at times it could get -40 degree's celcious and you would die if you were lost in the barrens in the winter without survival skills in very cold weather,and also with very few tree's to find to make shelter .in the beginning of this movie the young boy(jamie) lives in toronto in a expensive upper class school that also is his home because he had no parents because they died in a car crash,when he was a young boy,and when he is a teenager his money his parents left him to pay to live in the fancy school runs out,so he has no choice but to go live with his only remaining relitive,which is his uncle that lives in manitoba,which he has never met before, in the remote wilderness and the uncle makes a living selling animal fur and makes canoe's and doesent socilize with any outside public his only friends before his nephue arived were the local native's, so once the boy arives at his uncles cabin,he is introduced to a teenaged native boy his same age,called awosis which is the son of the uncles good native friend,the young native boy at first despises jamie but they have to get over thier stubborness when they get lost up river and seperated from the rest of thier group while they were suposed to be waiting for the rest of the hunting party that had to go further into the barrens to find deer to eat for the winter,but end up sneeking away from thier camp to explore the river wilderness but end up in big trrouble when they loose thier canoe and get lost in the barrens with few provisions,and almost starve and freeze to death,and it just keeps getting more interesting from that point which i will leave to you to watch so i dont give away the ending,this movie shows no violence and is educational and exciting,it's a great family movie for kids or grown up's also,it was made onto dvd by some kind of family oriented company. the dvd is not to expensive ,so if like wilderness adventures give this movie a try what have you got to loose, i am almost certain you will love it as much as i did and i still watch it all of the time. the story is by farley mowit.

This is good family entertainment for older children. A very well done production, that shows courage, fortitude and growing friendship.
Two boys face the challenges of being lost on a frozen waste of northern Canada. There is also the challenge of cross culture adjustment, not only between the white boy and native american boy, but of the white boy facing a whole new living standard when he must leave his boarding school and move in with his uncle, who lives in the canadian wilderness. There is plenty of tension and suspense, as well as many redeeming scenes of valor and fortitude.Lost in the Barrens

Lost in the Barrens provided me with the opportunity to enjoy outdoor adventure with learning to build lasting friendships, even through the challenge of difficult times. The movie took me through a series of events where two young men learn about survival in the wilderness of the barrens, how to cope with each others dramatically different backgrounds, and the uncertainty of their futures. The movie has a wonderful ending that completes the circle of ongoing trials for the two young men, ending where they started; yet with quite different viewpoints developed.

Chris Hofman

If my memory serves, forty plus years ago I read this story as "Two Against the North" and I immediately remembered it when my wife purchased it as a "Feature Films for Families" titled "Lost in the Barrens." I loved the book and thought that the movie did a beautiful job in bringing it to the screen. I suppose it is inevitable that some teenagers today will be much too cynical to allow themselves to enjoy the movie, but I feel that is their loss. I have used it with my younger teen students with good success.
If you enjoy good movies made from good children's books, I highly recommend "Prince Brat and the Whipping Boy" made from the book "The Whipping Boy." With apologies to Mr. Fleischman, I think the movie in this case is better than the book (a rarity).Prince Brat & Whipping Boy

i Thought the movie left out alot of detail from the book. i would recommend if you wanted to know the story you should read the novel

A little cheesy for what movies are nowadays, couldn't expect anything more for it's era and it was a great family movie. My 9 & 7 year old daughters loved it. It you have ever read the book, it leaves a lot out and pales in comparison. Wish someone would remake this movie and make it current. A nice 3 hour long plus version with technology available now, a little CGI, then we'd be talking a movie.

The film "Lost In The Barrens" is truly a treasure found! You will laugh and you will cry at this intriguing survival tale filled with life lessons. It is suspenseful, dramatic entertainment without the foul language or innappropriate scenes that spoil so many films for those families with small children or conservative values.
I use it as a teaching aid in my college level Oral/Interpersonal Communication class to help teach the concepts of communication. What a treasure!

Our family watched this movie on TV when our daughter was very small and recently bought it to add to our collection. It is a very interesting and informative film. It is suspenseful, but not too much for young children. Don't miss it.

These two boys are from entirely different worlds. Amazingly they become the best of friends when they encounter a situation where they have to depend upon each other for survival or die. This is an awesome movie, blending the teaching of the Indian ways from the Native American boy to the white boy, and the white boy learning many lessons of the beautiful wild nature that he learned to love and treasure. I highly recommend this movie.

Lost in the Barrens is my favorite book of all time. I am a sixth grade teacher in Idaho and I read Lost in the Barrens to every class. They all love it and remember the story for years. I would love to purchase the video but it has a different title. Please help me if you can.

Michael Clifford
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