Customer Reviews

Shadow Of The Wolf

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I worked on this film as an Inuit consultant so I can only good things about it. It is one of the classics. To be remembered as one of great films in regards to the Arctic. The research about the unique culture during the post colonized time was pretty acurate. This comment is coming from an Inuit perspective and I am saying that because I am an Inuit myself.

I loved the movie, the actors, the scenery, and the background of Inuit history. Reading the review by an Inuit who served as a consultant gave me great pleasure to know that it was a "pretty" accurate picture. Have the video and watch it often -- am a great fan of Lou Diamond Phillips and have almost all his movies in my collection.

When I started this movie I thought OK another story from the frozen north. It sure is that, but as it moved on I found that a great tale was slowly unfolding based on the simple theme of young love & social responsibility or lack there of.

There are a number of great actors & actresses in this show & they all deliver. Some of the performances are not "to type" either. I was never a fan of Lou Diamond Phillips but he pays us all by being great in this. Jennifer Tilly, his love interest, wound up being the best character in the show (who knew?). Donald Sutherland plays a fine "Dirty Dan" here. Toshiro Mifune as the Inuit's Shaman is great in a part not written as you might expect.

The up-close look at Inuit life is wonderful because it's focused on differences but not overly long. I bought this for my wife who loves these shows & only stumbled into watching it myself. This is recommended for all ages & tastes. A surprisingly good movie, if allowed to develop & one of the best endings to a story in a long time. NO ONE WILL GUESS THE END OF THIS SHOW.

My wife & I loved "Iron Will" but this is a half star better. Broadens your knowledge of the world.

I cannot say enough about this film. Get it! It can be watched more than once and should be in your library.

The film features the stark beauty of the north, all the intense action you might want, love and conflict, life and death, and, of course, lots of snow and ice. Finally, the ending is awesome - a word I don't use lightly.

A cameo appearance by Donald Sutherland, and great acting all around including (apparently) a plastic whale and a trained polar bear.

This is a timeless classic and is highly recommended. I am buying it so that I can watch it again and again and show it to my European friends.

Enough said. Buy it!

These comments refer to the Seville Films Region 1 DVD release of "Shadow of the Wolf". I've been interested in "Shadow of the Wolf" for some time, but it hasn't been (easily) available in a Region 1 (North American) DVD, so I found this offering at least interesting. I did note that the Amazon description did not mention aspect ratio for this offering - nor could I find mention on the DVD case as shown (or as received), but looked it up on the Internet Movie Data Base ([...]) and found the original film was shot in one of the super-widescreen formats (2.35 : 1, 35mm anamorphic widescreen)

"Surely" I said to myself "nobody would crop a super-widescreen film to 1.33:1 so it would fill the screen of a obsolete display format, losing all that arctic scenery...."

With apologies to Groucho Marx - "yes they would, and quit calling me shoiley". For whatever reason, best known to the folks at Seville Pictures, this offering of "Shadow of the Wolf" is presented in glorious 4:3 vacuum tube TV display ratio, chopping off over 75% of the original picture.

Unless you're of the "I don't know WHY they put those black bars at the top and bottom of the picture" school, you probably won't be completely happy.

I have so edited the Amazon description - you have been warned.

This has to be one of the all-time worst movies ever made. I mean, come on! Lou Diamond Philips and Jennifer Tilly as Inuits? The whole movie is a shameless distortion of Inuit life and culture, the type of portrayal one would have expected from a movie made in the 1930s. Worst of all, though, is the fact that Toshiro Mifune somehow felt compelled to become involved with this movie. Why, man? Why? You were such a grea actor and certainly didn't need something like this to besmirch your great reputation.

Wow, this tape absolutely blew me away! This is by far my most favorite tape out of this whole series. I love the scene with the fireflies! It brings a tear to my eye every time I watch it. A very touching and shocking tape. It might be easier to understand it if you've seen Samurai X Trust and Betrayal, since that tells the story of Kenshin when he was the Hitokiri Battousai, that way you would know more about his past and some of the characters that show up in these episodes.

A mixture of light and shadow, good and evil and great love and sorrow, this is the best Volume of Rurouni Kenshin to date and the beginning of the much talked of Kyoto Arc. I have waited for this one for months now and was not disappointed. The tone of the entire series changes in this volume as fate pushs Kenshin and his friends into choices they would rather not make. The fates of two men hang in the balance and the choice of one is vital to the safety of all. If you have not seen this anime series I highly recommend it. It is undeniably the best series out there and contains characters that everyone can relate to.

If you've been following the Kenshin series up to this point, you wont be dissapointed in this volume. The tape has in my opinion the best fighting animation so far in the series. However, giving this volume a good rating just because it has good fight scenes would be unfair. This volume is also the first one in awhile that really builds up tension, and makes you really care about what happens to the characters. This is a great volume. If you have been getting them up to this point, don't stop now.

If the expectation of the viewer is based soley on their experiences as a book reader then they will certainly be disappointed. To enjoy any film that uses the natural beauty that the Gods have given us the viewer must have a first hand experience of the real environment and be able to transfer his own spirit to that same place that should first exist in his own mind and heart.

Film makers attempt to achieve a relative closeness to their scripts ( the difference between a 5 star productionand a piece of junk )selected environment but there is a need to be a realist when it comes to achieving harmony with what the author or script writer desired.

I am Indian and share a first hand experience with my native world so I can look past the falacy of expecting a perfect film . My mind and spirit are able to achieve a bridge where the film maker is unable to . My value of a good film is seen in the effort that is expended in the truth that is actually achieved based on real locations, good sets and honest historical research. Try to enjoy your selection by getting out into the wilderness and reading more about your subject(s).. Thanks