Customer Reviews

Smilla's Sense of Snow

5 star:		(32)
4 star:		(21)
3 star:		(14)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

How many words for "snow" do you know? In most languages, there is only one ... or maybe a few, but not many different ones. But the Inuit language knows countless words for snow - different expressions based on its consistency, its aggregate state, on whether it's old or freshly fallen, and much, much more. And snow is Smilla Jaspersen's specialty; it's what she studies and what she knows better than anybody and anything. So when her only friend, an Inuit boy living in the same Copenhagen apartment complex as her is found dead on the pavement in front of their house, she knows something must be amiss; he can't have fallen off the roof, as the police quickly conclude: afraid of heights, he would not have climbed to the roof if not driven there in the first place, and he certainly wouldn't have run to the edge ... as his footsteps in the otherwise untouched snow cover on the roof, however, indicate.

Smilla, half Inuit herself and brought to Copenhagen against her will after her Inuit mother's death, is a loner, a rebel against society, hiding her fears and loneliness under a thick coat of armor of unapproachability and trying to be "rough all over." Unable and unwilling to ever lift that coat of armor, she takes refuge in science - her definition of longing are mathematics's negative numbers, the "formalization of the feeling that you're missing something." - Yet, this movie's Smilla is not the Smilla Jaspersen of Peter Hoeg's novel which the movie seeks to adapt ... although Julia Ormond's performance is not exactly coated with sugar, she is a far cry from the book's 37-year old woman who hates her Danish father for tearing her from her Greenlandic roots and open skies, and who hates the confines of the society in which he has made her grow up.

And as the story's protagonist changes in the movie adaption, so does the story line itself - unfortunately, not for the better. Even accepting that it would have been impossible to translate all the novel's subplots and subtleties onto the screen, what begins like a complex, introspective story about loneliness, the loss of home, and the unchecked power and ambition of a group of prestigious scientists, turns into your average thriller in the end - a huge let-down in an otherwise compelling movie.

Nevertheless, Ormond's performance as Bille August's Smilla (even if not Peter Hoeg's) is strong; and so, in all its quietness, is Gabriel Byrne's performance as Smilla's neighbor, the would-be mechanic. Atmospherically, the movie wonderfully projects Smilla's loneliness in the sad, gray skies and wet snow of wintry Copenhagen, as opposed to the crisp blue skies, white ice fields and limitless horizons of Greenland. For these reasons alone, the movie is well worth watching; even if those of us who have read the novel will have to leave aside a good portion of its contents to be able to appreciate the movie on its own merits.

Also recommended:
Smilla's Sense of Snow
Tales of the Night (Harvill Panther)
The Shipping News
Fargo (Special Edition)

When a young Inuit boy mysteriously falls to his death from the roof of an apartment building in Copenhagen, his neighbor (Julia Ormond) sets out to solve the puzzle armed only with the suspicion that his demise was not accidental -- a suspicion arisen from her singular impression of his footprints in the snow. With the help of another neighbor, known only as "the Mechanic" (Gabriel Byrne), Smilla takes on the head of a major mining corporation (Richard Harris) as well as the local authorities in order to put the boy's soul at peace.

If the vehement disdain that its critics have heaped upon it is any indication, then this movie may be a severe disappointment to those who have read the novel -- not too surprising since most movies so based are never as good as the book and vice versa. But whereas films of this nature will usually give viewers far too much information initially, leaving only a story line already surmised to plod resolutely to its conclusion, Smilla metes out the details sparingly. We discover new information only when the characters do and are blissfully kept in the dark about exactly what has happened and why until the very end. Due primarily to a superb story line as well as some noteworthy performances from its principal cast members, the movie grabs our attention from the outset and commands it throughout.

Smilla herself comes across as a complex, intelligent, and resourceful woman although she is a self-confessed loner and perhaps not the most pleasant of people. But by far the most compelling character turns out to be that of the Mechanic. Just as we begin to believe that he is trustworthy, one action after another sends us (and Smilla) back to our initial assumption that this is one ambiguous guy with plenty of secrets to hide himself. Yet we fall for his stuttering innocence over and over again.

Despite a few cheesy lines and some minor inconsistencies, when taken on its own merit "Smilla's Sense of Snow" is a thoroughly enjoyable and well-crafted mystery -- one well-worth watching.

To say that this film is a Danish X-File (and trust me, I know 'The X-Files' quite well) is to miss the point altogether.

This film, an adaptation of Peter Hoeg's brilliant book, is both a mystery solved by, and a personal journey undertaken by, one remarkable woman: Smilla Jaspersen. Julia Ormond plays Smilla with passion and yet with understatement - for Smilla herself is a mystery, a woman like no other you've met both culturally and in terms of her emotions and life.

Bille August's direction, Hans Zimmer's music, and the supporting cast add depth to this very fine movie.

I don't know what the reviewers were thinking - maybe that they'd get a shallow film adaptation of one of the many mere 'detective' novels that abound. Hoeg's work is literary, not genre, and the essence of the story is more than Smilla's amateur detective work, it is her reaching peace and reincarnation with her Inuit self killed by her surrender to Danish culture, and much more.

Watch this film. It's worth it.

Julia Ormand plays the beautiful sculptured ice princess Smilla who grew up in Greenland but moved with her family to Denmark. She is now an adult who has a sixth sense about events and people. She is walking home from her job when an ambulance drives by, she stops where a crowd has gathered. She sees the body of a child lying in the snow. She knows the little boy. He and his mother, both from Greenland, lived in her apartment complex. The official verdict is ... Esai was playing on the roof and he accidentally fell to his death. Smilla does not believe it. She visits the coroner's office (wondering why an autopsy was required *if* indeed it was an accident). She is told "it is routine." She digs further, as she notes that Esai's steps on the roof are in a straight-line which indicates to her, he was not playing. Children at play run about in different directions. Her father is a local doctor, she quizzes him and ends up with more questions than answers.

A man living in her apartment, who also misses Esai, tries to comfort Smilla. Smilla resists. She later seeks comfort in his arms and they become lovers ... Smilla is given a gift from Esai's mother, it is a box containing a collection of precious belongings, one of which is a tape-recording. Smilla can not make out the words on the tape but takes it to an expert ... A blind man who worked on excavations in Greenland. He interprets the words for Smilla which indicates there was some cover-up by the mining company that had hired Esai's father to work in Greenland. He had died in a mining accident in 1993 but some mysterious event also occurred then which involved Esai.

When Smilla goes to pick up the tape, she discovers the scientist murdered. The door to his ship is locked shut. There is a huge explosion and fire ... Smilla narrowly escapes with her life. She goes to hide out at her father's home. She knows the mining company executive is somehow involved in covering up some mysterious event which occured in Greenland and that Esai was involved ...

Smilla sees an argument ensue between a white haired gentleman and Esai's mother at his funeral. It turns out he is the top executive of the mining company for which Esai's father worked. Smilla is certain the mining company is trying to silence her from searching further into Esai's death and his father's mining accident (which she suspects was not an accident at all). Smilla confides in her boyfriend who has a friend associated with a shipping company that recruits for excavavations to Greenland. Smilla manages to be hired as the laundress on board one of the largest excavation ships to Greenland ...

There are many twists and turns to this amazing story before the mysterious cover up by the mining company is solved. Smilla accomplishes her goals with the help of the captain's son, who makes suggestive overtures toward her but who ends up becoming her ally in the quest to solve the death of an innocent young boy. The dangerous game of pursuing the mining company executive and uncovering the truth becomes more intense and harrowing ... Smilla and her boyfriend triumph in the end, with the unwitting help of the Captain of the excavation ship. The spell-binding scenery in Greenland is astonishing. This is the first film ever to be made in the forbidding climate of the most Northern country in the world. This film will appeal to murder mystery fans who love a good chase and enjoy chasing clues that become more challenging and mysterious as time goes on but which come to a chilling and satisfying conclusion.
Erika Borsos (pepper flower)

This review refers to the 20th Century Fox(2000) DVD edition.....

The late great Richard Harris will thrill you with his performance in this suspense yarn. Based on the novel by Peter Hoeg, there are also wonderful performances by Julia Ormand, Gabriel Bryne,Robert Loggia, Jim Broadbent, AND Vanessa Redgrave!

There are two wonderful locations that the story takes place in. First in beautiful Denmark, a 6 year old Inuit boys falls to his death from a roof top covered with snow.Only his little footprints remains. His neighbor, Smilla Jaspersen(Ormand), who has befriended the boy and grown close to him is devasted by the loss. She is also from Greenland, has lived in the vast snowy wastelands, and has a deep sense of anything to do with snow and ice. The authorities are ready to wrap up the case, as a child playing on the roof and falling to his death.One look at the footprints and Smilla realizes this is not the case. She begins her own investigation, and begins to unravel a dark and dangerous secret.

Her investigation takes her on an action packed and suspense filled voyage back to Greenland. The boat's passengers are mysterious and meancing characters, including a powerful researcher(Harris), and her lover(Bryne), who is also as dark and mysterious as the case itself.Smilla is tough and smart and will do whatever it takes to uncover the truth about the boys death.

The director, Billie August(Les Misarables), has given us an intellegent mystery as well as some beautiful photography as the film was shot on location both in Denmark and the snow and ice covered Greenland.You'll be intrigued every step of the way, and mesmerized by the wonderful performances of the entire cast, and the score by Harry Gregson Williams and Hans Zimmer as well. I could not bring myself to go any less than 5 stars for this film, as it is one that will be watched again and again.

The DVD is excellent as well. The Anamorphic Widescreen picture(2.35:1) does justice to the wonderful cinematagraphy. Colors are deep and vivid. Even the snow is crisp and white.You have the choice of 5.1 surround or stereo surround and it sounds great. There's an informative featurette which was done on location in Greenland with interviews with the director and the actors, including Richard Harris in which he demonstrates how he did his own stunts.Language choices are English and French(Stereo), and there are subtitles in English and Spanish for those who may need them.
One other little note, I noticed on the technical information that the release date of this DVD is Dec 17 2002, the edition I have as mentioned in the opening is from 2000 but looks to be the same package. Maybe a re-release?

So get the popcorn ready, and maybe a warm fire or blanket as you'll be thrilled and CHILLED to this one......Laurie

The very great writer Stanislaw Lem wrote once: "Now days I do not trust the banner of `over a million copies sold', because real masterpieces are not usually best sellers...in their times, but later". Powerful words, especially when it comes to "Smilla's sense of Snow". A great book, made a great movie, but not "A Commercial". Not only a treat of an incredible international cast (Richard Harris, Vanessa Redgrave, Robert Loggia, Gabriel Byrne, among others), but the shinning performance of Julia Ormond -a princess among actresses. Made totally on site at Greenland and Denmark, the movie outlines and highlights the beauty of the Inuit Values and Inuit Life, and denounces the greediness of mercantilism that do not care about the consequences of their actions, and the collusion that some authorities lend a hand to the corrupt and the powerful. Make ready your home theatre, prepare your pop corn, your coffee, tea or wine...turn the lights off, and travel to Greenland, Denmark and the mysteries that surround the meteorites that have hit Nunavut and the Davis Inlet. And pay attention to the end credits, because there is something magic in the theory that something colossal happened in that Arctic region...and the Inuit's sense of snow, their understanding and harmony with nature, is what Smilla represents. The fusion of faces between Isaiah and Smilla, is a poem of cinematography.

"Smilla's Sense of Snow" is an unusual, intriguing thriller that seems to fall in the love it or hate it category. If it seems a bit off center to American audiences, that may be because it's a Danish film in English with an almost entirely English cast. So, its point of view, production values and [alas!] its budget are quite Western European. This means its a bit slower, a bit more interested in character development and a lot more poetic and enigmatic than your ordinary thriller. I like it a great deal. To me, its main fault is that some of the story, especially towards the end, requires a much more spectacular and elaborate treatment than the film's producers could afford. In fact, it would not surprise me if it gets an American remake one day because the story is so interesting and visually complex. [Note: I have not read the novel by Peter Hoeg upon which it is based. It is available in paperback here at Amazon.com.]

The superb Julia Ormond plays Smilla Jeperson, a beautiful, intelligent and tortured young woman living in Copenhagen. She's a scientist specializing in the study of snow. She's also a person of unusual origins, the daughter of a Danish doctor and a native Greenlander mother. When she was six years old, her mother, a huntress in the icy wilds of Greenland, was killed, and Smilla was brought to Denmark to live. She never adjusted. One day she comes home to her apartment building to find a tragedy has occurred. A young Eskimo boy, an immigrant from Greenland, has been killed. Everyone says he fell from the roof, but Smilla quickly figures out he was murdered. She decides to find out what really happened to a boy she loved. Thus begins a detective story full of twists, turns and unnerving surprises.

The great supporting cast includes Vanessa Redgrave, Tom Wilkinson, Jim Broadbent, Richard Harris, Gabriel Byrne and Robert Loggia, but the film very much belongs to Ms. Ormond. The movie was directed by Bille August, whose "The House of the Spirits" and "Pelle the Conqueror" are highly recommended. The cinematography by Jorgen Persson is icily beautiful - filled with shades of blues and while. The haunting and evocative music is by Hans Zimmer and Harry Gregson-Williams.

Smilla Jaspersen, the daughter of an American physician father and an Inuit mother from Greenland, has a sixth sense about the snow. Far more connected, emotionally, to her Inuit culture than to the complexities of modern urban life in Copenhagen, where she currently lives, she insists on living on her own terms, uncompromising, independent, and constantly challenging authority. When Isaiah, a six-year-old Inuit child in her apartment building, "falls" from the roof, Smilla studies the snow and knows it is not an accident. Soon she discovers that the child has been having hospital tests once a month, that his father was killed in an explosion in Greenland while working for a mining company, that his mother has been collecting checks from the company--and that she herself is being followed.

Julia Ormond's barely suppressed anger perfectly captures Smilla's inner ferocity, and she totally dominates this Bille August-directed film. Vanessa Redgrave plays a cameo role, and Richard Harris is a supporting character, but his primary role is to look menacing as he runs the mining company, which has a powerful secret. Clipper Miano, a 6-year-old Inuit, is wonderful as Isaiah, with his sad, little face and his needy reaching out. Gabriel Byrne, as an enigmatic mechanic who never goes to his shop, plays a role which fits the plot, but he himself remains a mystery throughout, despite his relationship with Smilla. The harshness of the Greenland setting, combined with the snow, the bleak grayness of wintery Copenhagen, the semi-darkness of most of the scenes, and Smilla's own remote coldness create a powerful mood and increase the suspense and unease.

The problem with the film, like the novel, is that the psychological study of Smilla, which is the most interesting and best-developed aspect of the story, gets waylaid by pyrotechnics and thriller effects. Explosions, complex medical technology, extinct life forms coming back to life in sci-fi manner, flashbacks of Isaiah's life (designed to tug at the heartstrings), and mysterious ships in the night turn what might have been a brilliant psychological study into a snowbound melodrama. The cinematography is gorgeous and effective, as is Ormond, but neither can save the film from its split personality. Mary Whipple

I liked it. It was not an action film, it was not full of young sexy stars flaunting their stuff. It was slow, intelligent and wickedly funny in some parts. The scenes with Smilla's father's young girl-friend have to be seen to be believed. Watch it and enjoy, you won't be transported to another world, you won't come out wanting to be the next Luke Skywalker, but this film will make you think, (if you have the brain for it!) and if a video can do that, well what more can you ask for?

Even though the story falls off a little towards the end, I like this movie a lot. It has a cold, strange setting in Greenland and Copenhagen, a strong, fierce, independent heroine in Smilla Jasperson, a well-played second lead in Gabriel Byrne, and a story that, I think, is engrossing.

Smilla is woman who keeps to herself, trusts no one, and knows everything there is to know about the properties of snow. She's the daughter of an Inuit Greenlander and a Danish father. Her mother is dead; she's not close to her father; she's alienated from comfortable Danish society, but probably could never do well in Inuit Greenland. One day she comes home to her apartment in Copenhagen and finds that a young Inuit boy who lived in the building had fallen to his death. The police tell her that he had been playing on the roof and had accidently fallen. Smilla is instantly suspicious because she knew the eight-year-old was frightened of heights. Later, her reading of his prints in the snow convince her that he was running from something. Then she learns that there were puncture marks on his body. This sets up the story that involves an obsessive and ruthless scientist, a powerful company, a coverup and a huge scientific secret in Greenland.

One thing really makes this movie work for me, and that is Ormond's performance as Smilla. Ormond is a beautiful woman, but she's also a good actress. She nails the part as a person with many grievances and no particular reason to get close to anyone. She seldom smiles. Yet she does get close to the boy. Their gradual warming relationship, shown in flashback, is realistic and touching. Her relationship to the character played by Byrne is also intriguing. He lives in the same apartment house and for some time it's unclear what his role is. While Byrne's character is deeper than we think, in a test of wills Smilla is just as strong or stronger than he is. It's a nice concept.

The movie also features one of the most gripping opening sequences I've seen. In a vast, sunlit, silent ice field a single Inuit hunter holding a spear is standing motionless by an air hole waiting for a seal. His dogs are nearby. You see a streak of light descend in the far distance, hear a rumble, the dogs get restless. The hunter sees far away a great wave of snow and debris. He harnesses the dogs and takes off, trying to out race the gradually nearing line of disturbance that's moving toward him. The race is desperate and he doesn't make it.

But then there's the ending to deal with. It's not really a bad ending. It involves Smilla stowing away on a ship headed to Greenland, and then learning a sort of science fiction answer to the mystery. For me, it's always a bit of a letdown because the first three-quarters of the movie are so good. It doesn't keep me from watching the movie every year or so.

The other roles are played by very good actors, including Richard Harris, Tom Wilkinson, Bob Peck, Vanessa Redgrave and Jim Broadbent.

The DVD transfer is very good. And if you want to read an outstanding book as well as watch a good movie, pick up a copy of Smilla's Sense of Snow by Peter Hoeg.