Signis

Far North

(JPEG) (UK, 2007, d. Asif Kapadia)

Beautiful to look at, Norway locations standing in for what seems like Arctic territory in the East, this film enables its audience to experience the frozen north in close-up and vista long shots, as if they were really there.

The plot, mostly without dialogue and moving at what might be called a ’contemplative’ pace, enabling the audience to observe the three central characters without rush and have time to reflect on the way of life, the interactions and the effect of living in remote, isolated and physically gruelling environment.

The focus is on Saiva (Michelle Yeoh at her most dignified), a middle aged woman who tells us almost immediately that she was pronounced ’cursed’ by a shaman. When some flashbacks later tell us her story, we realise that the curse was fulfilled and she is a bitter woman with an inner rage (something like the icebergs and their tips that we frequently see).

The second character is Anya (Michelle Krusiek), a younger woman whom we presume is Saiva’s daughter. They wander alone through the ice and floes, across the sea to the pebbled tundra shore, surviving on any meat available and that they can catch, dog, walrus, deer. The bond between the two women is strong.

The third character is Loki (Sean Bean) whom Saiva finds wounded and exhausted on the pebbles. He explains that he is a refugee from the military (whom we have seen early in the film as Saiva and Anya sail pass their barracks and the workers on a rail line).

Clearly, this gathering of three characters leads one to expect some personal and sexual tensions, archetypal characters and myths. What follows is partly what we anticipate but, ultimately, not what we might have thought. Tragedy with more than a touch of the macabre is in the air.

Director Asif Kapadia made the well-received The Warrior (2001) with a lone hero being pursued in exotic landscapes. Clearly, he is fascinated with what isolation will mean to people as well as a context of violence. The screenplay has been adapted from a story by Sarah Maitland.

Peter Malone