There is something about films set in the desolate ice and snow that people are drawn toward. Maybe it is because Jack London’s to build a fire, a short story classic, is so easy to read. I remember being a young child and reading this story in school. The story has made a big impression on me ever since.
There are two foreign films (English subtitled) I have recently seen that remind me in some ways of Jack London’s story. Both are in frozen, arctic like environments. The landscapes are cold and show no mercy to the weak. The isolation makes the otherwise very tough characters seem so small and vulnerable.
“How I Ended This Summer” is a Russian film set right along the Arctic Ocean. Two men work together at a remote station taking scientific readings. The isolation both irritates and binds their working relationship with each other.
How I Ended This Summer is written and directed by Aleksey Propgrebsky. I wrote a review on this film. Is How I Spend Last Summer your kind of film? Check it out:
“How I Ended This Summer” Review
“Zero Kelvin” is a Norwegian film that is set in the cold, unforgiving land in Greenland. A romantic poet, a insane hunter and a brooding scientist must coexist together in the unrelenting cold and ice. Can the poet survive his harsh friends and environment? Will the hunter go mad? What is going through the scientist’s mind?
Zero Kelvin is written and directed by Hans Petter Moland. It is also cowrote by Lars Bill Lundholm. I rated this film on my blog and hope that you read it. If you are a fan of arctic adventure films, you may… or may not enjoy this film.
Please let me know what you think of these reviews. If you already saw these films, let me know how you rated them. Both films are firmly within the Jack London – like arctic survival genre.
If you visit my site, please also check out my post on the movie “The Fast Walker” This is a terrific film set in the ancient Inuit (Eskimo) times. This is another truly ‘cold’ film I have reviewed. See if this film is right for you by reading my review. I think you will like it.
Please be sure to read some of my other Excerptz posts as well
“Unstoppable” Spoiler Ending – How it Should Have Ended
3 Relatives all in the Same (Very Good) Move?