North

This 2009 SIFF selection is from Norway, so "Nord" is in Norwegian with English captions.

We are introduced to a young man who is so depressed from a recent nervous breakdown, he is almost catatonic. He works at a remote ski lift but the poor customers have to pretty much fend for themselves. He pleads with his caseworker to let him come back to the asylum to live, but she wisely insists he has to get better by living out in the world.

When an old buddy shows up, they immediately lunge at each other like a pair of young bulls. By the time things settle down, the friend tells our depressed hero that he is a father. Their girlfriend (the bone of conten- tion between them), had a little boy four years ago and never told him. The friend tells him where to find the mother and his child, and takes off.

Stunned, our young man medicates himself with booze and pills, then this brand-new father accidentally burns down his shelter at the ski lift, and sets out to go "North." He is using a Sno-Cat or a Ski-Mobile (I can't tell them apart), so I guess we can say this is an "(Off) Road Movie." Like a Road Movie, though, this film focuses on his stops along the way, the people he meets and the effect they have on him. By the first time there is a teeny glimmer of his first smile, we rejoice!

As a rule, young men tend to avoid most foreign-language films, but who knows...maybe this one will start a new trend: a vodka-soaked tampon Scotch-taped to the top of one's freshly shaven head, anyone?

I thought it was interesting that in this vast snow-covered landscape, they used guitar pickin', banjo strummin', hoedown music. I guess they were trying to convey a Norwegian out-in-the-sticks feeling. It didn't detract, it was just interesting.

This movie is predictable in an unpredictable way; I liked it and so did the 2009 SIFF evaluators.