This movie will rip out your heart. It's the story of an Eskimo man that seems to be cursed from his very birth to lose everything that ever touches his life. It starts out with tragedy and it ends with tragedy. It was a lovely movie but just too sad for me. I used to be in charge of Movie Night at our school's library and we picked this one. By the end of the movie, the other tech and I were the only ones left-everyone else had walked out. Over and over we see this poor guy just get nailed by life. At the end, we finally think things are going to work out for him and BAM! Screwed again. I love movies that evoke deep emotion but this was too much-too depressing for me. Still gave it a good rating thought because it is beautifully done.

I absolutely adore this film and was overjoyed when it eventually became available on DVD. But was rather disappointed that they have never released a directors cut, I remember when it first came out there was a 4-5 hour version show at the Venice or Berlin film festival, I still have the cutting of a review from the screening and the writer was totally blown away by it and commented that it deserved to be released uncut. But back then as we know now people weren't prepared to sit in a cinema for that long, but now with the advent of DVD and everyone basically wanting a cinema at home with large plasma and 5.1 sound, its great that you are now getting the choice to see these gems as they were originally envisioned, its a real shame as i personally feel that this was a highlight of everyone involved in this movie, and is wards best movie, you also can tell when watching it that there is a lot of stuff missing, especially in the cuts from scene to scene. I don't think that a couple of deleted scenes was enough on the DVD, and the score is totally amazing,why no isolated track, try and get a hold of it if you can, it took me nearly 11 years to get my hands on it, eventually gave up hope of ever finding it and by pure chance found it in a second hand store in a tiny village called Comrie in Scotland, it was fate i think,paid 10p for it on cd, its by Gabriel Yared and is amazing.Anyway buy it on DVD its worth it and i cant ever see them releasing it uncut unfortunately, unless they ever release a vincent ward box set, now that would be worth buying. Anyone know of any other version available then please post comment.

Map stars Jason Scott Lee as an Eskimo named Avik who is taken from his people as a boy by an explorer named Walter (Patrick Bergen) because he has tuberculosis. In the hospital where he is sent he meets up with a young half-breed French Canadian girl named Albertine (Anne Parillaud, as the adult version) and they become inseparable friends, usually annoying the strict Catholic headmistress (Jeanne Moreau) with their pranks. In the course of time, Albertine is healed and leaves; eventually Avik is as well and he returns to his own people. But he is no longer wanted, and eventually he re-teams with Walter on a return expedition and signs up for the war. He's assigned to a bomber group and has pretty good luck over Germany. Near the end of his service time, he chances to run into Albertine again, who is working in bomber command, and the two rekindle their friendship, which has turned into something more for Avik, at least.Map is a slow-moving film that lingers on its subject and the beautiful countryside that surrounds them. Whether it's the fields outside of a Montreal hospital, the English countryside, or the endless white snows of the Arctic, we are continually treated to sumptuous visions of the earth – all the better to contrast with the characters, who find themselves confined much of the time, be it in a bomber, a bunker, or an igloo.The beauty is also starkly counter-balanced by the best scene in the film, a final raid over Dresden that is a testament to the bizarre beauty that can be found in hellish destruction. The bombers seem to move in slow motion as we are treated to the fiery landscape, a city consumed by flame, made all the more vivid when Avik is shot down and must make his way through, almost literally, Hell.Map is also a sad story, of longing between two people who will never be together, and in that vein it's a very poignant film. But it's lovingly told, and even though it may lack a happy ending, or even a very coherent one (a waking dream sequence merges with reality in a sometimes confusing way at the very end), it's nonetheless a satisfying film for those with a little patience.Jason Scott Lee has never been better. Though Avik isn't given a wide emotional range, Lee manages to convey the deep feelings that run within him gestures rendered almost in shorthand. And Parillaud, although Albertine is somewhat flighty, also gives a strong performance. Bergen is very good as well, imbuing Walter with an adventurer's sense of wonder that turns darker as the man ages. All three of them play well off one another.Map isn't for everyone – it is long, slow, and a little depressing – but it's also a beautiful film and it certainly revels in the gentle unraveling of its subject matter. It's also not a movie you're likely to find many places – I had to join Netflix to get it – but I find it's worth looking for.

I decided to watch this based on a strong recommendation from a friend, and am now debating whether or not she is my friend at all. This movie, as another reviewer alluded to, is actually painful to watch. I would have never finished it except I wanted to be knowledgeable about what a putrid film it is so I could write an accurate review. The only aspect of the film that is even passable is the cinematography, which, though dark, does a consistently good job of telling the story. Every single other aspect of the film (the acting, the story, the dialogue, the sound mixing, the sound dubbing) is just a disgrace to the art of film-making. The sound dubbing is so ridiculously bad that I was starting to wonder if this was a foreign language flick (honestly). The words NEVER match up to the lips; not even on accident. The story is implausible (a poor man's "Legends of the Fall"), filled with every concievable cliché. The characters are underwritten cardboard cut-outs, which at least partially explains the poor acting. I can't say enough bad things about this film, but do yourself a favor and avoid it like the plague! Life is too short.