"The White Dawn" unfolds at a pace that I'm pretty sure many young people will be turned off by. There isn't really much of a plot here, for starters, and the movie unfolds at a pretty leisurely pace. Also, there isn't a terrible about of development for the characters played by Oates, Bottoms, and Gossett. But I have to admit that despite all that, I found the movie fairly captivating. The movie is slow, but it has a kind of hypnotic spell that kept me watching. Also, the depiction of the Inuit seems pretty authentic - I'm no expert on Inuit culture, but it sure seemed authentic. (One interesting detail is that it shows that the Inuit didn't have some sort of paradise lifestyle - they had problems like starvation, for example.) If you are looking for a movie that is quite different than usual - both in its subject matter and its telling - this movie is worth a look.

The movie has a rather cheap feeling as it opens with a shot of a masted schooner bobbing its way through the ocean, and then a shot of a paper map of North America that gradually narrows so that you know that the story about to be told takes place on Baffin Island in Northern Canada. To be honest, that's the type of technical wizardry I might have expected of a movie made in the 1930's, but not the 1970's. And, in fairness, that's a misleading feeling. This isn't in any way a cheap movie. Apparently filmed on location, it includes some breathtaking shots of the local scene which make one powerfully aware of the barren starkness of the Arctic landscape, and an interesting look at Inuit (or "Eskimo" as the movie calls them, in the language of the 70's) culture.The story revolves around three whalers from New England (played by Timothy Bottoms, Lou Gossett and Warren Oates) who are shipwrecked in the Arctic and taken in and taken care of by a local Inuit clan. All three have very different reactions to their experience. Daggett (Bottoms) is sympathetic and grateful to the Inuit and respectful to their culture, to the point at which he considers staying with them, Billy (Oates) is hostile to his benefactors and constantly trying to take advantage of them, and Portagee (Gossett) falls somewhere in between the two. I thought the first hour of this movie was quite fascinating, but in all honesty it became somewhat repetitive in the second hour and I found myself losing focus on it. It was rather obvious almost from the start how this was going to end up, and so there was no real suspense involved to keep me focused. Having said that, the most powerful scene in the movie is probably found in that second half, in which the three castaways find a way to make alcohol out of local berries, and share it with the Inuit, which mirrors one of the tragedies that occurred throughout North America as native culture was almost wiped out. The second half also contains the best line, coming from Sarkak (Simonie Kopapik), the clan leader, who realizes that having the three with them isn't good and puts it this way: "They sleep with our women and eat our food. What else are they good for?" The conclusion of the movie is no surprise to anyone, although I did feel sympathy that Daggett (who was sympathetic to the clan) shared the fate of his fellow castaways.The performances from Bottoms, Gossett and Oates were good, but the stars of the movie were really the Inuit themselves. I can't help thinking, though, that this may be one of the rare occasions when a movie might have been better had it been made for TV. With time cut out to make way for commercials, some of the repetitiveness of the second half might have been avoided. It's an interesting movie, but just didn't keep me glued to what was happening. Overall, it's a mediocre effort - not bad, but not great, either. 4/10

It's May 1896. Three whale hunters Billy, Daggett and Portagee crash their small fishing boat into an ice flow off the coast of Baffin Island in the Arctic Circle and are the only three survivors when a tribe of Eskimos come to their rescue. These Eskimos have never seen creatures like this and welcome (what they refer to as 'dog children') to their isolated community. They share everything important to them, but supposedly their arrival is a bad omen and western pleasures have found their way in. Which disrupts the Eskimos' spiritual lifestyle greatly. What an enthralling pleasure and rather moving (and as well bleak) behavioural portrait of traditional customs and the survival of a 'primitive' race through the naive eyes of 'civilised' western men. Based on a true account. This Hollywood adventure exercise is beautifully implemented from James Huston's novel, which he also penned the thoughtfully sensitive screenplay. It's not really trying to force any sort ecological message onto the viewer, but creating a narrative that shows sometimes people take the simple things in life for granted. Instead of accepting what they got, they disrespect a way of life that they'll never understand and this will cause their own downfall. After obliging them, after one selfish act after another. Eventually both sides are at bitter odds with each other towards the end and the final straw leaves good old reasoning between the two ethnics behind close doors. It all comes down to survival in the end and removing the bad seeds. The dog children learn it the hard way.While the three guests (played by Warren Oates, Timothy Bottoms and Lou Gossett Jr.) are rather simple in their backgrounds, but their emotional bonds and interactions with each other and their surrogate guardians show just who they really are. We even get an informative look into the Intuits' way of life. The austerely imitating nature of the film is made more possible by its genuinely alienating and vastly eerie (but pristine) locations that are spaciously shot with great finesse by photographer Michael Chapman. You can feel the cold discomfort in the air. Harry Mancini's wistful music score has such an ominous howl that blends well with its gleeful side. Philip Kaufman direction is sturdily done and totally convicted to the story he wants to show. He demonstrates some disturbing scenes of cunningly swift, but also brutal violence (especially towards animals with the latter). Look out those easily offended by that. The pacing is deliberately slow to show the simple, no fuss routine of a culture being formed and to build up to its stirringly tragic conclusion. The performances from the Intuits are naturally quite good and they are subtitled for the occasion. Well, its better then being dubbed… now that wouldn't work at all. An excellent Warren Oates makes for one scuffed-up, self-seeking old sea dog, named Billy. At times his crusty performance very much reminded of Captain Haddock. A character form Herge's comic stories of "The Adventures of TinTin". Timothy Bottoms is outstanding in the most spiritually aware and humane role of the three, as Daggett. Finally rounding it off, is a sterling turn by Louis Gossett Jr. as the happy-go-lucky, Portagee. Simply put, this remarkably haunting and significantly logical film still proves a point as much now, as it did when released. Recommended.

This little-known film of Philip Kaufman's is a look at a culture not seen much in films, that of the Innuit, or Eskimo people of Arctic Canada. Three whalers (Warren Oates, Timothy Bottoms and Louis Gosset Jr.) are stranded among them after a shipwreck. The year is 1896 but it could just as well be 1996 or 1796 as far as we can tell in this simple world where survival against nature is always the biggest concern. Surprisingly to me, the culture clash does not seem to be that great through most of the movie, and when it comes, it does so rather quickly. I think this makes for a less strong film but it's still an interesting one that really fascinates at times.Cinematographer Michael Chapman ('Raging Bull') provides some great shots of the Great White North and Henry Mancini's score is very nice also. Martin Ransohoff is usually known as a producer but co-wrote the script here with Thomas Rickman.