Review: The Legend of Sarila

The Legend of Sarila

Four stars out of five

Animated

Voices of: Christopher Plummer, Genevi?ve Bujold, Rachel Lefevre

Directed by: Nancy Florence Savard

Running time: 81 minutes

Playing?in English at Forum, Kirkland, March? Central, Sph?retech and Taschereau cinemas and in French at Brossard, Colossus, Pont Viau, Quartier Latin, St. Eutache and StarCit? cinemas

Parental guidance: Some scary bears and one evil shaman.

MONTREAL - Quebec makes a successful foray into the world of digital 3D animation with this Inuit-inspired tale of the life-changing adventures of three teenagers in a far North ravaged by famine.

With a script by Pierre Tremblay (who has actually lived in the Arctic and knows Innu culture intimately) and co-writer Roger Harvey, the 81-minute movie pleases on a number of levels.

For exoticism, there?s a detailed depiction of nomadic life in the North: clothing, food, spiritual customs. For adventure, there are blizzards, avalanches and treacherous ice.

Produced for a hefty $8.5 million by director Nancy Florence Savard?s Productions 10e ave and CarpeDiem Film & TV, the animated film is a first in 3D for Quebec: It was entirely made here.

The 81-minute movie is being released in two versions ? one English, the other French. The English one is playing on half a dozen screens in Montreal.

While the visuals and sound effects remain the same ? with one exception, the theme song by Nunavik singer Elisapie Issac, sung in both languages ? the dubbed voices are quite different.

English audiences get Christopher Plummer as the villainous old shaman Croolik, Genevi?ve Bujold as the virtuous old widow Saya, and Montreal TV actress Rachel Lefevre as teenage rebel Apik. Tyrone Benskin, a former artistic director of Montreal?s Black Theatre Workshop who?s now a federal NDP MP, voices the village chief, Itak.

Rounding out the leads are Tim Rozon as the chief?s son, Poutoulik, and Northwest Territories-born Dustin Milligan as his rival for Apik?s love, the young shaman Markussi.

French audiences get their own stars: R?my Girard as the chief, Marina Orsini (his wife), Doroth?e Berryman (the widow), Mario St-Amand (the shaman). Montagnais singer Florent Vollant voices the owl, Ukpik. And for the young folk, in the juvenile leads, young hunks Guillaume Perrault and Maxime Le Flaguais voice the two teen adventurers and Mariloup Wolfe is their love interest, Apik.

It?s a clash between good and evil, tradition and innovation, the old and the new, as the teenagers try to rescue their community from starvation with a trip to the mythical paradise of Sarila. There, they must persuade the sea goddess, Sedna, to make all the wild animals under her power ? polar bears, seals, caribou ? return to the nomads? hunting grounds.

But first, the children must cast off an evil spell by old Croolik that makes them turn on each other, imperilling their mission and their lives.

In the end, no surprise, good triumphs over the mean spirits.

Since this is a fantasy, not all of it makes sense. Why, for example, if it?s so cold up there in the North, do we never see anyone?s breath?

Quibbles aside, the movie?s a crowd-pleaser. Kids will thrill to the chills and spills, their parents will enjoy the clearly drawn characters, the old folk will appreciate the anthropological details.

Source: http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/Review+Legend+Sarila/8029061/story.html

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