Iqaluit (2016) User Reviews

A sad story...

[LaxFan94 · 7/10 · 17 November 2021]

I found this film to be a little sad ever since one character had that construction accident. However, I believe this one is more about a non-Inuit family trying to survive in the Arctic. Although the character involved in the accident is a close friend of the main Inuit character, there are always struggles. The accident was just one example of the family's struggles. Then the man's wife finds out about her husband before she rushes up north to be with him. She is clearly worried about his safety. His wife finds it difficult to come to grips with her husband's ordeal. She then wonders what would have happened had she accompanied him on his trip. Maybe the accident would not have happened if she were there with him? The Inuit are excellent at providing moral support in wishing their friend a speedy recovery while also welcoming his wife with moral support. Unfortunately, the man succumbs to his injuries and everyone in the village is distraught from this occurrence. That makes this film so sad. The local Inuit do their best to comfort their white friend involved in the accident, and comforting the man's wife for providing moral support. Of course, the man's demise is torture for his wife, who thinks she should have been there with him all the way through. That way, maybe the accident would have never happened. As a result, she becomes direly depressed and ends up hating herself for not being with her husband. Although a family will never be the same, the local Inuit stands tall for her and eases her burden. She ends up being forever in their debt and they decide to take her in as one of their own.

Please understand that the above synopsis is my personal take on what would be a good plot to this story. Although the above is not entirely accurate compared to the film's actual plot, my input would make for a good alternate plot. Anyway, this one is a seven out of ten.

Beautiful in a steely cold way

[gizmomogwai · 8/10 · 20 June 2017]

Iqaluit is a unique creature. Director Benoit Pilon has blended Quebec cinema and the fledgling Inuit film industry before in his 2008 The Necessities of Life, shortlisted for the Oscar for Foreign Film, but Iqaluit goes a step even further in adding a substantial amount of English to the French and Inuktitut dialogue. Unfortunately, that turns out to be a weakness- the English dialogue, only spoken between French Canadian and Inuit characters who don't know each other's first language, is often awkward and clumsy, and the performances also suffer in English. It's not just that it's broken English- even broken English doesn't have to sound unnatural if written right.

The good news is that the performances are otherwise good, particularly in the first half where Marie-Josée Croze plays the grieving widow. Anyway, the performances and dialogue aren't all there is to Iqaluit- stunning cinematography, cold but vast, with blues and greys being particularly important to the colour scheme. The score is lyrical, and most important, the overall plot structure carries an impact. The racial conflict is understated and brief, but underlies much of the drama.