Up for a thriller that makes “Absolute Power” look like a cheerful walk on the beach? “Smilla’s Sense of Snow” is definitely for you.
In my experience watching suspense movies, I have never seen such a film shot with so little light. Throughout the entire film, no one is ever happy, virtually no one ever smiles, and the themes are even darker still.
The message that “Smilla” sends about big business, ambition, and corruption is one of the most sinister Hollywood has ever turned out.
The story of “Smilla’s Sense of Snow” is set into motion with a dead young boy, authorities who call it an accident, and an observer who doesn’t believe it is. This observer, Smilla Jesperson (Julia Ormond) knows that the boy was afraid of heights, and can see that the footprints in the snow were not at all accidental.
Smilla has a boring and extremely depressing existence, but is so angry about this cover-up that she takes it upon herself to get to the bottom of the case.
Slowly but surely, and with more than a few threats and challenges along the way, Smilla’s trail leads her to Greenland Mining. She finds that the boy was on an expedition with his father, who was killed on the trip. Combined with the knowledge that a very prominent doctor was looking at the child every month, and that the head of Greenland Mining was trying to buy off the boy’s mother, she is at once closer to, and farther from, the answer to this mystery.
While Julia Ormond has not always been the most critically acclaimed actress in Hollywood, she shows in “Smilla” that she can carry a film. She is on screen virtually every minute of the film, and although she never smiles, she keeps the movie interesting.
Since there is a surprisingly small amount of dialogue in the film, Ormond also has the burden of expressing much of the material through her face, which she manages just as well.
The only problem is the lack of other complex characters. While there are people that drift in and out of Smilla’s life and quest, they only serve a single purpose to her, and are not very interesting on their own. Luckily, Ormond was good enough to get around that.
“Smilla’s Sense of Snow” is the kind of thriller that usually is only found in novels. It is extremely intelligent, and keeps the viewer guessing about several things until the final credits. The film masters the art of answering enough questions to keep the movie relevant, but leaving enough unanswered to keep the suspense level high.
And the suspense level is frighteningly high. It is truly non-stop from about ten minutes into the film until the end.
Even if you don’t like Julia Ormond, you might still like “Smilla.” Besides sloppy (but unimportant) special effects, every part of film represents an impressive attention to detail and talent from all persons involved.
Grade: B+