AniInterview Sorry, this movie sucks

Tobias Burrows It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

Philippa All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Gary The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

dbdumonteil "The savage innocents" is Ray's last real movie, his two epics "King of Kings" and "55 days at Peking" ,in spite of their (often unfairly overlooked) qualities cannot be called "Nicholas Ray' s movies .The rest of his filmography includes a movie made with his students and the questionable Wenders collaboration "lightning over water" .Not only Ray was the director whose influence was huge on the rock generation ("Rebel with a cause " was the first movie which rocked ,a feat for it was a work which did not include songs)but "savage innocents" inspired Bob Dylan a song which Manfred Mann made a big hit in the sixties.Mighty Quinn indeed.Anthony Quinn was par excellence the perfect good all-around.a cursory look at his filmography is revealing:from Fellini's "La Strada" to his portrayal of Quasimodo in the French version of "Notre Dame de Paris" (Delannoy) From Barrabas (Fleischer)to an Eskimo.Like so many Rayesque heroes ,Inuk does not follow the rules :in a way he is akin to the youngsters of "Rebel" ,to Davey Bishop ("Run for cover" ),to Nick ("Knock on any door" ) and of course to the outlaws ("the true story of Jesse James") .But anyway Inuk cannot follow the Whites' rules for ,in his naive innocence,he is incapable of understanding them,which proves they are not universal.Margaret Mead had already showed that what is good and what is bad is not the same wherever you live in the world..My favorite scene is the priest trying to make the "savage" understand that he's lived a life of sin: what can a tale of long ago and far away mean for a man whose life is a constant struggle against a hostile nature ? It's the same pragmatism which we find in Luis Bunuel's Oeuvre."The savage innocents " is half documentary half fiction;the documentary side shows its age :correct me if I am wrong but "Eskimo" (=raw meat eater) is not a term the Inuit would appreciate nowadays.Besides,they did not live in igloos which were only used during the hunting season.Entirely filmed in studio ,the pictures are magnificent though,a real symphony in white.The white color dominates everything (tinged with blue)except for this extremely moving scene when it turns black when the old woman is left in the snow to die (it will remind the young cine buffs of Imamura's "Narayama Bushiko" (1983))."The savage innocents " sets the nature and its quietness -although it's a cruel mistress;when you fight a bear,it's you or him-against the "civilization" here represented by alcohol,pop music ,money and the Law.Ray had already been an ecologist ahead of his time in "Wind across the everglades" These two works are like "twin movies" and should be seen one after the other.After all "King of Kings" was also perhaps a Ray movie:Jesus himself was not born to follow the rules.

Andres Salama This movie is based on a book called "Top of the World" by author Hans Ruesch. The book is not very well known today, but it is a very entertaining look at the life of the Eskimos and their view of life (reportedly, author Ruesch has never seen an Eskimo before writing the novel). Set during the time that western ways were encroaching into the Eskimos natural habitat, and spanning several generations, it has a main character, who gets into trouble with the law, becoming a fugitive, basically out of his ignorance of western customs (he killed a white man when he offended him by rejecting an invitation to lie in bed with his wife). I read it as a classroom assignment during high school, more than twenty years ago, and it is probable I would have never read the book if I wasn't assigned to do so. Likewise, the movie based on that novel is not terribly known either, though it is sometimes shown on television (at least in my country). It is a passable film, and the more interesting feature of it is that it has Anthony Quinn playing an Eskimo (how many characters of different ethnic backgrounds did Quinn play during his career?).

NeverLift I saw this movie in its original release, ca. 1960, while living in Canada. We didn't see it so much a drama as an exposition of Eskimo (now Inuit) culture, behavior, and mores that used the story line as a vehicle to help in that process. And, of course, it is visually stunning.A story I heard at that time claimed the reason the secondary roles are not played by Eskimos was that they didn't have the concept of lying in their culture, and acting -- pretending to be another person, as opposed to taking on the role of, say, a seal in a story-telling activity at a communal gathering -- requires that one, essentially, lie. That is, the claim was that the casting staff could not find an Eskimo that could act.There are episodes in the portrayal that seem over-acted, but that opinion may be a result of my not having personal experience with how Eskimos would actually behave in the activity being portrayed in those scenes. But the scene of death and survival after the sled breaks through the ice is, to coin a phrase, chilling. Asked for help to save the soaked Mountie, Quinn, in the lead Eskimo role, responds, "That man is dead." And then you watch the Mountie freeze to death in under two minutes. Very powerful.Highly recommended.

wedraughon I saw and heard Anthony Quinn in a television interview about his autobiography which had just been published. He said that there were only three films out of the many that he had made in his life that he was truly proud of. The Savage Innocents was one of the three. (Guess what the other two were. Right! Zorba and La Strada.) This estimation puts this movie in with some very select company. And this film deserves it.It is NOT a documentary. There is a story here, an exciting story, at times edge of your seat--or maybe I should say, a number of stories, all interesting, all moving. The photography, sound, scenery, acting, all were excellent.What struck me most, out of a long list, was the way the point of view of these Inuit people was gotten across. For instance, the missionary butts his head into the igloo and says, "God be with you." Quinn looks puzzled, glances at his wife and says, "No, there's nobody here but us." When the missionary goes on preaching at them, trying to convert them to the "true" faith, Quinn whispers to his wife, "I think he needs to laugh with a woman. Make yourself beautiful." In other words, the guy needs to get laid. The Freudian insight implied by these simple remarks is staggering. And this is only a small sample.Perhaps the fate of this movie had a lot to do with the advertising. The picture at the top of this page suggests that this is a "savage" movie. It isn't. The title itself is unfortunate.Yes, when oh when will we get to see this movie again? When will the savage and not-so-innocent moguls deign to put this beautiful film onto DVD?