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Richly atmospheric, beautifully shot and brutally disturbing, Asif Kapadia’s
Far North FAR NORTH — the locale is obvious. The icy planes of the Arctic forms the barren backdrop of this film. The story is one of mythic realism about two Lapp women wandering in the wasteland, living on dog and reindeer meat. Enter, a man, a soldier to be precise, who is scarcely alive, but has to be nursed to normalcy by the women. That’s when the problem begins, two into one won’t go.
Shot in the Norwegian Svalbag archipelago, this is a skeletal story of basic human impulses told by Sara Maitland (her short story) in the elemental language of fable and this human triangle thaws beneath the heavy skies of the Arctic. Dialogue is minimal and this not only enhances the visuals, caressingly shot by cinematographer Roman Oshin, but also imbues it with copious doses of suspense right through its 100-minute duration. Saira (Michelle Yeoh) is grim and hardened by circumstance but also cursed at birth by a shaman who damned her to destroy anyone with whom she became close. Anja (Michelle Krusiec), possibly her daughter, by contrast is full of life and theirs’ is a lonely but contented existence with some grey areas till Loki (Sean Bean) enters their lives. In Norse mythology, Loki (Sean Bean) is the protean prankster whose presence spells trouble to gods and humans alike. And he lives up to his name but is also a catalyst. It is a good marriage of allegory and symbolism and British director Asif Kapadia, whose Warrior was a hit a few years ago, casts his spell with a haunting narrative. It is set in the present but the context is timeless. Suppressed human emotions come to surface and with the judicious use of flashback, Kapadia sketches a hazy picture of Saira’s violent past. She warns Anja of the danger of getting close to Loki but to no avail, nature takes its course. What next? Some would feel the climax is disastrous but then others will not. It is imbued with the power of sex in a Lady Chatterley’s kind of sensuality that is overpowering and seems to liberate her, even if climax is unthinkably ghastly. Michelle Yeoh has a difficult role and tries hard to do justice to it even if she’s not always successful but Michelle Krusiec is more earthy and convincing. Sadly, Sean Bean is merely academic. The others, flit in and out of the frame only to contribute to the ambience. To sum it up Far North is richly atmospheric, beautifully shot and brutally disturbing. A "must" for connoisseurs of cinema.
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