In
1917, the North Pole will not seem like such a dangerous place to Sasha, the
daughter of Count Chernetsov. However, in 1892, it is quite a cold and
forbidding place for a fifteen year-old. Nevertheless, the plucky blueblood
will head thereabouts in search of her missing explorer grandfather. In the
process, she will learn quite a bit about life and self-reliance in Rémi Chayé’s
Long Way North (trailer here), which screens during the 2016 New York International Children’s Film Festival.
Sasha
always had a special relationship with old man Oloukine—and it was not because
the seafaring national hero suffered fools gladly. The Czar has offered a
million ruble reward to any crew that finds his ship, the Davai (which roughly
translates as “hurry” or “get’er done”), but it has yet to be claimed after a
year, perhaps for good reason. When Sasha finally gets a look at her
grandfather’s papers, she realizes everyone has been searching in the wrong
place. Naturally, nobody wants to hear her theories, least of all the Czar’s
snobby new science advisor, so Sasha sets off on her own.
Oloukine
might have taught her about charts, but Sasha is in for a real education when
she heads north. Having no money, she accepts work with an innkeeper as she
awaits the ship that will take her through the Arctic Sea, where she expects to
find the Davai. Sailors being superstitious sailors, the crew is not thrilled
to have her on board, even when she proves herself during a crisis. As luck will
have it, Sasha will have another opportunity to prove her mettle when an
iceberg leaves them shipwrecked.
North is a lovely film
in just about every way. Stylistically, it is sort of like a cross between classical
marine oil paintings and the animation of Genndy Tartovsky. As a youthful
protagonist, Sasha is wonderfully charming and endearingly irrepressible. Yet,
her coming-of-age story is serious business. Still, a few tense moments and a tragic
inevitabilities notwithstanding, most tykes will keep up with her story just
fine.
