Grey Owl
Owl, Grey Owl. Despite looking utterly ridiculous, Brosnan plays it deadly straight...
dir Richard Attenborough • scr William Nicholson
with Pierce Brosnan, Annie Galipeau, Graham Greene, Stewart Bick,
Vlasta Vrana, Nathaniel Arcand, Jimmy Herman, John Dunn-Hill,
Gordon Master, David Fox, Charles Powell, Renee Asherson
99/Canada
Review by Rich Cline
Straight to video in the USA, this dull, ponderous biographical film gets a cinematic release here in Britain, no doubt to keep Attenborough happy. It centres on Archibald Belaney (Brosnan), aka Archie Grey Owl, a British-born member of an Indian tribe in the Canadian backwoods. He reluctantly falls in love with a young squaw named Pony (Galipeau), who adopts a couple of baby beavers and teaches Grey Owl how important little animals are. So naturally, he becomes an international spokesperson for animal and indigenous rights.
Surely there was a more exciting and interesting film in Nicholson's script, but Attenborough flattens it into a sleep-inducing, softly glowing ode to nature. And then there's Brosnan, so utterly unconvincing in the role (with plainly pinned on braids) that you can barely look at him without giggling. He looks awkward and uncomfortable, as if he knows how silly he looks, and how ludicrous the dialog sounds in his mouth. The rest of the cast suffer the same fate. And I must admit that my mind wandered completely during the final third--I don't really know what happened, and I certainly don't care.
[PG--themes, innuendo] Feb.00
UK release 3.Nov.00
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READER REVIEWS
"I agree that the presentation could have been better, but from what I hear money
was not easy to come by for the project. I found the film to be a breath of fresh air, with its interesting and noble characters interested in things more than money and fame and
materialistic concerns in drab urban surroundings. The contrast between England and Canadian wilderness also came across superbly. It moved me to tears, in fact. Since the film I have been moved to read about Grey Owl and Anahareo, and this has enriched my life. Thank god for such people, and quite honestly the 'style snobbery' of critics is worthless. Let us have more such tales, even if their presentation is not quite up to the mark." --G Shettar, Cardiff 8.Jul.02
© 2000 by Rich Cline, Shadows
on the Wall
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