Map of the Human Heart

Starring:Jason Scott Lee, Robert Joamie, Anne Parillaud, Annie Galipeau, Patrick Bergin, Clotilde Courau, John Cusack, Jeanne Moreau, Ben Mendelsohn, Jerry Snell, Jayko Pitseolak, Matt Holland, Rebecca Vevee, Josape Kopalee, Reepah Arreak, Monique Spaziani, Harry Hill, Anik Matern, Mark Ruel, Tyley Ross
Director: Vincent Ward
Studio: Miramax
Product Type: DVD

Amazon.com

The visual sophistication of director Vincent Ward (The Navigator, What Dreams May Come) pulls us through this often awkward chronicle of the lifelong star-crossed passion shared by a Canadian Eskimo boy (Jason Scott Lee, from Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story) and the mixed-race girl (La Femme Nikita's Anne Parillaud) he meets and falls in love with as a child. (A glowering Patrick Bergin is the third corner of the triangle.) Flamboyant sequences, like an amorous clinch on top of a billowing dirigible, and the heartfelt grandeur of the Arctic landscapes, are almost enough to compensate for the clunky transitions and the melodramatic excesses of the storytelling. Almost. Ward's first film, The Navigator (not to be confused with The Flight of...), is a visionary oddity that gives a much clearer indication of the way his work was heading: into the upper atmosphere. --David Chute

Description

From the acclaimed director of WHAT DREAMS MAY COME, MAP OF THE HUMAN HEART is a visually stunning love story that would last a lifetime! When a half-Eskimo boy named Avik (Jason Scott Lee -- DRAGON: THE BRUCE LEE STORY) leaves his Arctic home with a British mapmaker (Patrick Bergin -- BENEATH LOCH NESS) to seek medical attention in Canada, it marks the first steps in an epic personal journey. In Montreal Avik meets Albertine (Anne Parillaud -- LA FEMME NIKITA), a half-Indian girl with whom his life will be forever linked. Spanning decades and distance through war and adversity, their star-crossed relationship becomes a grand romantic adventure of never-ending intensity! Featuring a memorable appearance by big-screen favorite John Cusack (RUNAWAY JURY) -- you'll agree with critics everywhere who raved about this outstanding motion picture!

Customer Reviews:

good movie.......2007-03-19

LIKED IT BETTER WHEN I FIRST SAW IT.....BUT STILL A BUY!

I WANT THE SOUNDTRACK!

A Story of Enduring Love.......2007-02-20

A different love story that follows the life of an Eskimo boy from his life as a child in a barren frozen land to the horrors of war as an adult & the love he carries throughout this journey of a young girl he met while lonely & frightened in a Sanatorium recovering from tuberculosis.Just a beautiful & sometimes heart rending story..

The odyssey through life of an Inuit named Avik (a.k.a. "Holy Boy!").......2006-07-07

There is an inherent sense of wonder to the story of an Inuit that can begin in the frozen arctic of Canada and takes him to the firebombing of Dresden during World War II. In 1931 young Avik (Robert Joamie) sees an airplane land on the ice, and meets Walter Russell (Patrick Bergin), a mapmaker. The boy exhibits some curiosity in Russell's surveyor gear and says "Holy Boy" instead of "Holy Cow," which apparently endears him enough to Russell that when he discovers Avik is suffering from tuberculosis he takes the boy to Montreal. The cure is painful enough, but Avik also has to deal with the attentions of Sister Banville (Jeanne Moreau), who wants to turn him and the other native children into good little white children. But Avik forms a friendship with young Albertine (Annie Galipeau) that forges a link for life.

What Avik and Albertine most share in common is that they are trapped between two worlds: he is half white and half Eskimo while she is half white and half Indian. When they are separated again it is her desire to one day sing a song on the wireless that becomes the key to their connecting once again as adults. As an adult, Avik (Jason Scott Lee) is considered a curse to his tribe and they want nothing to do with him, so when Russell returns and explains that the world is at war, Avik decides to enlist. He becomes a photographer in a bomber, named "Holy Boy!" of course, recording the affects of bomb strikes, and one day Albertine (Anne Parillaud) finds him. She is also in the military and her job is to analyze strike photographs, which affords some rather interesting ways for him to communicate with her as the war continues.

There is a framing device for this story, as Avik tells his story in flashback to a new mapmaker (John Cusack), who has come into the frozen north. The relationship between Avik and Albertine certainly has its moments, especially when it gets above the group, a motif that is repeated throughout the film often enough for us to catch on to its significance. The figure of Russell continues to figure largely in Avik's life, but when it involves Albertine as well I was uncomfortable with the turn of events. But the narrative builds to such a point that a great leap forward in time and space is mandated to be able to tell the ending of the tale. There are exquisite and memorable scenes to be sure in the final act as director Vincent Ward tries to have his film take wing. In this regard it will succeed with some and with others not so well, but regardless of which camp you find yourself in at the end, it is certainly worth the watching.

The Eskimo Patient.......2006-04-26

Holy boy, ***** you...if you haven't seen this movie yet, then you have indeed missed a gem. Simply relax and travel thru time, both magic and tragic.

A missed Gem.......2006-04-02

This is one of those missed gems that you wish you'd heard more about sooner, but are grateful someone helped you stumble upon it. Map of the Human heart is a tale you won't forget. A mapmaker sits in repose at a bar and is forced to hear a story from what at first glance appears to be a 'loser' Inuit. But soon his heart is captured by the Inuit's tale of a lost love, missed opportunities, the ravages of WWII and all the scars we collect along the way. The story digs deep into different cultures and everything that affects all of us as human beings. You'll find yourself holding your breath for a happy ending...
Chrissy K. McVay - Author

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