Grey Owl (1999)

Just perfect...

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

Richard Attenborough's penultimate film as a director, this is a very good film with many interesting things to say about the necessity of conservation. It is based on the true story of the supposed Canadian First Nations trapper and hunter turned conservationist Grey Owl who was revealed after his death to be in fact an Englishman named Archibald Belaney. Rather than living off the land for his entire life, he was raised in a very nice house in Hastings by his two maiden aunts. In the 1930s, he became famous as a result of his books - though he only writes one in the film - and his lecture tours in England. The film has a strong script by William Nicholson, which admittedly takes quite a few liberties with the historical facts, while Attenborough handles the material with his usual deft hand.As the title character, Pierce Brosnan gives a great performance and there is always a sense that there is an inner conflict. In the early parts of the film, Grey Owl is depicted as being quite a cold, stoic man who rejects the efforts of the much younger Gertrude "Anahareo" Bernard, who unlike him is actually of First Nations descent, to get close to him as he fears that she will learn his secret. Annie Galipeau's performance as Anahareo is very variable, sometimes quite good and other times quite bad. As a result, her chemistry with Brosnan is inconsistent and their romantic scenes are not as effective as they could be. That said, Anahareo is written as a strong, intelligent character who becomes increasingly frustrated with the fact that she and Grey Owl can't have a truly honest relationship since it is obvious that he is hiding something from her. After he reveals his true identity, however, she tells him that it does not matter as she fell in love with him because of the way that he chooses to live his life. It is a very sweet scene but I'm not really sure that I entirely buy it, I'm afraid. The film is dominated by Brosnan and Galipeau but it also features nice appearances from Graham Greene as Anahareo's father Jim Bernard, Stephanie Cole and Renée Asherson as Grey Owl's aunts, Vlasta Vrána as Harry Champlin, Nathaniel Arcand as Grey Owl's adoptive brother Ned White Bear and Floyd Crow Westerman as the Sioux chief who may suspect the truth.Grey Owl's relationship with Anahareo proves to be of crucial significance in his life. While accompanying him on a long hunting trip in the winter of 1934, she adopts two newborn beaver kits who are left without their mother because she was caught in one of his traps. At first, he has little interest in the beavers and is generally dismissive of Anahareo's attempts to care for them. However, he is greatly upset when he mistakenly believes that one of them has been killed and decides to give up hunting, not least because beavers are on the verge of extinction in Canada. Over time, this develops into an interest in conservation in the wider sense and he gains widespread publicity when his book "Pilgrims of the Wild" is published. However, publicity is not a great thing when the public identity that you have constructed for yourself is a complete lie and Grey Owl fears that he will be exposed as a fraud, particularly when he returns to his native England for a three month lecture tour.The film depicts Grey Owl as being essentially a good man whose message of conservation was more important than his lies. While I do more or less agree with this, the film nevertheless glosses over some of the facts and idealises him a little too much for my liking. The script mentions that he had two wives prior to Anahareo but it leaves out the fact that he was a bigamist, having abandoned his first wife and young daughter. He was also known to be an alcoholic but there is not even the remotest sign of this in the film. Furthermore, he and Anahareo had a much longer term relationship in reality and they had a daughter named Shirley but none of this is reflected either. It is implied that the two of them have worked out their problems and remained together until his death in 1938 but in reality they broke up in 1936, which is about the time that the film ends.In contrast to the previous subjects of Attenborough biopics (Churchill, Gandhi, Charlie Chaplin, C.S. Lewis and Ernest Hemingway), Grey Owl is no longer a household name. I have to admit that I had never heard of him before I heard of the film. I decided to read up on him before I watched it and one of the things that I found was a fascinating article by Attenborough himself. The director was lucky enough to have the home phone number of one of the most famous and accomplished naturalists in the world, namely his younger brother David, who told him that if Grey Owl's warnings had been listened to in the 1930s "the whole ecological movement would have been advanced by at least 30 years." As young boys in January 1936, the Attenboroughs attended Grey Owl's lecture in Leicester, which is depicted in the film.Overall, this is a very enjoyable film which raises many interesting points about conservation even if it does skim over some of the more awkward facts of its protagonist's life. Had it not done so, he might have been an even more compelling character. The scenes of nature are beautiful and, at their best, resemble one of the younger Attenborough's documentaries but the film does suffer from occasional instances of slow pacing in its first half.

To the Native People, this movie is about what some call a "would-a-be" or "White Indian"; although the Ojibway people, whom Gray Owl's life turns o not use the word "Indian" but "Anishnabe" which means a good person. Gray Owl as an white and wanting to live the native way, is called a "White Indian".This movie shows him living on and around Bear Island, in Northern Ontario. Gray Owl, shows us his view of their life through his eyes and explain how the northern Canadian native; has been changed by civilization. (trapping,hunting and tourism as in the scene where the "War dance" is performed after a hat-passing collection) It is also an interesting documentary of how the Canadian beaver became a part of the 5 cent coin; as the story advances into how Gray Owl worked to conserve and even reinstate this animal which was endangered from over trapping.The story is beautiful told to us who know and live the savage life of the Northern wilderness and how beautiful it is to return to the basic of nature and leave problems of civilization behind.The scene of most important, to me, also a white Indian, is when Gray Owl meets the Americian Chiefs and they all laugh at the blue-eyed would-a-be Indian. But the quote of the chief was how it did not matter the color of one skin but the color of one's heart. Everyone should have a dream, but if a Gray Owl we can live this dream it is beautiful.. Another similar and great movie of this type is "The return of a Man called Horse" with Richard Harris.A lot can be learned from this movie.. even now after I have visited the area and met the people, I still see great lessons. (for example, Gray Owls friend is an Cree and shown this native group,living with the Ojibway on Bear Island.Interesting off-side of this film is a recent development of an Australian who just finished a summer on Bear Island after wanting to learn about the source of this film. "Broken Arrow - A white Indian"

GREY OWL (2+ outta 5 stars)Interesting but much-too-earnest movie about a white man (Pierce Brosnan), obsessed since childhood with Indian culture, who convinced the world that he was an actual half-breed Indian... lecturing and touring the world. Entranced by his writings and the pride he takes in his "heritage", a young Indian falls in love with him and joins him in his wilderness home... but even she does not know the truth. Eventually, the guilt overwhelms him and he finds he can no longer preach about conservation while living his life as a fraud. I kinda liked the movie... Pierce's performance was alright... but Annie Galipeau steals the movie as his full native love interest. I think the only problem with the movie is that it takes itself a little too seriously... treating the character of Grey Owl as more of a saintly crusader than the "crazy white man" he probably was in reality.

This film was made in Saskatchewan and Manitoba Parks and returned the world eye again to what little of the "Wild Western Canada" is left. When Archie began to write his stories for the papers; the thought of the day was to tame the wilderness and convert/absorb the First Nation Peoples.The film puts forward and asks the question; why would a well-educated, obviously talented Englishman become an Indian? Archie, as an English boy dreams about becoming something but grasping the full meaning of that dream is unique and priceless - no mater what it is. Sounds like a famous puppet story doesn't it. In my opinion, I saw Archie become my living image of the "Cigar store Indian" a very wooden character and not real at all - very well done acting on the part of Mr. Brosnan. He also portrayed the wild Indian in the dance scene for the tourist. The fullness and or reality of it weren't realized till he met and married his wife, Annie. Annie pushed Archie in a direction that would bring him to the forefront of the Englishman's world stage, not as himself but Grey Owl -an Canadian Native of the wilderness frontier. This is the closest Archie get to becoming the noble savage prototype. Mr. Brosnan's interpretation as well as the directors is both well done. I have watched documentaries on Grey Owl and I think this is a good big screen movie to add to my collection.Spoiler - I thought the final scenes with Archie going to meet the Grand Council of Chiefs was a great a great moment in the film. Very beautiful Canadian lake scenery and real "Grey Owl" locations.