Never Cry Wolf

[aroraborealis]

When I was a kid, my parents took me to see this movie, one of our rare theater outings. I remember having a hard time remembering the title: "What's the mvoie called again? Never Cry Fox?" Obviously, I didn't make the connection to the boy who cried wolf. I also remember liking the movie, and some of the story elements, but not much more than that. It came out in 1983, so I would have been 6 or 7 when I saw it.

It did make enough of an impression, though, that I've thought about it off and on since then. And when I signed up for Netflix in the fall, it went on my queue. I've had it for about a week, waiting for the right mood to strike me, and that was finally tonight.

I think this may be the best movie I've seen in the last couple of years. The beautiful setting doesn't hurt, but the story is fantastic, and the character development is fabulously convincing.

The setup is that Farley Mowat, a government researcher, is sent to the north to find proof that wolves are depleting the caribou population and should, therefore, be eradicated. The story, needless to say, is of a plan that goes awry.

I don't often recommend movies, but this is a beautiful movie, touching, and thought-provoking. I highly recommend it. It's also a good bet for kids, though it has a bit of scary stuff, which obviously made an impression on me when I watched it as a kid, because that's some of what I remembered most clearly about it. I remembered a lot of the funny stuff, too, though, and I greatly enjoyed linking up my memories of it with my re-experiencing it now.

Comments

[agaran.livejournal.com]

My aunt, the retired small-game endocrinologist who's been a resident of Fairbanks for about 40 years, sent the book on which the movie is based to me when I was about 13 and it made a huge impression. I loved the movie when it came out, too. Thanks for bringing it back to mind.

[infinitehotel.livejournal.com]

It's a fantastic movie and a pretty wonderful book too. Mowat's written some good stuff over the years.

=J

[cos]

Thanks for the recommendation, I'll try to remember that and rent it sometime.

It would help to identify the spoilery bits more clearly to make them easier to skip (for me, even "The story, needless to say, is of a plan that goes awry." is a spoiler - I'd rather go into a movie knowing nothing).

[aroraborealis.livejournal.com]

I hear what you're saying, but I'm one of those (apparently rare) people who doesn't care at all about receiving spoilers, so I don't tend to notice when I'm giving them, unless it's wide swaths of plot or a surprise. So even when I try to keep it in mind (as I did when writing this), they slip through. I'm sure it won't ruin your experience of the movie, though :)

[laurenhat.livejournal.com]

I loved the book, but never saw the movie. I'll have to check it out.

[aroraborealis.livejournal.com]

Yes, somehow I've never read the book. I'm putting it on my library request list right now.