We have two movies to tell you about this week.
On Saturday, March 23, we present two showings of Arctic, about a man’s desperate struggle to survive after crash-landing his plane on the frozen Icelandic tundra. Then on Wednesday March 27, since it’s Spring Break, we bring you a wonderfully uplifting documentary, Science Fair, which features brilliant students aspiring to improve the world with science.
In Arctic, Overgard has crash-landed his plane and, from a piece of paper where he’s ticked off the days, we deduce he’s been stranded in the snowy wasteland for two months. His daily routine consists of checking his fishing holes, scanning radio frequencies and maintaining the SOS he has scratched into the tundra. The sound of a helicopter indicates possible rescue, but, devastatingly, it crashes, too. A woman survives, but is badly injured and grows weaker each passing day. Since she risked her life to try to rescue him, he feels obliged to try to get her help at an emergency station that may or may not be where his map puts it.
It’s a gruelling and dangerous trip. He drags the woman on a makeshift sled through snow-glutted mountain passes, pulls her over sheer slopes and keeps her warm in the inevitable snow storms. Arctic lets survival look like the raw experience it is, and stellar acting by Mads Mikkelsen leaves you feeling every emotion and physical trial his character endures in his bitter, frostbitten quest. Intense, immersive and emotionally exhausting, Arctic shows Saturday at 5 and 7:30 p.m.
On Wednesday, we’re showing Science Fair, a film that’ll inspire and bring hope to adults and young people alike. It’s a wonderful story of smart kids with smart dreams travelling from around the world to compete in the International Science and Engineering Fair in Los Angeles, in pursuit of the $75,000 prize and a place in history. We meet some of the gifted students, get a little background on their lives and hopes and are introduced to their projects, the depth and complexity of which is remarkable. We marvel at their intelligence, focus and determination to make a difference, and yet, as they navigate victories and setbacks, rivalries and, of course, hormones, they’re pretty typical teens.
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Science Fair was the Audience Favourite at Sundance Film Festival and has been called “inspirational and invigorating,” “a real crowd pleaser” and “an ode to the teenage science geeks on whom our future depends.” Bring your kids. Science Fair shows Wednesday at 7:30.
Both movies show at the Salmar Classic Cinema.
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