Barry Pepper shows acting chops in "Snow Walker"

Barry Pepper and Annabella Plugattuk

Many of us probably associate Barry Pepper most closely with his role in "Saving Private Ryan." He made an impression in that movie as the good guy sniper. He got up in the bell tower and sent hand signals about the composition of the approaching Germans, remember?
Pepper is one of those guys who is a total natural in his craft. Whatever he does, he "nails it." While I well-remember Pepper in the "Ryan" movie, it's not the first thing that pops into my head. I'm inclined to call him "Roger Maris." That was my first familiarity with him. He "nailed it" in uncanny fashion as the New York Yankees slugger from the 1961 baseball season. The movie was Billy Crystal's "61*" (asterisk intended).
Pepper's acting was so solid and yet I think the portrayal pushed a little mythology, as I don't think the real Maris was quite so lovable or endearing. He was a good guy but he could be a little cardboard and sullen. In reality he didn't come out of the dugout for such an extended time to wave his cap to the fans - it was more of a token gesture. I've seen the video.
 
Pepper in 2003 cinematic offering
Anyway, all this is my way of introducing the topic of a 2003 Pepper movie. He "nails it" which should go without saying, and in this case his appealing persona comes forward as a brash pilot in the arctic wilderness. The movie in focus here is "Snow Walker."
Let me emphasize: It would be bad form to heavily criticize the movie. It shows the human spirit and the ideal of sacrifice so fully. It shows the brotherhood of man: this desperate pilot and his very ill passenger who is from a quite different ethnic group. As a kid I learned the term "eskimo" which was just like "Indian." They were broad brush terms for identifying certain people who were out of the mainstream of the predominant Anglo-Saxons. We innocently learned the eskimo and Indian terms, not intending any harm. They of course lack precision, and the shortcut nature of the terms could be a basis for some prejudice. No prejudiced bones in my body.
Pepper's passenger is an "Intuit," people who for time immemorial have adapted to the unforgiving far north reaches.
I'm inclined to believe the bad guy character in the movie who expresses futility in the search for the missing pilot. He would not have been aware of the passenger. The bad guy, a pretty coarse and unfeeling person, and a partner cover what seems to be endless reaches of (godforsaken) land. He has background of the futile nature of such searches. His grasp of logic does not come across as sympathetic. It is part of our nature to hope for miracles. Furthermore, this hope is the foundation for many movies that aspire to happy endings.
But wait, "The Snow Walker" does not have a happy ending. I was disappointed to see such an uplifting move end this way. I actually wasn't prepared. Through most of the movie I was expecting the very sick passenger to be in tandem with the pilot as they would triumphantly make it out. The young female Intuit was so sympathetic, so lovable. I did find it implausible that she was so strong and dynamic through stretches of this movie while actually being close to death due to her health crisis. It was as if a scene was carefully inserted here and there to remind of the health situation - a cough, a little blood - but the rest of the time she seemed hale, hearty and ingenious. We rooted for both of them so much.
Traces of love between them? No, that did not become evident. They have a bond nevertheless. The movie is set in 1953 so the Pepper character is a WWII veteran of the flying forces. The movie inserts some "flashback" scenes where Pepper might be haunted in a PTSD kind of way. I had to feel amused as I considered the flashbacks so similar to what we saw in "Airplane." We saw these fleeting crisis scenes and weave them in with the travail of the character at present. In "Airplane" it was all farce/comedy of course. After seeing "Airplane," a friend and I were wondering "what war were they talking about?" Of course it was a generic type of construction, probably for humorous effect - hey it was "Airplane" - where "the war" becomes kind of a generic or throwaway thing. "It happened in the war." Dark humor, yes.
 
But in real life. . .
"The Snow Walker" strains credulity in exactly the same way as your average "survival" movie. Take "Castaway." Unless a person has real extensive, specific training for survival in the bare wild, hell it'd be hopeless, wouldn't it?
We see Pepper's character, "Charlie Halladay," in a futile trek by himself from the crash site. He was going to send help for the passenger. He had flown off his planned route, so rescue efforts weren't likely to locate them. But Halliday blunders again, getting soaked in water which would surely make him ill, wouldn't it? His "eskimo" companion decides not to just sit there. No doubt concerned about Halliday's welfare, this character named "Kanaalaq" played by Annabella Plugattuk, tracks him down and rescues him. He had been assaulted by merciless bugs or mosquitoes. She knows the cure for such things. The mutual survival bond quickly forms.
At one point she speaks to him about the afterlife in Intuit culture, how a gentle voice descends on you and says "it's OK." Such thoughts became comforting and reassuring as the movie ends. Death can be accommodated. Not sure if I felt all that much consolation. Pepper makes it to civilization: a group of Intuits. He will be whisked back to his old associates, we can assume, and they've already held a memorial service for him. Well, Tom Sawyer outlived his funeral, he in fact showed up for it!
No, I do not want to rip "The Snow Walker" because of its gentle tone and the compassion it projected. It would be bad form but I was let down too much by the sadness at the end. It seemed unnecessary, as for so long the pair looked prime to overcome their adversity - the girl could make it to medical care. The sense of miracle would have made everyone exhilarated.
But no, the end was somber, totally somber.
"Josey Wales" had to let his companion die due to lack of medical treatment. Same thing here.
 

Pepper's top role, in my mind

Toward art, not box office
Pepper undertook this project, I'm sure, knowing he wasn't headed for big box office. Given the sacrifice, I wish he would have made a happier movie. I was struck and amused at the times when he spoke lines in the same manner, the same inflections, as when he played Roger Maris! I guess Pepper will always be Maris to me. I was six years old in 1961. While I was too young to pay much attention then, within a few years I was quite interested in baseball and learned all about the 1961 home run race with Maris and Mantle.
"Saving Private Ryan" has become iconic in part because it chose to be so absolutely realistic. I have always felt that wasn't necessary. We all know with common sense that war is unspeakably violent, gruesome etc. The earlier "sanitized" war movies taught us a lot about what happened in the war without all the blood and screams.
Pepper made his mark in several movies, a list that includes "The Green Mile," Flags of Our Fathers" and "True Grit." As much ground as he's covered, he's still a relatively young man. Well, age 49 which by my standards is young and hearty! I hope to see him in more iconic roles.
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com