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Grey Owl [2000]


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Editorial
Amazon.co.uk Review

Of all the biopics directed by Sir Richard Attenborough, Grey Owl is the most curious. Unlike the great and significant lives celebrated in Ghandi, Chaplin and Shadowlands, here Attenborough gives us the story of a man who has long been forgotten. Pierce Brosnan stars as Archie Grey Owl, whom we initially meet as a solitary trapper in 1930's outback Canada. His life story seems simple enough at first, but with the introduction of a wannabe pupil (Annie Galipeau), some cracks appear around the edges. Love complicates matters enormously, yet ultimately comes to explain Archie's big secret and why the film is structured in a cyclical fashion.

Brosnan was reportedly disappointed with the final version of the film, feeling it ought to have focused on the more depressing aspects of Grey Owl's life. But that would have been at the expense of the touching love story, and potentially of the simply stunning scenery on which the camera lavishes much attention. The final public revelation of Grey Owl's secret resulted in him being dismissed as nothing but a fraud in his day. Attenborough's tale of boyhood dreams and commitment to cherished principles may not be as memorable as his more high-profile biopics, but will hopefully ensure the subject won't be forgotten again quite so quickly.--Paul Tonks


my favouite
Review date: 2008-11-14 Rating: 10 out of 10

this is excellent to watch, a vary nice film, pierce brosnan makes a lovely indian in this film, well worth watching...excellent

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Reviews


The Worst Film ever made, apart from The Bridge to Terabithia.a
Review date: 2008-02-01 Rating: 2 out of 10

I bought this yesterday for 5 euros in France. It is unbelievably BAD. I cannot believe that the man who gave us Ghandi and Cry For Freedom can sink this low. What happened Mr. Attenborough?
Don't waste your time or money on this, it is appalling.

what a bad film
Review date: 2007-09-07 Rating: 2 out of 10

Whether or not this film's heart is in the right place, it really is staggeringly dull and sentimental -- the direction is heavy-handed, Brosnan can't act, and the photography would be better in a shampoo ad.

Pioneer of the Wild and of Conservation
Review date: 2007-08-06 Rating: 8 out of 10

This story tells the true tale of a boy called Archie, brought up in then-genteel Hasting on the South Coast of England. Always fascinated by Native Americans (aka Red Indians) --which made me wonder about karma-- he eventually set off for a life in the wild North of Canada, living as a hunter, trapper and guide. The film does not flinch from showing the callous and basically cowardly nature of some "sportsmen" who wished to "get" a bear or other beautiful animal with their high-powered rifles, a pathology made worse by the (somewhat later) outpourings of the fake hero, Ernest Hemingway. One of the shooters is a paper mill owner and publisher who gets Grey Owl, as Archie is no known, into print. At that time, Grey Owl meets and marries an Indian girl from a small town. She thinks he is a half-Indian for years. Finding two orphaned beaver, she adopts them and, after a grisly trapping of another beaver, Grey Owl understands the wickedness of trapping and hunting and writes about the need to conserve and protect wildlife. He becomes world famous, even meeting King George V; his lectures are packed, his books bestsellers. The Native American chiefs realize he is not one of them ethnically but they respect him and honour him. Eventually, one of those modern scavengers, a journalist, finds out the "truth" but after hearing a lecture, honourably agrees to leave the scandal until after Grey Owl's death (2 years later, in 1938, from cancer). Perhaps Grey Owl should have spoken out as the white man he was and not as a "fake", but here again, he was only a fake in obscuring his origins, the rest was authentic. And above all, he was one of the the fathers of the modern movement to protect and conserve animals, particularly in Canada and the United States. As the film attests at tis end, that legacy is worth so much more than the misleading parts of his early CV.

Biopic tale
Review date: 2005-01-17 Rating: 10 out of 10

Most seem to have missed the point of this film. Grey Owl was a young boy dissillusioned with British life and set out for Canada to live with the Native Indian peoples. The story is largely based on truth and the major fact that he was accepted and adopted by the Indian people themselves. This film further shows the truth behind much of todays conservation and national parks, as it was through the efforts of this man that Canada set up its first national park and protected species of plant and wildlife. I saw this film in the States at te time of release, then on the flight back, followed by a visit to a cinema near me to see it a third time. for me this film is a must for my collection covering the Americas and those who cared for the land. I would recommend this to any of my friends who have an interest in hunting for food, etc and not just for pleasure, interseted in presevation and or Native American Indian subjects.
As for another commentator saying that the film critics slanted this film and showings were rare owing to Brosnan playing an Indian, Grey Owl was born on the south coast of England so was a 'white man', may I suggest you watch the film and make up your own mind.

Product Details/Specifications


Actor(s):
Annie Galipeau
Pierce Brosnan
Vlasta Vrana
Stewart Bick
Neil Kroetsch

Creators:
Pierce Brosnan (Primary Contributor)
Stewart Bick (Primary Contributor)
Barr B. Potter (Producer)
Claude Léger (Producer)
Diana Hawkins (Producer)
Jake Eberts (Producer)
Josette Perrotta (Producer)
Lenny Young (Producer)
William Nicholson (Writer)

Director(s):

Recording label: Fox
Manufacturer: Fox
EAN: 5039036007245
Binding: VHS Tape
Number of items: 1
Release date: 2002-01-28
Number of discs: 1
Audience rating: Parental Guidance
Running time: 118 minutes
Theatrical release date: 2000-11-03

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