Lost in the Barrens (1990) - full transcript

[music playing]

JAMIE (VOICEOVER): I
suppose most boys have

fond memories of their schools.

But in my case, St. George's
was perhaps extra special.

For in the last
years of my boyhood,

St. George's was quite
literally my home.

[laughter]

Imagine, Skunky went
down for three to zero.

Ah, there seems to be some
wise guys in the Big 40.

He couldn't touch you, James.

That last goal was a classic.



Next week, championships.

Jamie, headmaster
wants to see you.

Good day, sir.

You sent for me?
- Yes.

I have something to ask.

Sit down.

So congratulations on the game.

Well done.

Thank you, sir.

I believe we'll take the
championship this year.

Yeah, well I'm sure.

Yeah, I'm sure, yeah.

This is Mr. Featherstone,
one of the board members.

How do you do?



Macnair, James, four years
ago since the accident.

After your parents passed
away, we hoped you'd look

upon St. George's as a home.

Oh, yes I do.

Well, we feel the same.

However, I have some bad news.

The trust fund your parents
left you has been exhausted.

In fact, this has been the
case for almost a year.

I've tried to find a
way to keep you here.

But, you see, a replacement has
been found, a paying student.

So I'm afraid, James, you'll
have to leave St. George's.

Leave St. George's?

Where will I go?

Well, As a matter of fact,
I have found a place for you.

I think you'll find it
quite exciting, really.

It's the home of
your uncle, Angus.

His

Uncle who?

Angus.

Angus Stewart, your
mother's brother.

In Manitoba.

Took me a long time to find him.

He's the fellow who lives
in the woods like a savage.

My father thought
he was quite mad.

Oh, no no.

On the contrary, he seemed a
very kind and pleasant fellow

in his letters.

He's in the fur business.

He's looking forward
to seeing you.

I've made all the
necessary arrangements.

You'll leave for
Manitoba tomorrow.

Tomorrow?

But what about school?

What about the championship?

I could get a job.

I could work part-time
I can help Macgruber.

We couldn't pay you.

Let's hope, James,
this is only temporary.

I promise you I'll do all
I can to find a way for you

to come back.

Is that it then, sir?

There's no other choice?

[music playing]

I'll hold you to that
promise and win that cup.

Bye, Jamie.

Good luck.

Good luck to you, James.

Thank you, sir.

[school bell ringing]

I'm going to put
your bags outside.

You might want to carry this.

Coach and I thought you
deserved it, sandwiches.

Thanks, Macgruber.

JAMIE (VOICEOVER): Not since
the death of my parents

had I felt fear
and pain as I did

that day, watching St. George's
slip forever into the past.

Could you please tell me where
I connect with the pod line?

Thank you so much.

JAMIE (VOICEOVER): But I was
no stranger to great loss.

And somewhere on
that long journey,

my grief gave way to
a certain excitement

at the prospect of
adventure I had.

Is this the pod line?

That's a fact.

I'm travelling to Stewart
Landing to see my uncle.

That's right, Stewart Landing.

Ticket please?

To see Stewart of
Stewart Landing I mean.

He's an important
man, a fur trapper.

He's having problems running
the company so he sent for me.

You don't say.

Well, the blizzards
haven't started up yet

and if the Indians
don't get us and a moose

doesn't derail the train,
we might just make it.

[laughing]

You kick me one more time and
I'm really going to hurt you.

CONDUCTOR: You can't come in
here, this is first class.

MAN: This train ain't
got a first class.

Anyway, the baggage
car is all filled up.

Well, what do you
want me to do with him?

Just let him off
at Stewart's Landing.

All right, you move up
to the front of the train

and behave yourself, you hear?

Come on, don't
you speak English?

He won't bother you.

JAMIE (VOICEOVER): My curiosity
was aroused by this angry boy

with the same destination as I.
But if anyone had told me then

that he and I would
soon share the greatest

adventure of our lives, I
would never have believed them.

Still less, that we would
become best friends.

[music playing]

JAMIE: Where's
Stewart's Landing?

You're standing in
the center of town, son.

MAN: Good luck.

[crows cawing]

JAMIE (VOICEOVER):
I was baffled.

As the train disappeared,
I felt like the last person

left on Earth.

Where was the town?

Where was my uncle?

Did he know I was coming?

Did he even exist?

Steady, I told myself.

A St. George's
boy doesn't panic.

[music playing]

Uncle Angus?

So you're here, are you?

I've been waiting here for
about an hour and a half now.

The train was on
time for a change.

So where are we going?

Home.

It's only a couple hours walk.

It'll give you a
healthy appetite.

Get your stuff.

Let's go.

[music playing]

There it is.

Home, sweet home, lad.

Sit.

Come on, sit down.

Sit.

Eat.

These are for you.

This is my side of the
cabin, that's yours.

Eat.

I don't eat this stuff.

I don't know if you
realize it or not,

but I don't plan on
being here very long.

The school's making
arrangements for my return.

It's a matter of weeks,
could be even days.

Just eat.

It's like a rock.

Good for the teeth,
you'll get used to it.

You don't seem to understand.

I don't want to get
used to anything.

I'm just here for a visit.

Look, lad, I don't like
this any more than you.

But like it or not,
you're here now

until you reach the legal age.

That's three years.

Three years?

Unless you find a gold
mine to take you back

to that fancy school of yours.

Where am I supposed
to go to school?

There's no
schools around here.

I have to go to school.

I want an education.

Well I've got
four books, here.

None of them Bibles.

And I can go over
your ciphers with you.

I want to go to university.

[music playing]

That's my mother.

Yes.

Sometimes I almost
forget her face.

Just look in the mirror, lad.

You've got her eyes.

JAMIE: Who's the man?

ANGUS STEWART: You were never
told about your uncle, Andrew?

No I suppose not.

Your father didn't
exactly approve

of your mother's
wild brothers when

we came out here 20 years ago.

What happened to him?

He was lost years ago up
north, up in the barren lands.

Three seasons I searched for
him in that God forsaken place,

never saw him again.

What are the barren lands?

[chuckles softly]

The worst place on Earth.

So cold when you spit, its
ice before it hits the ground.

Wind so strong it'll tear
the skin right off you.

Not a tree for fuel,
not a bush for shelter.

The only ones crazy
enough to live there,

the Gawgeemotsapitsick,
[non-english] they're made raw.

The Indians say it's place
the [non-english] goes,

devil's and bad spirits.

If they get you, you'll
wish you'd never been born.

That's silly.

There's no such thing
as devils and spirits.

You don't actually believe
that rubbish, do you?

I've been there.

JAMIE (VOICEOVER): This was not
at all my idea of an adventure.

ANGUS STEWART: Goodnight, lad.

JAMIE (VOICEOVER): This gruff
man in his cramped little cabin

that smelled of smoke
and animal hides.

I went to sleep praying that
I would wake up in my bed

at St. George's and that
this would have been

nothing but a terrifying dream.

[owl hooting]

JAMIE (VOICEOVER):
A good night's sleep

put the fears of
the night behind me

and I rose determined
to act as befitted

a boy from St.
George's and to make

the best of a bad situation.

Well, there you go.

At least you look
like you belong here.

That's a canoe.

Nothing dense about you.

Uncle, why is it
you left the city

and came all the way out here?

I got tired of having to
live like everyone else,

think like everyone else.

Here, hold this.

It might not tighten here.

There's nothing out here.

The things that are
here are honest and real.

And these canoes, see the
pretty line of her hoe?

She can glide across the
water without a ripple.

But she'll take a
lot of punishment,

carry three times
your weight in cargo.

And with care, she'll
last a lifetime.

So what do you do with them?

Build them, fix them,
sell them down the line.

You ever work with wood?

I could learn.

How many of these would it
take to get a year's fee at St.

George's?

Oh, I don't know.

Maybe seven or eight.

Well, how long will that take?

Oh, maybe two,
maybe three years.

[music playing]

[geese honking]

[music becoming ominous]

JAMIE: Uncle Angus!

Uncle Angus!

What's good, Angus?

Nice seeing you, Mewasin.

I'm excited to see
all of you Good,

Good.

This is my nephew, Jamie.

Jamie, this is my good friend,
Mewasin, and his sister,

Lenore.

How do you do?

ANGUS STEWART: Jamie has come
all the way from Toronto.

He's been living here with me.

ANGUS STEWART: [non-english]

Has the hunting improved?

Have you found deer this season?

No, we'll have
to go further north

and keep going
until we find them.

You can come with us.

We could use your
rifle and shells.

Yes, we'll come.

Good.

I see your boy, Awasis
is back in school.

What did he think of it?

They took more than they gave.

Now he doesn't know who he is.

This will be his first hunt.

Perhaps he will remember then.

ANGUS STEWART: (SINGING) My
bunny lies over the ocean.

My bunny lies over the sea.

My bunny lies over the ocean.

Bring back my bunny to me.

[laughter]

Bring back, bring back, oh,
bring back my bunny to me.

[laughter]

She won't be too much longer.

How long does
she usually stay?

As long as she wants.

[gunshot]

Ow, ow, that hurts.

Well, it won't hurt if you
keep it tight to your shoulder.

I don't want to shoot it.

You shoot or you
starve in this country.

A rifle is a tool, like a canoe.

You learn respect
for it, and you learn

how to handle it properly.

I don't want to
go on this hunt.

I'll stay here.

Let's get one
thing straight, lad.

In this country, everyone
earns their keep.

It's time you started.

Now, shoot.

I don't want to go.

I don't know these
people, they're strange.

You're not going to
marry her, are you?

And what if I am?

She's Indian.

Ah, and a better people
than most you'll meet.

You said you wanted
an education,

well they'll teach you more
about life in the world

than a dozen universities.

Now you'll take that
rifle and shoot.

I don't want to shoot it.

[gunshot]

Angus!

[grunting]

[music playing]

ANGUS: Jamie.

Jamie.

[non-english]

Angus, OK.

[non-english]

What's the matter,
can't you sit?

[laughter] Nice one.

Well, your uncle
just shot himself

in a very important place.

[laughter]

You all right?

Yes, just a graze.

But he won't be able to
sit in a canoe for a while.

But you'll come with us, though.

No.

I have to stay with my uncle.

Lenore will stay with me.

We'll only be eight, maybe 10,
days because we've got to get

back before it freezes up.

But you'll get a
share of the meat

even if you don't make
a kill, all right?

All right.

Good.

You'll not go
near the barrens.

No, my friend.

Good, lad.

JAMIE (VOICEOVER): As we pulled
away, this place and this man

who had been so
forbidding a week ago,

suddenly seemed the only
familiar things in my life.

Bye, lad.

JAMIE (VOICEOVER): I felt
doomed to go on forever

being uprooted, and
cast into ever more

frightening and alien worlds.

[music playing]

JAMIE (VOICEOVER):
For days we paddled

through that wild country.

The Indians said little
to me or to each other.

They scanned the
shoreline ceaselessly,

but whatever they were looking
for, they didn't see it.

As for me, I could think
of little but the stiffness

in my muscles and the
blisters on my tender palms.

Only the thought of my
uncle's disappointment

kept me from begging
to be taken back.

Good?

Yes, quite good, actually.

[non-english] is good.

Rat.

[laughter]

Muskrat.

[non-english]

What are you doing?

Deer.

See, this is old.

There's nothing fresh here.

I guess we'll have
to go further north.

We'll find them.

First, we must
prepare our thoughts.

Prepare our thoughts?

To hunt is to ask for
a gift from the spirits

and to receive it.

There's no room impatience.

We'll only be successful if our
thoughts are pure and clear.

If the animal knows this,
it will give itself to us.

[music playing]

Give itself to us?

JAMIE (VOICEOVER): The longer
I was with these people,

the more alien they seemed.

They were apparently
content to do

nothing but paddle and watch.

What I longed for most
was someone my own age

I could talk to.

The deer must be somewhere.

Yeah, they are.

Probably on the barren.

That's two days north from here.

I don't really want to go there
because there are people who

don't know the spirits there.

[non-english] what our
people call [non-english],,

the eaters of raw flesh.

They always say that they will
eat us if they catch us there.

They're really cannibals?

Oh yeah.

In my grandfather's
time, there were

great battles between The Cree
and the Gawgeemotsapitsick.

Since then, they've stayed
out of each other's land.

Now, we need meat.

Tonight, we will ask
the spirits for help.

He thinks he believes
in all that hocus pocus.

AWASIS: He's the finest
hunter in our land.

You know nothing of our ways.

I didn't know you
could speak English.

Please, thank you, stand up
straight, keep your mouth shut.

Yeah, I was taught
your language.

[singing]

Awasis, Jamie, wake up.

We are going into the
barrens, the place of rocks.

Four days travel from here,
the deer will be there.

You must wait here.

But I want to come.

No, it's too dangerous.

Besides, I promised her uncle.

Awasis will stay here with you.

But this is to
be my first hunt.

MEWASIN: There will be other
hunts when you are ready.

Mewasin.

If you wish.

Look, if we're both going
to be stuck here, maybe we--

[music playing]

Awasis, listen,
I'm sorry about you

not going on the hunt.

It must have been
important to you.

[gunshot]

[laughter]

[gunshot]

Keep the stock close to
your body, take a breath,

breathe out halfway,
and then hold it.

Hold it, hold your breath
or the barrel will rise.

[gunshot]

That's better.

You try.

I'm almost got a bull's eye.

[gunshot]

You didn't even come close.

[bird squawking]

Only white men waste
bullets on bull's eyes.

Sometimes at
school, we'd climb

over the fence at night and
snare squirrels and rabbits

to eat.

What, for fun?

Because we were hungry.

Well, they fed you.

Oatmeal, mush, and
beans every meal.

To taste meat it was
worth the beating.

They beat you?

They beat us the worst
if we spoke Indian.

They said it was
the devil's talk.

They had no right to do that.

How come you live
with your uncle?

My parents died in a car
accident five years ago.

I've been living at St.
George's ever since.

Then, the money to
keep me there ran out.

So what should we do tomorrow?

It's getting boring just sitting
here waiting for your father.

Where's that other river go?

Off to the Northwest.

It's called [non-english].

What does that mean?

The River of the Giants.

They say it leads into a
land where giants once lived.

There's a legend about
an old stone house

that they built there
in ancient times.

I think we should investigate.

That's crazy,
it's only a legend.

You're afraid.

We're not going
down the river.

We're going to obey my father.

This crazy legend
has you spooked.

You're afraid to
go down the river.

I'm not scared.

But you're so slow
and clumsy, you

could never keep up with me.

That's why my father
left you here, you know?

I can [inaudible] and paddle
you any day of the week.

AWASIS: We go for one
day, then we come back.

One day.

Come on, you said yourself
your father is not coming

back for at least six days.

You're not still spooked about
that Indian legend, are you?

[non-english]

[music playing]

JAMIE (VOICEOVER): The search
for the stone house at last

provided some of the
excitement that the headmaster

promised I would find here.

I began to enjoy the
canoe and to lose

my fear of the wilderness.

I even found myself marveling
at the beauty of the river.

At the end of the first day,
I couldn't bare to turn back.

And in the morning, I
persuade Awasis to go on.

AWASIS: I think we
should turn back.

JAMIE: Come on, one more day.

It could be just
around the corner.

AWASIS: This is not a good idea.

No one knows where we are,
something could happen.

JAMIE: Don't be such a chicken.

AWASIS: It's not chicken
to obey your father.

JAMIE (VOICEOVER):
I knew he was right,

but I couldn't help myself.

It was my first taste of the
freedom of the wilderness.

The farther we went,
the farther I had to go.

That's all, we're going back.

Come on, we've only
been out here two days.

Just one more day,
I promise, OK?

No!

If my father found you,
he'll be coming back soon.

It'll be harder now, we
have to paddle upstream.

We have to go back.

Look!

I found it.

Jamie, stop.

Who could have built this?

No idea who would
have built this.

If it is a house, it's too
far from water and too much

in the wind.

It was built to last forever.

Only white men would
want to do such a thing.

Have there ever been
white men around here?

Never, not that I know of.

Well it's several
hundred years old.

It's a place of
evil spirits, come on.

Let's go.
- Hocus pocus.

Come on, let's see
if we can get in.

AWASIS: No, it's bad
enough that we're here.

JAMIE: That's what
we came here for.

I came here to look after you
because I promised my father.

It's a house.

This is bad.

Let's put the rocks
back and go, OK.

If you're scared, you can
go back down to the canoe.

I'm going in.

JAMIE: Hurry, bring the light.

It's dark in here.

There's a tunnel.

JAMIE: It was white
men who built this.

Look at that.

It was Vikings.

This must be a
thousand years old.

This is to host the dead.

AWASIS: We shouldn't
have gone in there.

That's incredible.

What a discovery, a
Viking tomb this far in.

We disturbed the spirits.

JAMIE: Wait until
Uncle sees this.

AWASIS: What have you done?

You've stolen from the dead.

You have to put it back.

I'm not Putting this back.

Do you have any idea
what this is worth?

Is it worth your life?

You don't understand the
forces that you've offended.

You know, frankly,
I'm a little

tired of your superstition.

Oh, and I'm tired of
your white ignorance.

Put it back!

JAMIE: The canoe!

[music playing]

JAMIE: The water's freezing.

We'll have to get ahead
of it down the river.

Rapids!

Hurry, come on!

Come on!

OK, here it comes.

Hold onto my feet.

JAMIE: I've got you.

Be careful.

AWASIS: Jamie!

JAMIE: Awasis!

Awasis!

Awasis!

You're safe.

Are you OK?

We lost the rifle.

At least we didn't lose you.

We've got no canoe.

It's not so bad.

Hey, we'll just
have to walk back.

Don't you understand anything?

We can't walk back
across Muskank.

We're going to die here.

We'll freeze to death
when the snow comes.

I could have been on
my first great hutch.

Instead look at us!

And the whole stupid
thing is your fault!

That's pretty low
of you to blame me.

You're the one who was
supposed to tie up the canoe.

What kind of Indian are you,
you don't even up the canoe?

Ah!

Like it or not, we're
in this thing together.

Awasis, come here.

Look at this, charred bones.

[non-english] Let's
get out of here, come on.

JAMIE: Have you ever
seen a katimo stick?

AWASIS: Gawgeemotsapitsick,
they're not like people,

they're [non-english]
evil spirits.

I've decided what we must do.

See, this is where we
camped at Two Rivers.

My father went this way,
down the Cochran River.

We went this way down
the River of the Giants.

So by land we're
not that far apart.

We can't walk south
because of Muskank.

But if we go over this
ridge and into the Barrens,

we'll reach my father's camp
at The Place of the Rocks.

How long will it take?

Two, three days.

But we must hurry.

Think of how
surprised your father

is going to be to see us.

You can explain
how we got here.

Yeah, no thing.

Well, sir, one morning
your son, Awasis,

said to me, why don't we
go up to the little house.

I think one day.

JAMIE (VOICEOVER): Even as we
trudged into a landscape that

became more forbidding
with every mile,

I didn't grasp the
seriousness of our plight.

This is the edge
of the Barrens.

These are the lands of
the Gawgeemotsapitsick.

From here on, there's
no place to hide.

Spirits and devils,
here we come.

My father's camp
should be over there.

JAMIE (VOICEOVER):
As we plotted on,

I kept seeing myself back
at St. George's, regaling

my classmates with
hair-raising tales of adventure

in the northern waste.

Only on the second
day without food,

did reality begin to sink in.

JAMIE: I have to rest.

We can't.

Just for a little while.

We have to keep moving.

Come on, We'll
find them today.

We better.

The river.

We made it.

We'll eat meat tonight.

Yeah, if he found any deer.

[music playing]

This is my father's work.

He did find deer.

You see, it wasn't hocus pocus.

AWASIS: Here's the camp.

[non-english]

Where are they?

AWASIS: They've gone.

They've gone back.

When your father goes
back to the camp and finds

we're not there, he'll come
looking for us, won't he?

He'll think we've
gone back on our own.

He'll just go home without us.

Well when he finds out
we're not back at home,

then he'll come looking
for us, won't he?

By then it will be freezing.

He won't be able to.

Well can't we just
Try to walk out of here?

There's got to be a way.

There's 20 miles of Muskank.

It would swallow us up.

And if we're caught in the
barrens and the blizzards come,

we'll freeze to death.

Well what are we going to do?

You're supposed to be
the Indian around here.

You're supposed to know what to
do under these circumstances.

[laughter]

What are you laughing at?

In your school, they told
me not to be Indian anymore.

Now you want me to
be Indian again.

Well, I wish you white people
would make up your mind.

What are we going to do?

We wait until freeze up, hunt,
make warm clothes, and a sled,

and snow shoes.

And then, after the first
blizzards have passed

and the rivers are frozen,
we walk out of the barrens.

Sounds great.

We can do that.

All right, where do we start?

[music playing]

Do you think
we'll find any deer?

I don't know.

AWASIS: Here.

Eat, it'll keep you
from getting sick.

It's making me sick
just looking at it.

You suck the marrow out.

I think it's going to snow.

[geese honking]

Angus!

Angus!

Mewasin, you got good hunting?

MEWASIN: Yeah.

My family will eat
good this winter.

You too.

- Where's Jamie and Awasis?
- They're not here?

This is good.

Can I have some more?

AWASIS: Nope.

We have to have some
for the trip home.

[music playing]

We'll have to go back, Angus.

The river's freezing.

We'll come back with
sleds after freeze up.

It snowed.

JAMIE (VOICEOVER): Perhaps it
was the snow or perhaps hunger,

but awoke that morning
certain we were going to die.

There would be nothing
heroic about our deaths,

just the cold horror
of slow starvation.

That's mine, let go.

I had it.

I had it last night.

This is ridiculous.

I'm going to eat out
of the food cache.

No.

no, you can't.

It's our only chance
to get out of here.

We are never going
to get out of here,

don't you understand that?

The only question here is
whether we'll freeze to death

or starve to death first.

Some greedy Indian hunter
you turned out to be.

No wonder your father
left you behind.

I'm probably better
off on my own.

AWASIS: That's a good idea.

JAMIE: You bet it is.

You'll die.

I'm dying here.

And I prefer to do that on
my own, thank you very much.

[suspenseful music playing]

[bear sniffing]

[yelling] Awasis!

[yelling] Get away!

Get out of here!

JAMIE: [yelling] Awasis!

[yelling] Now!

JAMIE: Don't go near
it, don't be crazy!

AWASIS: Jamie, stay back.

Get out of here.

[bear growling]

[roaring]

Awasis!

[screaming]

No!

Awasis!

[screaming]

Get back.

[roaring]

JAMIE: He didn't take much.

You saved most of it.

[panting]

JAMIE: I guess we scared him.

I don't think he'll
come back, do you?

I said, I don't think the
bear will come back, do you?

Awasis?

That wasn't a bear.

What was it, an
oversized prairie dog?

It was Nimosam,
my grandfather.

What?

Nimosam, great spirit.

It came with a message for me.

I have forgotten my
father's lessons.

I've been acting
like a white man.

I've been hunting
like a white man.

I must open my heart, I
must speak to the spirit.

The only reason why that bear
was here was to steal our food.

It doesn't help,
you know, if you

talk about that crazy stuff.

I must be by myself.

JAMIE: Awasis,
what are you doing?

AWASIS: I'm preparing to talk
to the spirit of the deer.

[singing, non-english]

Come here, look.

AWASIS: It's come.

Go get the spears.

No, no.

Now we must sleep,
preserve our strength.

Tomorrow we will hunt.

JAMIE: But he might go away.

AWASIS: No, don't worry.

He's come for us.

JAMIE: You really
think we'll find him?

AWASIS: He left
his tracks for us.

JAMIE: It better not snow.

AWASIS: Don't worry.

[music playing]

JAMIE (VOICEOVER): I
kept telling myself there

was no such thing as
the spirit of the deer,

that we should have killed
the animal while we could.

Yet, there was no denying
the change in Awasis.

His new confidence drew
me on, in spite of myself,

so did my hunger.

Trees.

He was leading us here.

It's like a miracle,
we could build a cabin.

And a sled, fire, snowshoes,
we have everything we need.

We don't have food.

No, not yet.

JAMIE (VOICEOVER): I felt less
and less inclined to contradict

Awasis and his beliefs.

This was his world, just
as school had been mine.

And I realized he had
something to teach me.

JAMIE: Look, he's leaving again.

AWASIS: No.

We must wait for the right
time and right place.

It'll happen.

Go this way.

[music playing]

JAMIE (VOICEOVER):
As we started,

at last, to work together, the
hostility between us fell away.

And we began to
discover a friendship.

Both of us had been
uprooted from our homes.

And each of us, in his
own way, was determined

to find his way back.

[coughing]

JAMIE: Don't clog the hole.

It's not working.

You need a vent in the bottom
to draw in air from outside.

[both coughing]

[laughter]

[music playing]

[twig snaps]

[non-english]

You have felt our need.

You have given us
fire and shelter.

[non-english]

Can you feel our hunger?

Can you feel our need?

Without you we will die.

[non-english]

I can't believe you did it.

You are a great hunter.

JAMIE (VOICEOVER): I began
to realize there were forces

in the universe I could
never hope to understand,

let alone control,
that even death, that

had taken my parents
from me, can no longer

be considered an absolute evil.

We finished just in time.

AWASIS: This will be a big one.

Do you think they
know we're alive?

Yeah.

JAMIE: How do you know?

AWASIS: I just feel it.

I think I'm Uncle Angus
was happy to get rid of me.

You know, the week
that you were coming,

my father said how excited
your uncle, Angus, was.

He showed everyone your
picture and the gift

of clothes he bought you.

I didn't know that.

He said you were the
finest student in the school.

He was very proud of
you, proud that you

were coming to live with him.

[music playing]

Here.

Try these on.

Not exactly
[inaudible],, are they?

[non-english] is
very lively today,

but our little house is strong.

I'm going to miss Christmas
at St. George's this year.

All the seedy bows and holly
and choir songs practicing,

have a big dinner, and
my parents would come.

My dad in a tuxedo, my
mom, she was so beautiful.

[crying]

AWASIS: You know,
my father was right.

You are different from me.

But not so different
as I thought.

You think we'll make
it home for Christmas?

Maybe.

It's already too late for me.

Too late for what?

To make it home
for the ceremony.

What ceremony?

AWASIS: The one where
I'm said to be a man.

It's after my first kill.

My father would
have been so proud.

Well, let's do it then.

I don't know the ceremony.

It's not what you
do, it's why you do it.

Come on.

Great spirit-- are you
sure he understands English?

Of course.

Great spirit,
there is a boy here

who is ready to become a man.

He is Awasis, son of Mewasin.

He has received a fine animal.
Here is his offering.

Continue.

Are you sure?

From now on, Awasis, your
strength and your courage

will be shown in the good
works that you do for others.

With the blessings of the
spirits, you are now a man.

Thank you, my brother.

Awasis.

Awasis, it stopped.

It's over.

[music playing]

[laughing]

Gawgeemotsapitsick,
be careful.

They may have laid man traps.

Let's leave now.

Here.

Let's go.

I'm going to miss this place.

Are you joking?

No, aren't you, just a little?

Just a little bit?

No.

I was happy here.

We'll both be happier at home.

JAMIE (VOICEOVER):
Perhaps my reluctance

to leave that cabin was just
a rootless boy clinging,

once again, to the familiar.

But I think it was
more than that.

I had learned something there
that would change me forever.

It was not only Awasis who
left his boyhood behind

in that valley.

[music playing]

We walked into that
snowy waste with all

the confidence in the world.

After what we had
survived, surely nothing

could touch us, which only shows
how little we knew of the power

of that cruel land.

My eyes hurt and I feel dizzy.

Don't worry, we'll
stop and make camp soon.

Are your eyes hurting you?

I think I know what it is,
it's the light off the snow.

That's snow blindness, how
long is it going to last?

AWASIS: I don't know.

[crying]

[wolves growling]

Awasis.

[wolves growling]

Awasis.

What?

What is it?

JAMIE: Go on, get!

Get out of here!

What is it?

Jamie!

Jamie!

Get out of here!

Jamie!

Oh no.

AWASIS: Jamie!

Wolves, they
just ate the food.

They tore the sled apart.

What are we going to do?

I don't know.

I think another
storm is coming.

AWASIS: We'll
never make it home.

We must go back to the cabin.

I'm not going back.

We have to.

[music playing]

I don't remember this.

I think I took us the wrong way.

Which way should we go?

There.

JAMIE: Come on, get up.

We're close now.

AWASIS: I can't

AWASIS: Come on.

AWASIS: You can make it.

JAMIE: I'm not going
anywhere without you.

JAMIE (VOICEOVER): Awasis,
my friend and my brother.

He had saved my life.

He had Triumphed over
bears and blizzards

and raging rapids, only
to be defeated in the end

by sunlight.

This truly was, as my uncle
said, the worst place on Earth.

Hang on.

We'll make it.

The spirits want you to live.

[non-english]

We've been over
this 1,000 times.

They must have gone up
the River of the Giants.

That's where I
want to try first.

I'll go along the
main river and we'll

meet right here somewheres.

What do you think?

I don't know.

[dogs barking distantly]

Angus.

Angus!

There.

[music playing]

[interposing voices]

JAMIE (VOICEOVER): Our rescuers
had clothed us, fed us,

and nursed us back to health.

And now, in the final irony,
the dreaded Gawgeemotsapitsick--

the people we called Inuit--

we're bringing us
back to what I was

finally able to call my home.

[music playing]