From Daniel Rhedin: It's a movie in it's own special category. No one has ever before made a movie with a story like this one, and especially not used the hard and cold environment of Greenland to make the movie on. Since it's in a special category it can't possibly be compared with other movies made in other ways. But, even if we do, Smilla's Sense of Snow is the very best. Julia Ormond (she is very nice) is perfect for the role as Smilla. She has the "cold" expression in the face, which is not seen on any other actor/actress. She is also acting very brilliant and rough, just as Smilla was doing in the book.
From Mikkel Elgaard Christensen: I have just seen Smilla a few days ago and I find it to be a great flick. As a Dane it is always nice to see when a Danish film hits the big screen. In my opinion it does not deserve the bad reviews at all. Some of the bad things which have been said about the movie are regards to the plot itself and as such the critics should direct their remarks to Peter Høeg and not Bille August. I know they have worked closely together in order to get everything just right. After all Peter Høeg has expressed that he is quite pleased with Bille August's adaptation. If the critics don't like the story itself they should have come forward with their points of view when the book was published, but then again the people who review the book are not the same as the film critics. One of the points the critics say about the film is that it simply isn't thrilling enough. I just ask them how on earth can they say such a thing when the score of the film is based on a bestseller: Everyone knows the plot of story (even I and I have read the book!) Take for instance The Usual Suspects. If everybody knew that [censored] was Keyser Soze the suspense would be completely eradicated!
From Henning Schwarz: Hi, I hope Bille August and the rest of the crew will visit this page - and accept my compliments... I saw the movie last night and thoroughly enjoyed it. I thought it was elegant, full of suspense, had lots of class. I have not read the book (yet) and suspect that the rough time that Bille August got in the reviews is a case of the old diatribe: "The book was much better than the movie..." Funny, by the way, that with all the talk about Greenland, most of the film was shot in Copenhagen - during the winter of 95-96 which was the coldest winter in ten years. Makes Copenhagen look almost as if it were part of Greenland. On your way to Greenland, you'll probably stop over in Copenhagen. Prepare yourself for a surprise. This year, spring came on March 1, and by May everybody will be wearing shorts.
From Jamie Peck: I'm the film critic for The Retriever Weekly at the University of Maryland at Baltimore County, and I sawSmilla's Sense of Snow a couple of days ago. It was quite good, the main reason why being Julia Ormond's portrayal of the main character: Strong, scrappy, and with a lot of nerve. I haven't read the book - although I would like to soon - so the events that took place in the film totally surprised me. I didn't expect this quiet Copenhagen murder to end up like it did. It was a little disconcerting to have what starts out as a shattering psychological study end up of this side of James Bond, but most of the fun derives from guessing where Smilla is going to go - and being wrong most of the time.
From Maria Garcia: The book, most specially because of the fascinating Ms. Smilla, rates an A+ in my opinion. The movie hovers between a B+ and an A- (on a scale of 1-10, I give it an 8.5), but Julia's Smilla rates a definite A+! She carries the whole film and carries it well indeed. She portrayed the character exactly as conceived by Peter Høeg. No wonder he was thrilled with her performance and will forever see her as his Smilla! The cinematography is excellent - I feel like going to Greenland and Copenhagen right now! And I wish I had a videotape of those Greenlandic scenes to go along with my soundtrack - absolutely mesmerizing. Just as Ebert and Siskel said, everything plays to perfection until she gets on the Kronos. The editing gets mighty 'weird' here and I can see why the critics were moaning about it. But, this is the only section of the film that I found problematic! Once Smilla starts trekking through Greenland, everything was perfect again in spite of the "James Bondish" finale. As a matter of fact, the film provides much more closure than the book which should please a lot of people! I don't know what they are all complaining about. It was perfectly satisfying. Julia works very well with that adorable little boy (Clipper Miano). In flashback scenes of her playing with him, both of their faces are so full of smiles and warmth. It is so beautiful to watch and makes it perfectly understandable for the audience to relate to Smilla's unrelenting quest for the truth behind the boy's death. In spite of the fact that I knew the outcome of the film, I still managed to feel tense on several occasions when I saw the movie for the first time. Bille August does know how to create suspense. In conclusion, great directing, great cinematography, well-written script, and, most specially, brilliant acting by Julia who most definitely became Høeg's Smilla. How I would love to have a very long conversation with her about Smilla, the book, the making of the movie, and the final product! It would be grand!
From John Fogde: I saw Smilla's Sense of Snow last week and I liked it. It has great actors, beautiful pictures and I liked the way Copenhagen was portrayed. Everytime a book is turned into a movie, some people will debate whether or not the right people were cast and if the true meaning of the book is portrayed. I believe you should look at the two as two completely different things and just accept that the director's impression of the book might be different from yours. In interviews Peter Høeg has stated that he liked Julia Ormond and the movie a lot and if he can approve of the movie, why can't the critics. I liked the movie and although the plot might not be the best and the ending is somewhat strange, I think most people would enjoy spending two hours in the company of such fine actors and such beautiful pictures.
From Doug Frost: I just saw Smilla the movie, yesterday. I had just finished reading the book the day before. First of all, I must say that I've fallen in love with Smilla, as I imagine many people have. As a character study, "Smilla" is fascinating and heart-rending. Her slow redemption through her relationship with Isaiah, and her subsequent search for justice is one of the great human dramas of the late 20th century. Overall, I liked the movie, but I must say the book was better. That's somewhat of a cheap shot, I admit, because what movie has ever lived up to a great novel? Most importantly, though, Julia Ormond became Smilla for me in the movie. Aside from that, everything else is really secondary. The plot, as many reviewers have noted, is absurd. That's a shortcoming shared by the book as well, but in the movie the plot suffers even more from a lack of coherent development. One of the things that surprised me most about the film is how faithful it is to the book. I knew prior to seeing it that they would, by necessity, have to truncate the plot. Most of the problems with the final product stem from having kept too much of the original storyline. The result is we have a plot that turns on quick scenes that are simply thrown at us without them really being woven into the central storyline. There just isn't enough time for that. The movie needed another hour to do justice to the plot. And the ending, as in the book, mitigates against the everything that has led us up to that point. It's almost as if Høeg couldn't figure out how to wrap up his story and one night tossed off a tepid finale in a fit of frustration. It's forgivable, though. "Smilla" remains a great tale. I hope Høeg writes another Smilla novel someday. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this film, but I would also recommend people to read the book first.
From Jon Kinnersley: I thought it was a little too long but very good overall. Julia looked great and seemed to get better and better as the movie progressed. A good movie for Ormond fans.
From Maria Garcia: I find that all the critics missed noticing the sybolism of the movie in regards to the "society-criticizing" novel. The "bleak and dark city" (a look some people have been complaining about) stands for modern civilization which, in the mind of Høeg, represents a whole lot of evil (it is crowded/it is run by government bureaucracies/people greedy for power, fame, and money/predators who invade indigenous peoples and then destroy their cultures and turn them into marginal people who are frowned upon by so-called "civilized" societies). As an evil, the movie paints a dark picture of the city in contrast to the wide, empty, beautiful, blue-white landscapes of Greenland which represents good - a way of life much more in touch with nature instead of the coldness and irresponsibility of modern technology and science that pays no mind to the future of the planet and its inhabitants. The movie is absolutely beautiful because I see all these things and more. When Smilla gets on the boat to journey to Greenland, I also see it as her journey back through water into her mother's womb (the first ice cave in Greenland where she spends the night - the camera comes in for a closeup and she looks 100% like a Greenlander in this shot!). And the way her face melds with the face of Isaiah and vice versa has so many meanings - the most obvious at the end is that she has finally obtained peace for the boy's soul. But, Isaiah also represents the little girl Smilla - he is about the same age she was when she was first brought to Denmark, and he is the part of herself that she had lost touch with. Her contact with Isaiah forces her to question herself (which is why she was always referring to herself as a Fake Greenlander) and helps her to bring the Greenlandic side of herself to the surface once again - to find a redemption of sorts (as demonstrated in a scene in which she tries to teach Greenlandic words to The Mechanic). She finally saw a chance for this little Greenlander - a future for him that might have actually been good. In him she saw hope for the first time in a long time - hope for him and for her Mother's people forced to live in a world so contrary to their traditional way of life; even hope for herself, only to have this hope shattered once again by the desire of westerners for money, fame, and power. I don't think that most people understand what a genius Bille August is in his capacity to translate so much of the book into a visual medium! The important message Høeg wants to get across is for us to question the motive of people when they pursue so-called advances in scientific research and technology. He obviously thinks that the primary underlying motives for most of these people is power, money, and fame - and he is disgusted with this! The movie makes this point perfectly clear, but as usual, people are just focusing on their perceived-as-an-implausible "idea" of a meteorite loaded with prehistoric worms which is simply the tip of the iceberg (pun intended) and, if taken at face value, perfectly possible (IMO) - maybe not probable, but definitely possible. These parasitic worms though, can be far more interesting if they are perceived as representing deadly human parasites (i.e. Tork and Loyen) that prey on anyone or anything they fancy in order to assuage their selfish and immediate needs.
From Sandi Duncan: I saw the film yesterday and I was very impressed. The quiet inner struggles that we all go through were conveyed with merely the lift of a brow and other elegant gestures. All on the backdrop of the most immense, inhospitable country we will ever know. Julia was a wonder. She inhabited Smilla with a powerful grace. I saw this film as a way of redemption. Smilla had cut herself off from the world when she was 6 and was taken from her home. When she allowed herself to feel for that little boy she also allowed other emotions. I saw this film as the redemption of Smilla. That redemption came about in the struggle to make sense of this horrid crime, but it allowed her to also reach out beyond herself. Normally, she would not have gotten involved with the "Mechanic". She would not have asked her father for anything other than money. By the end of the film I felt she was going to mend, at least, in some small way, the relationship with her Dad. It was left unclear as to how the relationship with the "Mechanic" might progress. But, even if that reltionship ended I felt optimism at her coming to terms with herself. And coming to terms with one's self is more important than anything else, the only way to achieve at least some small measure of peace.
From Marne Rogers:I saw Smilla this past weekend and was overjoyed with the excellent adaptation of this complex and sometimes baffling novel. Smilla is somewhat unlikeable for her gritty toughness, but it's about time to have a heroine who wouldn't mind telling the world and any individual in it to go to hell. How refreshing to have a beautiful woman portrayed not as a slut, bimbo, dupe or castrator for a change! Smilla smiles a mere 3 seconds in the whole movie, but I don't think the book's character would have ever. Well, I guess this puts a crack in her armor. The single flaw in the movie is the awful larger-than-life North Face logos on the parkas in the last 10 minutes of the film. Sheesh! Get your product placements out of my face! Otherwise, this is a brilliant and tender treatment of the most perfectly self-invented character in history. Yes, I relate to Smilla as a real person.
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