The Sound of Snow

Rating: 7/10 (8 January 2016)

I expected more.
This movie tries, it really does, but in 2 hours and 36 minutes I began to long for the sound of the human voice, much like "Cast Away" (2000), not to mention that even mountain beauty begins to look like just so much more snow after awhile, especially when filmed in constant dreariness.
The actual, fact-based premise is virtually unbelievable; nevertheless, the director heaped on even more, e.g., from single-shot pistols firing more than once to 50 Indians unable to bring down one severely crippled man at 25 feet.
Little things begin to grate after a couple hours, e.g., long close-ups of Leo's snot-frozen beard, horses that were clearly malnourished, and grime and filth so constant that I wanted to take a shower. Character development is nonexistent, with only Captain Henry piquing our interest anyway. Jim Bridger, one of America's most famous mountain men, comes across mostly as a sniveling teenage murder accomplice.
In the final analysis perhaps I'm hardest on films I love the most, i.e., the Western genre, to which this qualifies, but instead of a lasting memorial chronicle of the West like "Dances With Wolves" (1990), we're left with yet another grimy, gory, outdoor thriller with a bear.