Map of the Human Heart

Plot synopsis:
This 1993 film is a love story about a young eskimo boy, Jason Scott Lee, and a metisse (French for half breed) girl, Anne Parillaud, set in Arctic Canada. The story begins pre WWII with the main characters as children and the beginning of their love, continues through WWII with their love truly and fully blossoming, and ends sometime after the war with the eskimo boy, now an old alcoholic man meeting a young woman. What sets this apart from most love stories is how it ends, rather how it doesn't end. It doesn't end with your typical "and they lived happily ever after" finale. SPOILER ALERT: don't read on if you haven't yet seen it.It finishes with love at the final end being unfulfilled, never really resolved. Although I'll have to say that there is a parallel ending - probably insisted upon by the producers - that shows the audience what it would've been liked had everything worked out. That scene notwithstanding, the story unfolds quite innocently, midway becomes joyful as the two young people, the boy and the girl now a young man and young woman in their prime of their life, consumate the relationship that was always meant to be although there is an outside force which threatens and ultimately thwarts their "happy ever after" scenario. Toward the end, the film turns a bit depressing, the story showing us how disappointing things turned out. The young woman, the alcoholic old man meets, is very special in his life (not a love interest) and the timing of his meeting with her makes it all more tragic.Although other reviewers thought this film corny I credit it for being closer to life than a lot of other Hollywood big budget movies. Things didn't work out - how many times has that happened in our own personal lives? This of course with the tacked on alternative pseudo ending aside.It's a long film but well worth the sit. Don't expect to leave it uplifted but moved. Beautiful cinematography and well paced direction. The scenes of the polar animals and night bombings of Germany are quite compelling. The love scene on the blimp will stay forever in one's mind. Out of 5 stars I'd give it a 4 simply because it did get slow at times and because of the phony happy ending toward the end.Cameo appearances from John Cusack and Jeanne Moreau.

Tags: bleak, atmospheric, flashback

Review:
This is one of the few movies that actually cost me some sleep after I first saw it one evening.The two main characters are "half-breeds," Avik (or "Holy Boy") is an Eskimo- white man and "Albertine," an Indian-French female.
The filmmakers did an amazing job finding two kids who really look like the two adults probably would have looked like when they were young and with the same voice inflections and accents.As adults Jason Scott Lee and Anne Parillaud are memorable.
So is the cinematography, particularly the Dresden bombing scene which is simply jaw- dropping.Warning: the movie is heart-wrenching at times with not a happy ending, but I think that helps make this film so memorable, so haunting.
We experience the horrors of war and the exhilaration of reunited lovers, and the film's final scene is truly haunting and heartbreaking.
This is a film of great performances and moments, the firestorm in Dresden gives me nightmares.I would love to recommend the film, but its ultimately so bleak I don't know many people who would want to see it.Still I give it 10 out of 10 simply because it provokes such a deep reaction in me..
Outstanding acting, especially from the little boy Eskimo, then from Jason, as the adult character/pilot for the RAF.
Absolutely beautiful cinematography; a story that kicks the heart strings in many ways -- kicks and tickles, too, a few times.
I'm usually a "guy Movie" person, but this film moved me so profoundly.
Great great story, I loved this movie!!!!.
It tells the story of Avik, a young Eskimo boy who meets Walter Russell (Patrick Bergin) when Walter comes to map his village.
Avik discovers he has Tuberculosis, and Walter takes the young boy to Montreal where he stays at a Catholic hospital.
There he meets Albertine, a young girl of mixed French Canadian and Indian blood.
He finds he is ostracized by his fellow tribe, because he has lived too long among the white people.Avik as an adult is played by Jason Scott Lee. By this time, Canada is involved in World War II, and Avik joins the Air Force and flies on bombing raids.
Avik does not want to interfere in the relationship, because Walter saved his life.This is a story of two people who are truly in love, but whom the fates keep apart.
This film isn't for everyone, but if you like a good romantic tear jerker, this is for you..
At first I just watched it cause Jason Scott Lee was in it so I thought there was gonna be some butt whupin in it but as I watched on I realized that it wasn't that kind of movie.
Through out the movie you can't help but feel bad for Avik.
In "Map of the Human Heart", a down and out middle aged Eskimo man recounts his life story to an Arctic cartographer (Cusack, who has only a few minutes on screen) which constitutes the bulk of the film via flashback.
His story begins with his puppy love relationship with a young half-breed girl in a hospital.
The film meanders from the dramatic to the poignant to the romantic to the horrific and back to square one where it continues the story in present day.
Beautifully filmed and well executed though a bit clumsy at times, "Map..." spackles up its many plot holes and provides a thoughtful fantasy camouflage for its lack of resolution in the end while serving up very pretty Kodak moments such as making love on a barrage balloon or dancing in the rafters high above an orchestra.
American movie goers and film watchers (and Reviewers here) find something missing or too over-the-top in Canadian projects, wherever they're financed.
Very good - and moving and thought-provoking, and so on ..."Map..." has a love scene that could have come from the mind & imagination of Spielberg.
But was rather disappointed that they have never released a directors cut, I remember when it first came out there was a 4-5 hour version show at the Venice or Berlin film festival, I still have the cutting of a review from the screening and the writer was totally blown away by it and commented that it deserved to be released uncut.
But back then as we know now people weren't prepared to sit in a cinema for that long, but now with the advent of DVD and everyone basically wanting a cinema at home with large plasma and 5.1 sound, its great that you are now getting the choice to see these gems as they were originally envisioned, its a real shame as i personally feel that this was a highlight of everyone involved in this movie, and is wards best movie, you also can tell when watching it that there is a lot of stuff missing, especially in the cuts from scene to scene.
I'm not a big fan of the romance genre, but I am a fan of Jason Scott Lee, and this movie was recommended to me by several of my friends.
The agony of the characters' situations was at times almost unbearable, and the cruelty that life can show was never so clearly captured.I was drawn back to this film because of a recent article I read in one of the major weekly periodicals, which discussed the changing role of the Asian male in popular American culture.
It is a love story, with a tell-tale of a time long ago.
There is probably a great book behind this movie, because the epic sweep of the story is interesting, ranging from the 1920s in the Canadian north, through World War II, to a return to the north in the 1960s.
I'm not sure what the other reviewer saw in this film, but this is not a great love story, it's not even a good attempt at a love story.
Map of the Human Heart is one the great coming-of-age romance films of all time.
We've fell in love with Robert Joamie & Annie Galipeau characters the story-scenes of them were very loving, sweet, caring, and moving; couldn't stop watching them.
Throughout the film there were sad times and the audience felt what the character Avik was feeling.
As of 2018 I decided to watch this film again and again the story always inspires me.
At an Arctic oil site, elderly Inuit Avik (Jason Scott Lee) befriends the newly arrived Mapmaker (John Cusack).
As a boy, Avik's tribe is visited by cartographer Walter Russell (Patrick Bergin).
In England, he runs into Albertine (Anne Parillaud) who is now having an affair with Walter.This is an epic of tragic romance.
There is a lot of story here and director Vincent Ward does a pretty good job.
This movie, about love lost and found, started out full of promise.
He heals, learns English and meets a girl who, like him, is a half-breed, and they enjoy an episode of puppy love until she is whisked away.
Coincidentally, the girl is also working for the British military, reading the photographs taken by Avik on his bombing runs.
The central character of a beautiful and mysterious half-breed woman who seeks to escape into "white" society doesn't work in the transition from childhood to adulthood, unlike the other central character of the Inuit boy who becomes an acculturated man who later survives World War II's Dresden bombing raid when his plane is shot down.
His mysterious survival when all other crew members are killed as the plane explodes and among the firestorm of Dresden's somehow transforms him into reverting back to Inuit life, avoiding his childhood love, and becoming a somewhat drunken stock "native" figure in a land being devastated by oil exploration who avoids the daughter who comes seeking her father..
The only aspect of the film that is even passable is the cinematography, which, though dark, does a consistently good job of telling the story.
But, if you care one iota about plot, consistent and or logical character motivation, and pacing, avoid this never-ending series of outrageous vignettes masquerading as a movie.
This is not my idea of a good time or good film making..
This film is one of them in that it has absolutely no story to it at all.
It looks good but is empty of real meaning to the overall narrative because the narrative does not exist and so on to a infinite regress.In like manner the use of a moment – a key scene – is used to show some deeper though wholly ridiculous scene to make a magical moment in an otherwise idiotic film.
Map stars Jason Scott Lee as an Eskimo named Avik who is taken from his people as a boy by an explorer named Walter (Patrick Bergen) because he has tuberculosis.
In the hospital where he is sent he meets up with a young half-breed French Canadian girl named Albertine (Anne Parillaud, as the adult version) and they become inseparable friends, usually annoying the strict Catholic headmistress (Jeanne Moreau) with their pranks.
In the course of time, Albertine is healed and leaves; eventually Avik is as well and he returns to his own people.
Near the end of his service time, he chances to run into Albertine again, who is working in bomber command, and the two rekindle their friendship, which has turned into something more for Avik, at least.Map is a slow-moving film that lingers on its subject and the beautiful countryside that surrounds them.
Whether it's the fields outside of a Montreal hospital, the English countryside, or the endless white snows of the Arctic, we are continually treated to sumptuous visions of the earth  all the better to contrast with the characters, who find themselves confined much of the time, be it in a bomber, a bunker, or an igloo.The beauty is also starkly counter-balanced by the best scene in the film, a final raid over Dresden that is a testament to the bizarre beauty that can be found in hellish destruction.
The bombers seem to move in slow motion as we are treated to the fiery landscape, a city consumed by flame, made all the more vivid when Avik is shot down and must make his way through, almost literally, Hell.Map is also a sad story, of longing between two people who will never be together, and in that vein it's a very poignant film.
But it's lovingly told, and even though it may lack a happy ending, or even a very coherent one (a waking dream sequence merges with reality in a sometimes confusing way at the very end), it's nonetheless a satisfying film for those with a little patience.Jason Scott Lee has never been better.
Though Avik isn't given a wide emotional range, Lee manages to convey the deep feelings that run within him gestures rendered almost in shorthand.
All three of them play well off one another.Map isn't for everyone  it is long, slow, and a little depressing  but it's also a beautiful film and it certainly revels in the gentle unraveling of its subject matter.
Map of the Human Heart is a rare film which is both haunting and beautiful as well as filled with the violence of man against man and nature.
It's lead actors, Jason Scott Lee (Avik) and Annie Parlliaud (Albertine) play aboriginals of Canada who are both outcasts by their mixed-blood status in the respective communities, Inuit and Cree, providing insight to the ancient animosity between native groups that shatter the positive stereotype and myth of egalitarian indigenous tribes living in harmony before western contact.
In fact, the theme of conflict repeats throughout this fine, little film and provides the backdrop for the love story of Avik and Albertine in WWII England.Discovered as a small boy by a military mapmaker on expedition to his community, Avik, aka "Holy Boy" is drawn to the officer who removes him from his village, a typical action by intrusive, well-intentioned outsiders.
Removed to a Catholic run native hospital for treatment, Avik meets the Cree Indian girl, Albertine, a patient with tuberculosis.
As Avik and Albertine's friendship blossoms, their childhood devotion turns to first love.
The children attempt to run away from the hospital but are thwarted by adult authorities and their separation begins the second half of the film.When the adult Avik returns to his native village to care and provide for his elderly grandmother, he is an unsuccessful as a provider, something seen as a curse to others of the village as well as his grandmother.
Time and the setting jumps to WWII London where a grown up Albertine is now married to the same British officer who was Avik's liberator.
Their love is rekindled in one of the most memorable settings -- the Royal Albert Hall dome -- where Avik and Albertine escape.The film revels in unlikely settings to situate it's stars adding to the visual and physical splendor of Albertine and Avik's love.
Avik, faced with Albertine's marriage to the man who changed his life, confronts the mapmaker, a jealous controlling man.
Albertine's passionate love for Avik is unbearable and he orders Avik's unit back to the "Holy Boy" to take part in one last run that is the controversial bombing of Dresden, Germany.
However, the hatred for Avik and Albertine's love drives the mapmaker to order the firebombing of Dresden, with the participation of the "Holy Boy." Shot down during the offensive, Avik parachutes into Dresden as the flame offensive engulfs the city.
Trying to save a child from the flames, Avik drops the x-ray of Albertine's heart, a symbol of his constant devotion and love, in the conflagration.
The conclusion of the film is a heart-wrenching resolution that remains true to the storyline and by the end, the story comes full-circle.
The film remains little known but is a captivating romantic adventure which should have received more recognition for both originality and camera-work.
Map of The Human Heart - I can't candy-coat it - I love this movie- I own the soundtrack and once paid much moolah to get it on VHS- yet somehow I missed the DVD release of this Vincent Ward movie.The DVD has some deleted scenes - but no behind the scenes or even a trailer.This epic follows a young eskimo boy (Avik played very well by Robert Joamie as a wide-eyed youth and Jason Scott Lee when he is older) who is rescued by a British mapmaker when it is discovered he has T.B. and taken to hospital.While there he encounters the cute charming and tomboyish halfbreed Albertine- they have instant chemistry as they fight,play,steal and hang out whenever possible.Since the hospital is run by nuns they separate the two.There are jumps in the story and we end up 10 years later.An older Avik helps Walter on another mapmaking journey and hears about WWII- he wants to help.Soon Avik is a bomber for the R.A.F. and he reconnects with Albertine who is working for bomber command-yep that is a major coincidence.Soon we encounter some amazing shots of nighttime bombing over Germany and some major melodrama.The movie is a tragic romance about 2 soulmates that seem like they should be married from the first second that they meet- but life keeps getting in the way.Beautiful movie with great cinematography.
It was a lovely movie but just too sad for me.
I love movies that evoke deep emotion but this was too much-too depressing for me.
The dialog suffers the most from this; because everything has to be so absolutely grand, most characters, some of the time, talk unlike real people do.
Even the scene of the first time Parillaud and Lee have sex has to be grand: they do it on a huge air-balloon.
And one of their romantic meetings is on top of Albert Hall, minutes before Germans start bombing the neighbourhood.
I'm sure that director Vincent Ward had grand swirling ideas about this film, but most of it feels like a mid-quality Lifetime movie.
Patrick Bergin just simmers and leers, and when he talks about the bombing of Dresden and why he's ordering it to be bombed is just silly and over the top.Like I said, most of the film feels like a Lifetime movie.
And when Anne Parillaud drops one of her stockings down into the orchestra pit, both my wife and I said, "It's WWII, isn't that stocking going to be a little hard to replace?" When Lee's daughter shows up at the end of the film, she says the stupidest thing in the movie.
Well done story mixes adventure,war and romance.
It focuses on the relationship between an Inuit boy 'Avik' and a girl of mixed Indian/French ancestry 'Albertine'.
Young Avik & Albertine start off on the wrong foot with each other, fighting and bickering, but soon discover they have a liking for one another.
ONe of the nuns at the school is played by the great Jeanne Moreau who disciplines both children and sets Albertine straight about using that bit of her 'white' heritage to make a better life for herself in the world.Time and years pass and both children have been separated and re-meet as young adults during WW2.
Avik(Jason S Lee) leaves his Inuit village and becomes a bombardier on a Royal Air Force Bomber.
It's during respite from one of his missions that Avik learns that Albertine(Anne Parillaud from Le Femme Nikita) is in England and also is in uniform for the war effort.
She works in the office of Avik's old cartographer friend Russell.
When Avik starts seeing Albertine they become an item and consummate their relationship one misty afternoon by having sex on top of a weather balloon.
He has been telling his life's story to a young man in a bar played by John Cusack.
Avik later discovers the girl is his now grown daughter with Albertine.
Avik's and Albertine's relationship is not explained after WW2.
But Jason Lee & Anne Parillaud make their relationship work.