Saw it at a friend's cottage on a remote part of Lake Huron (appropriate setting, maybe).At one point during the narration, Mettler talks of how, historically, the first filmed event was of a locomotive, and when it was shown to the public, they ran from the theatre, thinking it was real. After mentioning this, he asks "Are you cold yet?". It's a great line, since he's been showing us frigid, Siberian-like footage of the Canadian North for the last half hour. I liked this documentary a lot, which surprised me a little, as I was highly critical of his more recent "Gambling Gods and LSD". In this film, however, the poetic narration perfectly fits the visuals, as we are constantly bombarded with desolate, lonely images and fantastic shots of the northern lights. Mettler also gets some great interview footage from some of the locals, notably the motel owner and the old Native man and his daughter. The camera shots and angles seem to have more of a purpose here, and the long takes of things like train lights and frost on a window relate directly to the many themes of the film (something I thought did not happen in "Gambling etc"). It's a very enjoyable film.
