Bruce Greenwood is excellent
as a widower traveling across
Alaska who wants to be alone
but bonds with the young girl.
As a man without any kids and
a girl without a father, the two
fill voids for each other. Greenwood’s familiar voice provides
a certain degree of calm and
safety — something MacKenzie needs — and his personal
background as an outdoorsman
shines through. He looks comfortable traveling through the
wilderness, which adds an extra
dose of realism to the film.
Green says he wishes he could
see the film with the fresh eyes
of the audience, but he’s been to
Alaska so often that he’s rather
immune to its beauty.
“I know it’s fantastic,” said
Green. “I’ve been there in person and was wowed by it for the
first time, but when we shot the
movie I didn’t see any of Alaska.
New Jersey Stage
I only saw the five inches in front
of my face. And then in the editing room and with the finished
product, I see a movie and the
parts of the film that I judge for
better or worse. But recently
I saw The Sound of Music on
television and I had forgotten
the opening scene when they
go over the Swiss Alps in an airplane and they have these fantastic aerial shots. I realized this
is what people are experiencing
when they watch parts of Wildlike and see Alaska.”
The film is beautifully shot and
truly captures the size and remoteness of Alaska. Green says
they wanted to put the two main
characters in a particular place
and in a particular frame of mind
which allowed for their relationship to come about where it
couldn’t anywhere else. They
got it right.
-- Gary Wien
January 2015
pg 68