Attention : chef-d'oeuvre

 

CLEARCUT (1991)

Directed by Ryszard Bugajski

Review/Film; Loggers And Indians At War

By STEPHEN HOLDEN

Published: August 21, 1992, Friday

An aerial view of a forest in northern Canada devastated by the lumber industry "looks like the moon on a bad day," one character in the film "Clearcut" says. To another observer, the same sight "looks like money."

Those remarks define the bitter regional war that ignites this Canadian film, which opens today at the Gramercy Theater. As the movie begins, a local lumber company that is the area's economic wellspring has just won a legal skirmish against an Indian tribe whose sacred ground has been violated by a road used to truck timber from the forest to the mill. Peter (Ron Lea), the big-city lawyer for the Indians' cause, arrives in time to witness a bloody battle between the police and the Indians, who are trying to prevent the company's logging trucks from entering their territory.

"Clearcut," adapted from M. T. Kelly's novel "A Dream Like Mine," soon shifts from a political drama into a thriller with a supernatural edge. As a gesture of solidarity with his clients, the lawyer takes part in an Indian sweat lodge ceremony, during which he has hallucinations of blood oozing from trees and other grisly visions. Soon after, he meets Arthur (Graham Greene), an arrogant young Indian-rights advocate with an ominous gleam in his eye and a lust for violent revenge.

Peter, who underestimates the ferocity of Arthur's rage, becomes a reluctant accessory to kidnapping when the Indian grabs the mill's manager, Bud Rickets (Michael Hogan), at a gas station and takes him hostage. Peter changes from unwilling collaborator to hostage after Arthur transports them by canoe across a lake into a virgin wilderness.

The bulk of "Clearcut" concentrates on the prisoners' desperate struggle for survival at the hands of a vengeful sadist with magical powers. Arthur knows how to hone the end of a stick and spear a fish with a single thrust into the water. He also possesses second sight. And since he has the ability to be in more than one place at the same time, escape is all but impossible.

Things become increasingly dire as the three make their way through the wilderness. One morning Peter awakens to find Arthur meticulously flaying one of Bud's legs. When he protests the torture, Arthur replies that what he is doing is no worse than the conduct of American soldiers who used to play catch with the breasts of Navajo women. Ultimately Peter, who has always eschewed violence, is driven to fight for his life.

"Clearcut" suggests a low-budget Canadian answer to "Deliverance," but heavily streaked with mysticism and environmental politics. Although the film never comes out and says it, Arthur is actually an Indian trickster spirit conjured into human form by Peter's anger. Also known as Wisakedjak, he is the same bloodthirsty spirit who is described to Peter during the sweat lodge ceremony by Wilf (Floyd Red Crow Westerman), the tribe's wise, long-suffering chief.

The film, directed by Richard Bugajski, is scrupulously fair to its characters and the issues they represent. Arthur radiates the glamour of a survivalist who is so perfectly attuned to nature that he moves through the wilderness with the confidence of a god. But he also kidnaps, tortures and kills with the casual ease of the most dangerous movie psychopaths. In Mr. Greene's riveting portrayal, he exudes a sinister, slightly comic buoyancy.

Mr. Hogan's burly mill-manager is considerably more sympathetic than Mr. Lea's lawyer. A rugged outdoorsman who is as fiery in his way as Arthur, he argues forcefully that closing the mill would destroy the livelihood of thousands.

Even if Peter is on the side of the angels, as the film seems to suggest, he is a weak-willed do-gooder who doesn't really understand the people whose rights he is championing. His forced journey into the wilderness is his initiation into a spiritual authenticity.

These strong, beautifully balanced performances infuse what is essentially an adventure movie with gripping psychological undercurrents. The deepest character is the tribe's chief, a man of few words whom Mr. Westerman imbues with an anguished benignity. All-knowing yet powerless to change the course of events, this elder is the film's grieving spiritual guide.

"Clearcut" is rated R (Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian). It includes strong language, violence and a graphic scene of torture. Clearcut Directed by Richard Bugajski; screenplay by Rob Forsyth, based on the novel "A Dream Like Mine," by M. T. Kelly; director of photography, Francois Protat; edited by Michael Rea; music by Shane Harvey; production designer, Perri Gorrar; produced by Stephen J. Roth and Ian McDougal; released by Northern Arts Entertainment. At the Gramercy, 23d Street and Lexington Avenue, Manhattan. Running time: 98 minutes. This film is rated R. Arthur . . . Graham Greene Peter . . . Ron Lea Bud . . . Michael Hogan Wilf . . . Floyd Red Crow Westerman Eugene . . . Raoul Trujillo Louise . . . Rebecca Jenkins Tom Starbuck . . . Tom Jackson.

http://movies2.nytimes.com/mem/movies/review.html?title1=

CLEARCUT%20%28MOVIE%29&title2=&reviewer=Stephen

%20Holden&pdate=19920821&v_id=9955