Pulpmovies Reviews

Iceman opens in the Arctic with a team of scientists retuning to their base with a frozen mammal. As the name of the film implies, this is not just a mammal but a man – a 40,000 year old Neanderthal to be precise. And, as the scientists start to thaw out the body, it turns out that the specimen is a lot less dead than originally assumed.

This turn of events gives rise to a conflict between the Arctic scientists. To the surgical team, led by Dr. Diane Brady (Lindsay Crouse), the Neanderthal is a medical resource to be investigated in order to discover how he managed to survive, frozen, for so long. The anthropologist Stanley Shephard (Timothy Hutton), he is a window to our past to be learned from.

A compromise, of sorts, is reached and the iceman (John Lone) – whose name turns out to sound a lot like Charlie – is placed in an enclosed facsimile of his prehistoric world. Here, Shepherd is able to interact with Charlie and, as the two men slowly begin to understand each other, a bond begins to form between them…

On the face of it, Iceman is a film about science, about scientists and about the conflicts that can arise between different disciplines and over different priorities. Unfortunately, this part of the film didn’t really work for me primarily, I think, because the conflict as it was presented felt very artificial. This wasn’t helped by the fact that the interactions between the scientists were remarkably unengaging and some of their behaviour – especially on the part of Stan Shephard – struck me as downright unprofessional.

However, the film is more than redeemed by John Lone’s superb performance as Charlie the Iceman. Here, we really do get a sense of a man out of time, trying to make sense of his surroundings and trying to express himself to Shephard.

Lone’s performance also brings out the best in Timothy Hutton and, as the two men spend time together, a real sense of camaraderie develops between them that informs Shephard’s subsequent attitudes and behaviour.

Director, Fred Schepisi, takes frequent advantage of the Arctic landscapes to remind us of the isolation in which all of this is happening – and the photography is utterly breathtaking. However, it’s not until the end of the film that the setting is used to its full extent – but when it is, the results are both powerful and moving.

Iceman is much more a drama than a science fiction film, but as a drama it is very effective indeed. The film takes an essentially simple premise and expands it into an engrossing story about the meeting of cultures and what it means to be human.

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