Iceman

source: Iceman

Trailer—Iceman

Iceman

It's great story line but a bad movie. Arctic scientists find the body of a 40,000 year old Neanderthal man in the ice and bring it back to life. OK. It's science-fiction with emphasis on the fiction! The snowy setting is intriguing and well photographed. But the whole thing collapses as the story line stumbles and stalls. The ending? Well, lets not give it away. But it's neither probable nor original. There is an excess of high tech jargon in the early scenes and endless rounds of two-way gibberish as the scientists try to communicate with their hairy guest. By the way, his name is Charlie.

I saw this again after many years, and was not disappointed. It's a well written, thoughtful SF film that doesn't insult the viewer's intelligence. John Lone is very moving as the bewildered hunter who is discovered by scientists. Timothy Hutton is credible as Shepherd, the compassionate scientist who connects with the Neanderthal, who he calls "Charlie". The film's portrayal of Charlie as a human being with a deeply spiritual side is strangely prescient, especially in light of recent discoveries about our own Neanderthal DNA. The scene where Shepherd and Charlie try to sing Neil Young's "Heart of Gold" is memorable and fun. This is a quietly effective film with a subtle message that doesn't beat you over the head with it.

After the last 34 years of only knowing about this movie and its premise, I finally watched this on YouTube just now. Timothy Hutton is among a group of scientists who discover a man from thousands of years ago being preserved in ice. Once he is thawed, Hutton argues with his teammates over the best course of action: should they experiment on him or try to get to know him socially. Hutton chooses the latter and he and John Lone as this Neanderthal man have quite a humorous and touching give-and-take in communicating with each other, Lone by mainly dong many grunts and hand gestures. I was pleasantly surprised one of the scientists was played by the same person who was Principal Strickland in the Back to the Future movies! I really enjoyed this film including the way it ended. So on that note, I highly recommend Iceman.

Unusually intelligent sci-fi, about a group of polar researchers who discover a hibernating (and slightly too human-looking) Neanderthal. The scientists (predictably) just want to cut him up, but Tim Hutton plays the lone anthropologist who befriends him and teaches him how to sing along to Neil Young. At times the film (pre-CGI) seems dated in appearance, but its strength is not to underestimate the difference between the Neanderthal's world and our own, nor his capacity to deal with it. Good to see a sci-fi film that for once is more interested in substance than surface.