An Inconvenient Truth won two Oscars. Some people may even have found the implications of its message to be frightening. Even still, the consequences of our actions that are outlined in Gore’s film seem abstract because they don’t threaten our immediate future and may not necessarily affect each of us individually. The Last Winter asks why we shouldn’t expect the Earth to defend itself, to fight for its own survival like any other living thing. What takes place in the movie is filmmaker Larry Fessenden’s interpretation of one way Earth could fight back, and it is like nothing you’d expect.
The plot of Last Winter centers on a proposed oil well in a previously protected area of Alaska. A team, made up of employees of the oil company and environmental inspectors from the government, has been sent to get the rig up and running and make sure that the operation will meet environmental standards. Tensions begin to rise as it becomes apparent that the opinions about the projects viability of the lead representative of the oil company, played by Hellboy star Ron Perlman, are vastly different from that of the head environmental inspector, portrayed by James LeGros, whose report will likely decide if the plan moves forward. The inspector begins to notice wild temperature swings that threaten to melt the permafrost which has been frozen for several thousand years, and, without the permafrost, the ice roads necessary to bring in the oil company’s equipment cannot be safely built.
The rest of the team doesn’t really begin to notice that anything is wrong, however, until one night when a young member of the team heads out on a routine job, only to end up wandering 30 miles away, on foot, and returns obviously shaken and without a clear explanation for what exactly happened. While the others originally attribute this to his lack of experience in the fierce Alaskan landscape, a series of grisly and unexplainable events gradually make it apparent that some other force is at work.
The best aspect of The Last Winter is writer/director Fessenden’s ability to create suspense. He takes his time creating a palpable weight that hangs over the film, leaving the viewer constantly aware that something bad is going to happen, but unable to predict when. The suspense is aided by the bleak Alaskan landscape in which the film is set. The fact that we don’t expect our characters to encounter much of anything when they head out into the snow makes it that much more surprising when they do. Once the real drama does begin unfolding, the film manages to keep the tension level high as Fessenden expertly mixes action and information, firmly placing us on the edge of our seats as we begin to understand what is causing the chaos that has enveloped the crew.
While the acting isn’t the film’s selling point, there are a few solid performances. The best of these is issued by Friday Night Lights star Zach Gilford, who convincingly portrays the shell shocked newbie who first encounters the mysterious force. LeGros, who has an astoundingly long but largely unremarkable resume, also delivers a quality performance in a role that may just gain him a few more roles where his name will make the poster. Gilford’s Friday Night Lights co-star Connie Britton carries her weight as the ambiguously aligned love interest of the environmental inspector, who also happens to be one of the oil company’s main representatives on the project. On the other hand, I wasn’t impressed by Perlman, who seemed to be more of a charicature of a “big oil” company man than a real person.
My only other real issue is with the very end of the film. I don’t want to give anything away, but I’ll just say that we get a taste of denouement without getting anywhere near enough. I suggest watching the last scene either with your TV’s volume cranked to the maximum or with the subtitles on, because that is the only way you’re really going to have any idea why the things that are taking place on screen are happening or what they mean in the bigger picture. I really wish Fessenden would have either given us a little bit more here or given us a different ending that didn’t try to imply so much.
Overall, The Last Winter is definitely one of my favorite horror movies to be released to DVD this year. The film is anything but predictable and may be the first film in a new branch of the “eco-horror” genre that blends themes from environmental disaster movies with familiar elements of horror. I’d definitely recommend this to any fan of horror/suspense and to most people in general. If you have a weak stomach for gore, do be aware, however, that there are a few scenes where you’re going to want to look away.
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The acting definitely wasn’t great, especially Perlman’s, but I did really like this movie. Although the ending frustrated the hell out of me. I wanted to see more.