"Never Cry Wolf" (film/book) - My Review and Comparison

The movie was based on the true story of Farley Mowat, who was sent to the expedition in tundra. His main goal was to find the truthful evidence about the fact that wolves represent the main cause of the extinction of caribou. The main character finds himself in a difficult situation, in a cold tundra trying to survive. Concurrently, he conducts his study about the wolves trying to understand and learn more about their behavior, habits and life. Finally, he arrives to the conclusion that all the beliefs about wolves’ habits and their presumptive harm made to the caribous are wrong. On the contrary, Mowat discovers that humans represent the worse danger to the nature and to the wolves also. The film contains some incredible mystery and loneliness shown through the Mowat’s character. His isolation and sudden closeness to the wolves’ family gives to the film its particular zest. All those elements are present in the book as well as in film.

However, the film cannot be just an exact replica of the book. In general, I think that book is quite similar to what was shown in the movie. However, there are some differences between the book and the film, especially the ending. In the movie, the wolves are killed in the end while, in the book, the wolves survive. I think that this change in the ending of the story was made purposely by filmmakers. The murder of wolves’ family at the end of the film (which didn’t exist in the original) gives to whole story its dramatic tone and makes people think further about the violent treatment of people towards wolves. Usually, the films with some tragic or dramatic ending gives people more “food” to debate after watching it and makes them think about the moral described in the film.

I really liked this film, because it contains some mystery and shows the nature in its most beautiful side. The amazing images of Canadian tundra and animals, the actors’ play, the music, the atmosphere given trough the screen and the story were just amazing. Moreover, the absence of long dialogs between characters and human voices in the film makes the film even more interesting and mysterious. This silence which was replaced by the sounds of the nature and wolves howling gives an amazing impression and plunge you completely into the atmosphere of the movie.