Movie Thoughts: Never Cry Wolf (1983)

• Released: 1 September 1983
• Directed by: Carroll Ballard
• Running time: 1 h 45 min
• Rating 3.5/5

Synopsis

In the time where wolves were still widely demonized and feared by many, a lone researcher is dropped off in the northern Canadian wilderness to study a pack of Arctic wolves for months.

My Thoughts

I have reviewed Farley Mowat's very influential non-fiction book this movie is based on before on my book review blog. For those not in the know, it's one of the most important non-fiction books about wolves as it was one of the first looks at wolves as a species that wasn't relentlessly demonizing them, but rather a neutral and sometimes even positive look at the species. This was at a time where wolves were being hunted relentlessly for supposedly being the cause of caribou populations dwindling (hint: the ones causing this turned out to be humans and not wolves).

So this is an adaptation of said book, with some fictionalized elements added. Rather than the main character being called Farley Mowat, we get our main character named Tyler. He is pretty much supposed to be our Farley, but for whatever reason they changed his name. There's also some things in the movie that didn't occur in the book, and some events of the book that were left out.

The movie is pretty darn good and heartfelt at times. Obviously if you love wolves you probably already know what's happening going in, but it's still wholesome to see this man get close to this wolf pack for some time while still respecting their boundaries (well, except for one instance where he ends up in in their den). He studies them, there's some fun situations that ensue, and he befriends some of the Inuit locals.

The wolves in this movie also are in fact real wolves, thought I did think it was funny that some of them have grey/black coats, when it's explicitly stated that Tyler is studying Arctic wolves (which are pale/white). The two "main" wolves that feature, Angelina and George, are definitely Arctics, as are their pups, but the entire rest of the pack is either gray or black-coated. My guess is either they couldn't get more than five Arctic wolves, or they didn't want the audience to confuse the named individuals. Angeline and George, both being white, are already pretty hard to distinguish, as are their pups, but when the entire pack is thrown into the mix I can see how it would be hard to tell who is who for the audience, so having wolves of various coat colors could help with that. It's just a bit odd for the movie to specify that this is a pack of Arctic wolves when some of them are clearly not.

Overall this is a good movie, though, and a good adaptation of the book. Not perfect, but I liked it a lot and you'll probably like it if you're a wolf-lover like me. If you are one, I also recommend you pick up the book this is based on as it's really a milestone for wolf non-fiction in general.