CheerupSilver Very Cool!!!

Executscan Expected more

Hayden Kane There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

Griff Lees Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

Andreas Niedermayer Where Eskimos Live caught my heart. It made me laugh and cry. It is a stunning accomplishment, showing the cruelties of war bluntly and without glossing over the facts of inhumanity and destruction. It is a simple but very convincing movie, centering around two very different characters and how they learn to trust and love each other in the sinister world of death, child trade and deceit.Sharkey (Bob Hoskins) is an obscure man who travels around war-torn Bosnia in 1995. He claims to be a caseworker for UNICEF, a camouflage he makes use of to get orphaned boys for a Russian mafia syndicate in Poland. He is in his fifties, apparently rough and callous; a loner always chasing an opportunity to make as much money as possible. Vlado (Sergiusz Zymelka) is a nine-year-old boy, orphaned by the war and now a member of a gang of pre-teen hoodlums who fool the military and steal food whenever they get a chance.After Sharkey's unlucky encounter with a colonel, who now claims him responsible for the death of his daughter and is hard on his heels, he meets Vlado's gang. Eventually, the young boy follows him, as Sharkey pretends coming from Norway – that is where Eskimos live, and Vlado always wanted to go there. So the two of them walk off, heading for the border. Of course their journey is not as smoothly as Sharkey would have preferred it to be; they have to survive various dangerous adventures, in the course of which they gradually grow quite close. Having dealt with the colonel and managed to leave Bosnia, Sharkey and Vlado arrive in Poland. Now they have to face the Russians, which means new challenges. Sharkey's cunning deceit almost proves too daring, but again they manage to survive.The movie is set and shot entirely on locations in Bosnia and Poland. The setting – both time and place – is the story's backbone. Thus it is a movie dealing with two characters and how they manage to survive amidst death and havoc in a war-torn country. The cruelties of war are shown in appalling images, visualized in all their crushing brutality and atrocity. Sharky and Vlado are surrounded by these images, by death and despair. They encounter deserters who are shot to death at a checkpoint on the street; they have to run for their lives when shells explode in their vicinity; they find piles of dead corpses, shot to death and terribly deformed. They are surrounded by these images and emotionally affected in a subtle but pervasive way, which leads to the establishment of an emotional bond between them that would have never attained its honesty and depth if it had not been for the hostile environment that makes them rely on each other.The acting performances of the two protagonists are outstanding. Sergiusz Zymelka in particular delivers so genuine scenes that I was moved to tears occasionally. His handsome appearance, his vivid and bright eyes, his cleverness and his disarming charm make him shine. The scene when Sharky attempts to make a photograph of the boy for a new passport features an hilarious Vlado who makes faces and displays his childish gaiety. Apart from that I deeply appreciate his knowledge of English, which is remarkably well-developed for a boy his age.Where Eskimos Live is a road movie; it lives by individual sequences that define its quality. The scene after the shooting of the two deserters is just awesome, so natural and authentic that I could almost feel the emotional scars inflicted in Sharky and Vlado. They lie down in the grass and scream – they have just escaped death, and it is moving how Vlado makes Sharkey release his pent-up emotions.This movie is never stereotypical or corny. It tells the story of one man who was looking for money but rather found something that was worth much more – a boy who pins all his hopes on him, a boy who makes him a better person, and, above all, a boy who loves him. The movie won various awards, giving ample evidence for its essential quality. It is brutal, sometimes vulgar and thus hard to digest for young children, but flawless and never awkward. Honest authenticity and a wonderful father-son relationship make this low budget production a more than worthwhile experience that shows how two characters undergo challenges and changes, which strengthens their bond and deepens their love.

neiljones1981 Every once in a while, a movie comes along that you'll just fall in love with despite having never heard of it previously. I discovered this gem of a movie when I was looking for items to add to my online DVD rental list. One viewing later and I loved it, in fact for the whole time I had this DVD (about ten days IIRC) I think I watched it at least half a dozen times.Set in 1995 in war-torn Bosnia, a man called Sharkey sets out to find a small boy to take out of the country for child trade purposes. This small boy turns out to be Vlado Petric, an orphan of the conflict and with hardened survival instincts. Vlado has a heart of gold, being overly protective towards a member of his gang who is regularly pushed around by the others, but this kid isn't totally selfless, and puts himself forward to go with Sharkey to leave Bosnia but Vlado really wants to go to Norway where the Eskimos live.The outbound trip is one fraught with peril, realisation and hope. Sharkey is a man on a mission, just doing his job. Vlado is just a boy and his being a boy (by his actions) initially irritates Sharkey but there is a bond forming between the pair. This doesn't stop them having a huge argument though. The scene where Vlado single handily saves Sharkey from being shot dead cements their bond, and is one of the highlights of the movie.Bob Hoskins stars in this movie, although it's always been kind of hard to take him seriously in any acting role ever after you've seen him in Super Mario Brothers in a plumber's outfit. Don't even go there. Hoskins acts very well here, a good solid performance.Sergiusz Zymelka steals the entire show for me. A great little Polish child actor who's capable of handling anything that this movie can throw at him and a lot more to boot. The performance is virtually flawless from Sergiusz but then the role demands it really. Nevertheless, he can act Bob Hoskins off the screen any day (a feat which isn't really all that difficult IMO).In short - great movie, worth watching, great acting, good solid drama with a spot of action and a sense of "all will be right with the world one day" about it.

Juni78ukr I caught this film yesterday on cable TV channel. Though it wasn't about eskimos it was surprisingly very good. So I was pleasantly surprised watching this touching and realistic drama about recent Balkan war. Well, it can be any of modern war - war it's a horrible thing wherever it happens.I don't like tell many words about the plot but because this film isn't famous it worth several lines. It's a 1995, in former Yugoslavia, at the height of the war. Bob Hoskins (only one Anon-Polish actor in the movie) played Sharkey, who wants for some reason get a kid (perfectly played by young polish talent Sergiusz Zymelka) out of a war torn country. Everywhere is anarchy, brigandage and marauding. Man's life worth simply nothing. For young orphan Vlado Sharkey it's the only chance for escaping from this nightmare. But for this they must travel hundreds miles through many obstacles. At the time of this journey we learn more about two main characters. All scenes through the agonizing country were perfectly shot and looked incredibly powerful and realistic. Also I found story didn't so forced like in some others modern war films (though it also wasn't flawless here). Cinematography was almost perfect, also worth to mention the very good soundtrack.Overall, I found Where Eskimos Live very good for such small-budgeted production. So, if you get a chance I recommend to all people check it out.My grade 8,6 or A-. Thanks for reading and sorry for my bad English.

redpanda This film easily ranks as one of the worst movies I have ever seen! And I don't mean that in a "so-bad-it's-almost-good" kind of way. The nicest thing I can say about it was that it was well-intentioned. The plot was embarrassingly amateurish, and relied on several bizarre coincidences. For example, the entire premise (and hence the title) rests on the fact that the boy, Vlado, who has been orphaned in the Bosnian conflict, dreams of escaping to Norway, because that's "where Eskimos live". But, inexplicably, Bob Hoskins' character, Sharkey (who is supposed to be Polish) introduces himself to Vlado by saying he comes from Norway. This is never explained, but we are meant to accept that Vlado somehow trusts Sharkey, because he says he Norwegian. What's also inexplicable is just how bad Bob Hoskins (sublime in films like "Felicia's Journey") is in this film. He didn't phone in his performance - he asked a casual acquaintance to email it for him. Hoskins' accent veered from Cockney to very fake-sounding upper-crust British, to very fake-sounding sort-of Polish. Then he just gave up and grunted like a dyspeptic bear. But the other actors weren't any better. If you want to see a good film about the Bosnian conflict, try "Cabaret Balkan" or "No Man's Land". Just don't waste any time or money trying to get through "Where Eskimos Live".