Where Eskimos Live (2002)

Director:

Tomasz Wiszniewski

Writers:

Robert Brutter (writer)
Tomasz Wiszniewski (writer)

Release Date:

5 December 2003 (Poland)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

The only thing he wanted was money. What he found was worth much more.

Plot:

Sharkey, part of the sinister world of child trade, picks up Vlado, an orphan of war, dreaming of freedom and a better life...

Plot Keywords:

Orphan | Land Mine | Young Boy | Death Of Daughter | Man Boy Relationship

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Bob Hoskins	...	Sharkey
Sergiusz Zymelka	...	Vlado Petric
Krzysztof Majchrzak	...	Colonel Vuko
Miroslaw Baka	...	Sharkey's employer
Andrzej Chyra	...	Employer`s lawyer
Maja Ostaszewska
Slawomir Grzymkowski
Maciej Wojdyla
Lech Mackiewicz
Lukasz Komosa
Rafal Nakoneczny
Wojciech Smolarz
Przemyslaw Sadowski	...	Deserter
Tomasz Sapryk
Bronislaw Pawlik	...	Oldman in library
Jaroslaw Boberek	...	Truck driver
Krystyna Tkacz	...	Hotel owner
Wenanty Nosul	...	Oldman`s brother in library
Ilona Kucinska	...	Nurse
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Katarzyna Bargielowska	...	Crying woman
Andrzej Blumenfeld	...	Taxi Driver
Tomasz Dedek
Marcin Dorocinski	...	Muzyk
Piotr Grabowski	...	Soldier
Wlodzimierz Wiszniewski	...	Car Seller on the Gas Station
Anna Wojton	...	Niemka

Directed by
Tomasz Wiszniewski

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Robert Brutter		writer
Tomasz Wiszniewski		writer

Produced by
Chris Burdza	....	producer
Carl Colpaert	....	co-producer: Cineville
Teresa Dworzecka	....	co-producer
Bernd Helthaler	....	co-executive producer
Michal Kwiecinski	....	co-executive producer
Tom Lasica	....	line producer
Hagen Alexander Mueller	....	producer
Martina Müller	....	co-producer
Conny Neetenbeek	....	associate producer
Paula Paizes	....	producer
Brenda Reiss	....	associate producer
Wolfram Tichy	....	executive producer

Original Music by
Michal Lorenc

Cinematography by
Aleksei Rodionov

Film Editing by
Henry Richardson

Production Design by
Jacek Osadowski

Art Direction by
Tomasz Padlewski
Michal Szulkiewicz

Set Decoration by
Teresa Gruber

Costume Design by
Dorota Roqueplo

Makeup Department
Czeslawa Baldo	....	hair stylist
Czeslawa Baldo	....	makeup artist
Tomasz Matraszek	....	hair stylist
Tomasz Matraszek	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Susanne Kusche	....	production manager
Marco Mehlitz	....	production supervisor: VIF
Michael Reuter	....	post-production supervisor
Niels Rinke	....	post-production supervisor
Miroslaw Warchol	....	production manager (as Mirek Warchol)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Andrzej Bednarski	....	first assistant director

Art Department
Wieslawa Pawlinska	....	assistant art director

Sound Department
Peter Gleaves	....	adr mixer (uncredited)
Manuel Laval	....	supervising sound editor
Sabrina Naumann	....	assistant sound designer
Bernd Popella	....	sound supervisor
Michael Riedmiller	....	sound pre-mix
Malgorzata Rok	....	sound
Dominik Schleier	....	dialogue editor (as Dominik Kehl)

Music Department
Matthias Schwab	....	music editor
Zbigniew Zbrowski	....	music supervisor

Other crew
Martina Blank	....	production coordinator
Louis Elman	....	adr director
Mikolaj Haremski	....	personal assistant to director
Sylvia Koschorreck	....	production assistant
P.J. Pesce	....	creative consultant

Production Companies

• Akson Studio
• Business Affairs Entertainment
• EuroArts Entertainment
• TiMe Film- und TV-Produktions GmbH
• Vif Babelsberger Filmproduktion GmbH & Co. Erste KG

Distributors

• Vine International Pictures (2002) (worldwide) (all media) (sales)
• Image Entertainment (2006) (USA) (DVD)

Also Known As:

Tam, gdzie zyja Eskimosi (Poland)

Runtime:

95 min

Country:

Poland | UK | Germany | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Australia:M | Spain:18

Filming Locations:

Bosnia-Herzegovina

Company:

Akson Studio

Remarkably good and touching story

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.