Backcountry

Backcountry

“This was my favorite place in the whole world when I was a kid.” On an average day, this might seem like a harmless statement. But if the scene is set in a national park and the supposed hero turns down a map from a ranger, insisting he knows where he’s going, then it’s a good bet things are not going to end well.

Enter “Backcountry,” an excellently crafted wilderness thriller written and directed by Adam MacDonald that may or may not have been inspired by actual events (the movie did make me want to look up whether it was based on true story so I guess that’s some sign of effectiveness). The film is strong enough in its depiction of the evils of camping without supervision that I’ve seen at least one reviewer go as far as to suggest it has some kind of “let’s just turn all this forest into a parking lot” agenda. I don’t think it goes quite so far; rather, if there is any message at all here, it’s “Don’t go camping with an idiot.”

The film opens as Attractive Young Canadian People Alex (Jeff Roop) and Jenn (Missy Peregrym) joke back and forth while driving toward their wild destination. She reads from a magazine “rate your boyfriend” feature jokingly; he wonders whether “can start fire without matches” is among those criteria. Once parked Alex commits his first of many missteps by turning down the offer for directions. While Alex sees Jenn as over parsoned (she’s lawyerish), he’s trying to impress her with all kinds of Canuck Tarzan stuff culminating in marriage proposal.

But best-laid plans go awry. A little later when chopping wood Alex hears voices; why there’s Jenn talking to some muscular Irish dude named Brad (Eric Balfour) who calls himself a wilderness guide! That we meet this fellow mid-convo with the female half of our couple is one of director MacDonald’s not unfamiliar directorial feints.

What does this interloper bring? Well, fresh fish for starters. Indirectly juxtaposing shiny new camping equipment of Mr./Ms./Mrs./Ms.’s versus messy business fish guts shots conveys an uncontainable disorder. Later sitting around fire Alex stammers when stately stud Brad asks how he makes ends meet: “Right now my buddy has landscaping business.”

Oh dear. One gets uneasy feeling movie building up toward some kind allegorical statement about Condition Of Contemporary Masculinity which evokes certain species sexual tension when Brad says let see potatoes These considerations magically transform into red herrings though once big hungry bear shows up after which arch ugh ick time director Macdonald can’t be faulted use special effects judiciously dropped out sound and other varieties cinematic eloquence convey pretty unspeakable grisliness.

There’s a lot of flight and chase scenes, with that wide-angle shot that makes the hunted seem like they are getting squeezed into one side of the frame so as to give viewers a better view of whatever monster might be lurking behind them.

The thing is though, it works for all intents and purposes but leaves you feeling empty in the end. This isn’t meant to be an unfair comparison with a classic my mind jumps first to “Deliverance” which actually dealt with every theme its plot hinted at only now we have gotten to Backcountry where only elemental stuff remains while everything else has been used as window dressing. Some people might see this as some sort of blessing.

I have never cared much about any body’s take on Current State Of Malehood anyway but by the time I got done watching it last night I felt cheated or something after everything unusual/tense happened toward the end; also Frères Lumières’ Godspeed You! Black Emperor sound alike score annoyed me slightly because it sounded similar.

Watch Backcountry For Free On Gomovies.