Long Way North
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''Long Way North'' () is a 2015
animated film Animation is a filmmaking technique whereby still images are manipulated to create moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Animati ...
directed by Rémi Chayé. The film premiered at the
Annecy International Animation Film Festival The Annecy International Animation Film Festival (, officially abbreviated in English as the Annecy Festival, or simply Annecy) was created in 1960 and takes place at the beginning of June in the town of Annecy, France. Initially occurring ever ...
, where it won the Audience Award.


Plot

In 19th-century
Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...
, a young girl named Sasha watches as her beloved grandfather – a noted explorer named Oloukine – departs upon a voyage to reach the
North Pole The North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole, is the point in the Northern Hemisphere where the Earth's rotation, Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface. It is called the True North Pole to distingu ...
on board the ''Davaï'', a specially designed
icebreaker An icebreaker is a special-purpose ship or boat designed to move and navigate through ice-covered waters, and provide safe waterways for other boats and ships. Although the term usually refers to ice-breaking ships, it may also refer to smaller ...
built to withstand the harsh arctic conditions and paid for by the Tsar of Russia. After years without word from the vessel, the Tsar declares a reward of 1 million
ruble The ruble or rouble (; rus, рубль, p=rublʲ) is a currency unit. Currently, currencies named ''ruble'' in circulation include the Russian ruble (RUB, ₽) in Russia and the Belarusian ruble (BYN, Rbl) in Belarus. These currencies are s ...
s for proof of the ''Davaï''s final resting place, effectively declaring the vessel sunk with all hands. Sasha, now 15 and about to host her
debutante ball A debutante, also spelled débutante ( ; from , ), or deb is a young woman of aristocratic or upper-class family background who has reached maturity and is presented to society at a formal "debut" ( , ; ) or possibly debutante ball. Original ...
, sneaks into a newly built library wing to be named for her grandfather in order to view the many artifacts he had donated, but while there, she overhears a conversation in which Prince Tomsky belittles her grandfather's achievements. Tomsky considers Oloukine's failure to return as a political humiliation to the Tsar, who had invested heavily in the expedition, and so Tomsky intends to see that Oloukine's name does not adorn the building. Attending Sasha's ball, he loudly feigns outrage when Sasha points out that her grandfather's notes detail how he took a different route than the one assumed by the Tsar's advisors, and after Tomsky storms from the building, the other guests follow him, keen to distance themselves from the family. Denied a position as the ambassador to Rome because of Tomsky's deception, Sasha's father blames his daughter for the family's fall from grace. Sasha runs away from home, traveling by what means she can to the coast, where she locates a vessel – the ''Norge'' – with a reinforced
hull Hull may refer to: Structures * The hull of an armored fighting vehicle, housing the chassis * Fuselage, of an aircraft * Hull (botany), the outer covering of seeds * Hull (watercraft), the body or frame of a sea-going craft * Submarine hull Ma ...
, which indicates that it is built for travel to the icy Northern seas where Sasha wishes to go. After negotiating passage with Larson, a man falsely claiming to be the captain, the ''Norge'' departs without her and she is forced to wait for its return while working as a dogsbody in a
tavern A tavern is a type of business where people gather to drink alcoholic beverages and be served food such as different types of roast meats and cheese, and (mostly historically) where travelers would receive lodging. An inn is a tavern that ...
. When the ''Norge'' returns, Sasha uses her grandfather's notes to convince the real captain – Lund – that she can locate the ''Davaï'', meaning Lund and his crew may claim the Tsar's 1 million ruble reward. Lund is bound by honor to grant Sasha passage, as Larson is both his first mate and brother, and Larson has gambled away the price of Sasha's passage during the unprofitable voyage from which the ''Norge'' and its crew have just returned. The crew at first warm to Sasha over the long course of the voyage, but when the ''Norge'' is destroyed because of Larson's lack of experience, the crew turn upon Sasha as rations dwindle and they begin to blame her for their dire predicament. Days into their seemingly futile journey across the Arctic snows, Sasha flees the group into a raging
blizzard A blizzard is a severe Winter storm, snowstorm characterized by strong sustained winds and low visibility, lasting for a prolonged period of time—typically at least three or four hours. A ground blizzard is a weather condition where snow th ...
, where she is found by a
husky Husky is a general term for a type of dog used in the polar regions, primarily and specifically for work as sled dogs. It refers to a traditional northern type, notable for its cold-weather tolerance and overall hardiness. Modern racing huskies ...
she befriended on the ship, but rather than lead her back to the crew, the dog leads her to the frozen corpse of Oloukine. After retrieving his
logbook A logbook (or log book) is a record used to record states, events, or conditions applicable to complex machines or the personnel who operate them. Logbooks are commonly associated with the operation of aircraft, nuclear plants, particle accelera ...
, the corpse is carried away by the disintegration of the ice shelf. Sasha reads the log and discovers Oloukine's journey played out much as Sasha's has, with his men abandoning him on the ice-locked ''Davaï'' because of his obsessive quest to reach the North Pole, forcing him to go forth alone across the ice, where he claims to have reached the North Pole, but, weakened by hunger, sat down in the snow to better appreciate the harsh beauty of his surroundings, where he is found two years later by Sasha. Sasha uses the coordinates in the logbook to find the ''Davaï'', and the crew use the dynamite they brought with them to blast the ship free and take it back out to sea. Exploring the vessel, Sasha finds her grandfather's cabin, in which a picture of her as a child rests upon his desk, frozen in place. As the credits roll, a montage of still images play out: the ''Davaï''s return to St. Petersburg, Tomsky's humiliation as Sasha is proven correct, and Sasha's reunion with her father. A post-credits scene also plays, in which the flag planted by Oloukine at the North Pole is blown away by the Arctic wind.


Voice cast


Release

''Long Way North'' was released theatrically in the US by
Shout! Factory Shout! Factory, LLC, doing business as Shout! Studios (formerly doing business as Shout! Factory, its current legal name), is an American home video and music distributor founded in 2002 as Retropolis Entertainment. Its video releases, issued i ...
on September 30, 2016, and on DVD and Blu-ray on January 17, 2017.


Accolades


References


External links

*{{IMDb title, 2262345 2010s adventure films 2010s French animated films 2015 animated films 2015 directorial debut films 2015 films Danish adventure films Danish animated films Films about survivors of seafaring accidents or incidents Films set in Saint Petersburg Animated films set in the 1880s Animated films set in the Arctic Films set in the Russian Empire Animated films set on ships French adventure films 2010s French-language films French animated feature films Animated films set in Russia