tommytune79 This is a beautiful, thoughtful, heart-wrenching story. The cinematography of the film is artful and intimate, it feels like you are in the room, almost shamefully eavesdropping... the ending doesn't completely gel for me, the story line works, but I think it needs to be fleshed out a bit more. The ensemble performances are letter perfect, the subtleties and inner thoughts of these characters are crystal clear to the viewer, it's almost unnerving. The frantic energy of wartime life is captured beautifully, without being a trite war movie. It's just another layer of these characters reality, it doesn't overwhelm the story. Brandon Lee is beautiful in this role, very impressive performance. Great great story, I loved this movie!!!!

fedor8 Avik, a little Eskimo brat, messes with a mapmaker's equipment and later spits blood into his face. What he needed was a slap in the face... The movie is very European in the sense that every event has to be symbolic, everything has to be poetic, lyrical, or whatever. I mean, just look at the pretentious title (something Oprah Winfrey would say when addressing her band of dumb female viewers). The dialog suffers the most from this; because everything has to be so absolutely grand, most characters, some of the time, talk unlike real people do. Hence the dialog is occasionally awkward. Parillaud is charming and good, whereas Lee is likable but average. The revisionist views regarding the bombing of Dresden weren't necessary. The ending, though very much as grand as everything here is supposed to be, is quite good. Even the scene of the first time Parillaud and Lee have sex has to be grand: they do it on a huge air-balloon. And one of their romantic meetings is on top of Albert Hall, minutes before Germans start bombing the neighbourhood. So granditudionallly grandispliferous. Definitely watchable, but not captivating.

AZINDN Map of the Human Heart is a rare film which is both haunting and beautiful as well as filled with the violence of man against man and nature. It's lead actors, Jason Scott Lee (Avik) and Annie Parlliaud (Albertine) play aboriginals of Canada who are both outcasts by their mixed-blood status in the respective communities, Inuit and Cree, providing insight to the ancient animosity between native groups that shatter the positive stereotype and myth of egalitarian indigenous tribes living in harmony before western contact. In fact, the theme of conflict repeats throughout this fine, little film and provides the backdrop for the love story of Avik and Albertine in WWII England.Discovered as a small boy by a military mapmaker on expedition to his community, Avik, aka "Holy Boy" is drawn to the officer who removes him from his village, a typical action by intrusive, well-intentioned outsiders. Removed to a Catholic run native hospital for treatment, Avik meets the Cree Indian girl, Albertine, a patient with tuberculosis. Historically, the two native groups are ancient enemies, and the children inherited this long-standing animosity without knowing anything of the other until they realize a shared situation and experience. As Avik and Albertine's friendship blossoms, their childhood devotion turns to first love. Avik steals Albertine's x-ray of her damaged lungs and heart which he carries with him into adulthood. The children attempt to run away from the hospital but are thwarted by adult authorities and their separation begins the second half of the film.When the adult Avik returns to his native village to care and provide for his elderly grandmother, he is an unsuccessful as a provider, something seen as a curse to others of the village as well as his grandmother. She realizes Avik must be set free from the ancient ways of native life and commits suicide, a sacrifice of herself for Avik's future. Time and the setting jumps to WWII London where a grown up Albertine is now married to the same British officer who was Avik's liberator. She works with the security branch of the British Army and her unit is responsible to identify sites from the aerial maps for bombing runs turned in by bomber crews. While at work, she reads the name of one of the planes, the "Holy Boy" the childhood name for Avik and reunites with her childhood companion. Their love is rekindled in one of the most memorable settings -- the Royal Albert Hall dome -- where Avik and Albertine escape.The film revels in unlikely settings to situate it's stars adding to the visual and physical splendor of Albertine and Avik's love. From the Royal Albert Hall, to an aerial blimp over the White Horse Vale where they consummate their passion, the cinematography is stunning! Contrasted against this splendor is the reality of the war. The missions to destroy cities and ultimately humans is carnage in acts of violence that is the reality of war. Avik, faced with Albertine's marriage to the man who changed his life, confronts the mapmaker, a jealous controlling man. Albertine's passionate love for Avik is unbearable and he orders Avik's unit back to the "Holy Boy" to take part in one last run that is the controversial bombing of Dresden, Germany. A city acknowledged as a cultural treasure and not factory of Nazi ammunitions manufacture, Dresden was off-limits to bombing runs by Allied troops. However, the hatred for Avik and Albertine's love drives the mapmaker to order the firebombing of Dresden, with the participation of the "Holy Boy." Shot down during the offensive, Avik parachutes into Dresden as the flame offensive engulfs the city. Trying to save a child from the flames, Avik drops the x-ray of Albertine's heart, a symbol of his constant devotion and love, in the conflagration. The conclusion of the film is a heart-wrenching resolution that remains true to the storyline and by the end, the story comes full-circle. The film remains little known but is a captivating romantic adventure which should have received more recognition for both originality and camera-work. It is worthy of attention and delivers with thoughtful commentary on the human heart, loyalty, and hatred.

George Parker In "Map of the Human Heart", a down and out middle aged Eskimo man recounts his life story to an Arctic cartographer (Cusack, who has only a few minutes on screen) which constitutes the bulk of the film via flashback. His story begins with his puppy love relationship with a young half-breed girl in a hospital. From there the adorable child couple are torn apart only to have fate bring them together again as adults under the less than idyllic circumstances of WWII. The film meanders from the dramatic to the poignant to the romantic to the horrific and back to square one where it continues the story in present day. Beautifully filmed and well executed though a bit clumsy at times, "Map..." spackles up its many plot holes and provides a thoughtful fantasy camouflage for its lack of resolution in the end while serving up very pretty Kodak moments such as making love on a barrage balloon or dancing in the rafters high above an orchestra. "Map..." is sweet stuff for romantics and sentimentalists who can overlook it continuity and credibility issues in the interest of the human heart. (B)