Uplifting, charming, although sometimes clichéd, the tale — based on actual events that took place in 2004 — of a young teacher from southern Ontario who, to pad his resume, takes a job as a teacher to Inuit high schoolers in the Artic (the village of Kugluktuk in Nunavut, infamous for its very high rate of youth suicide) goes beyond the usual underdog story and, by its end, has earned the power to move you. The teacher, who doesn’t have much life experience himself, is a fish out of water in this tiny and troubled town, and starts a lacrosse club (a passion of his) to give his students a feeling of purpose and a sense of belonging. Of course, some of the elders are suspicious, and there are other challenges (such as who will pay for equipment) to making a lacrosse team work in that community, but the journey (courtesy of first time feature director Miranda de Pencier) will inspire.
