Passage

One of the most disastrous expeditions seeking the fabled Northwest Passage left England in 1845 under the leadership of celebrated explorer Sir John Franklin, but then simply vanished. Futile searches eventually claimed more lives than the 129 lost on the original voyage as the nation became obsessed with learning the fate of Franklin and his men. Eventually, Scottish physician John Rae—who surveyed hundreds of miles of the route in his own successful venture under the auspices of the Hudson's Bay Company—found traces of the doomed expedition in the Arctic ice, although his 1851 report indicated that the last survivors had descended into cannibalism. The thought of Englishmen eating their colleagues horrified British society: led by Franklin's widow and Charles Dickens, the British heaped calumny on Rae and soon “discovered” the “real” culprits—the indigenous Inuit, who had allegedly murdered and then devoured their hapless “victims.” Franklin was lionized as a hero and the discoverer of the Northwest Passage (a fabrication), while Rae was consigned to history's dustbin. Canadian filmmaker John Walker corrects the historical record here with a combination of stunning visuals of the harshly beautiful northern Canadian landscape and seascape, together with a close examination of Rae's life and work, with actors portraying the principals. Based on the book Fatal Passage by Ken McGoogan, this engaging documentary concludes with an apology from Dickens' great-great-grandson Gerald to an Inuit leader. Highly recommended. Aud: C, P. (J. Whiting)