The Grey sticks with you, or at least it did with me. I will be watching this again soon since it is on Netflix streaming. I went in expecting a better than average survival in the wilderness film and got way more than I bargained for. There are no simplistic reductions here, but instead we have a layered parable about survival, mortality, God and facing the inevitable. Do you lie down and take it or fight? Does it matter in the end? Maybe.
It’s all done in a pared down and perfect style that highlights the brutality of the wild and how truly helpless we could be out there. In one amazing long scene, one of several of those that stick with you, a character sits down, dying on the side of a fallen tree. He is done, spent and has no reason to go on. He is looking at a gorgeous lake and snow capped mountain beyond. It’s perfect, he knows it and the camera lingers then pulls away as we hear the wolves approaching. It’s perfect indeed.