When artists sign up as producers of their films, it can feel like a statement of intent. Such is the case with the true drama Infinite Storm, which stars Naomi Watts as a grieving woman on an unexpected rescue mission. The film has an attractive, streamlined trajectory: the woman hikes up and down a mountain, pausing to rescue a lost soul. With this role, Watts reminds us that she can only hold the screen and tell you everything you need to know about a character without saying a word – and look fantastic at the same time.
Early on October 17, 2010, a New Hampshire woman named Pam Bales embarked on a six-mile hike to Mount Washington, the highest peak in the Northeast. Temperatures were expected to reach the high 20s, with winds up to 80 mph Bales, however, was a lifelong walker and search-and-rescue volunteer. So she packed extra layers and snow goggles in her backpack before heading to an area she called an office and playground. “At 5,000 feet, about five miles in,” she later wrote in Backpacker magazine, “the wind started to pick up around me.”
Even for those who enjoy walking (on flat terrain in good weather, thank you), this sounds like madness. However, the presence of a sympathetic performer like Watts removes the doubt, even if it raises the stakes. You’re already on Pam’s side when she wakes up at home early in the morning. Alone, she strolls through her isolated home, full of homey touches and picturesquely parked by a river. Inside it is quiet, which makes you wonder about the laughing children in the framed pictures. Usually in the silence and atmosphere you settle on the methodical rhythms of Pam’s preparation for what seems like a very serious walk.
The world comes into view and increasingly fills the silence. Pam stops by a restaurant, where she exchanges pleasantries with a friend (Denis O’Hare) and fills in some blanks. It’s a short, outwardly perfunctory interlude: he tells her to be careful and she reminds him that it’s the anniversary of an unspoken event. The scene litters the floor with questions (what is she commemorating and why?), but seems mainly intended to appease anyone who might be disturbed by peace and a woman alone: she is not a madman, the scene reassures you, she has at least one friend and even a reason to venture alone into the ominous wilderness.
Pam’s trek is the centerpiece of the movie, and it’s a doozy. Director Malgorzata Szumowska sketches the foreboding position of the country with sweeping aerial shots of the snowcapped mountain range that sliced Pam down to speck size. Szumowska also cleverly uses distance to accentuate Pam’s physicality so you can see the character from head to toe, just like when Fred Astaire was dancing. You can see the arduous effort in Pam’s—and Watts’—every step as clearly as the puffs of icy air she exhales. As her efforts increase, she warms up and takes off her shirt, revealing her midriff and the steady tension of her muscular arms and shoulders.
Watts is an extremely expressive actress and, like Astaire, a full-body performer. The image of her frolicking on a cliff in front of the giant monkey in “King Kong” was the best part of that film, and her character’s exciting emotional training in “Mulholland Drive” remains vivid. Watts is particularly brilliant at articulating a character’s inner being; she brings out what lies beneath so clearly and convincingly that you see every thought and emotion fluttering. That serves her character beautifully here, even though Pam’s glasses can get in the way. I could watch a whole movie of Pam – really Watts – going up this mountain solo.
That Iron Woman trek takes a turn for the worse when the weather does, and Pam finds a man (Billy Howle) crouched in the snow and nearly frozen. She warms him up by taking his clothes off (good to know!) and then vows to get him to safety. The course of events is painful, at times poignant, and only slowed down by hazy, explanatory flashbacks to Pam’s former life. These weaken the momentum; they are also unnecessary. We don’t need to know anything about Pam’s past, because her story is already evident in every step and every smile, and in a translucent performance that confirms that watching Naomi Watts in this travel destination is enough.
Infinite storm
Rated R for mature language and suicidal thoughts. Running time: 1 hour 38 minutes. In theatres.
