Passage

Story

Synopsis

With a unique blend of dramatic action and behind-the-scenes documentary footage, filmmaker John Walker shares the multi-layered story of British explorer Sir John Franklin and his crew of 128 men, who perished in the Arctic ice during an ill-fated attempt to discover the Northwest Passage, and John Rae, the Scottish doctor who in 1851, discovered their dismal fate. Rae's dark report, which described the crew’s madness and cannibalism, did not sit well with Sir John's widow, Lady Franklin, nor with many others in British society, including Charles Dickens. They waged a bitter public campaign to discredit Rae's version of events and mark an entire nation of northern Inuit with the label of murderous cannibals. A stunning face-to-face meeting between the great-great grandson of Charles Dickens and Tagak Curley, an honoured Inuit statesman who challenges the fraudulent history, vaults the story from the past into the present and we are witness to history in the making.

Director

John Walker

Writers

Andrew Rai Berzins, John Walker

Language

English

Country

Canada

Release date

3 October 2008

Ensemble

Cast

• 

  Rick Roberts

  John Rae

• 

  Geraldine Alexander

  Lady Jane Franklin

• 

  David Acton

  Sir James Clark Ross

• Andrew Alston

  Sir William Edward Perry

• 

  Nigel Bennett

  Sir James Graham

• 

  Alistair Findlay

  Sir John Richardson

• Colin George

  Sir Francis Beaufort

• 

  Patrick Godfrey

  Sir John Barrow

• Simon Slater

  Sir George Back

• 

  Guy Oliver-Watts

  Charles Dickens