Fantastic improbabilities, happenstance and the undying bridge of love are part of this romantic fantasy about an Inuit who crosses years, oceans and the ravages of WWII to find his childhood love, a Metis girl, but finds that their cultures are the most difficult spaces to gap.
The best movies seem to reinvent themselves as they move along, not drawing from worn-out sources, and Map of the Human Heart is one of the year's best films.
– Roger Ebert,
Chicago Sun-Times,
1 Jan 2000
rotten:
Despite its historical surrounding and a few stabs at thematic depth, Map of the Human Heart has all the flavor and plot complexity of a Harlequin romance.
– James Berardinelli,
ReelViews,
1 Jan 2000
fresh:
A film of incantatory intensity and moment by a prodigiously gifted young filmmaker.
– Hal Hinson,
Washington Post,
1 Jan 2000
fresh:
Even by Mr. Ward's own high standards in the area of idiosyncrasy, this is a daringly peculiar tale.