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White Mile (1994)

Rate: 8
Viewed: 11/20

WhMile
11/20: Based on the 1987 incident along the Chilko River in British Columbia, Canada, White Mile highlights the reasons why I hate working for others.

The biggest of them all is the loss of control. I see these guys in the film and can completely understand their dilemma. When I used to be a teacher, I had no choice or say about the matters that were related to lockdowns, disaster situations, and abusive working conditions. It was "either you are with us, or you're not." Not appreciating this kind of thinking, I chose to quit and vowed to never put myself in the same situation again.

I hate the corporate life and won't think of going back. The personality of Alan Alda's character, Dan Cutler, is quite common in this line of work, and he's a shark: unfeeling and single-minded with the intent to kill. The ending in terms of what happened to him isn't a shocker. He's the fake kind who lives and dies by the sword.

White Mile has great whitewater rafting scenes, so I give top marks for everybody involved to make them realistic. Having done these trips before, paddling experience does matter, and these rapids are most definitely class V but probably not VI. And no helmets?!? That's sheer lunacy. On the other hand, the cast is great with plenty of familiar faces.

Although Dan Cutler is mostly at fault, the tour guide deserves a share of the blame for being so stupid not to realize the high potential failure of the trip. His safety instructions prior to the trip are too terse and unsubstantial; he doesn't even explain what to do in case if the raft is capsized or check on anybody to see if they're paying attention. Plus, the water is too cold, enough to cause hypothermia. Because of the overload, there should've been two rafts although I can understand going with one was intended to be a metaphor.

All in all, White Mile is full of life lessons, and the most important of all is: "Are you going to be in control or let yourself be controlled by others?"