ICEMAN

BRUCE SMEATON

Rating:

Original Review: As soon as I saw this film on TV a couple of years ago, I just knew I had to own the soundtrack. Iceman, directed by Fred Schepisi, is a fascinating examination of different cultures dressed up as science fiction. Set in the snowy north of Alaska, it stars Timothy Hutton and Lindsay Crouse as members of a team of scientists who accidentally discover the frozen, perfectly preserved body of a Neanderthal man inside a block of ice. Upon thawing, the scientists are even more shocked when the man is revived - almost three thousand years after he began his slumber. What follows is a battle of wills, and of morals, as Crouse wants to subject the man - now named "Charlie" - to dozens of tests and studies, while Hutton believes that he should be treated with the dignity and respect afforded to any other human.

Aside from the engrossing storyline, the absolutely stunning snowy cinematography and the incredibly heartfelt performance by John Lone as Charlie, one of the most striking things about Iceman is the haunting score by Australian composer Bruce Smeaton. Smeaton is one of Oz's top composers, having worked on films such as A Town Called Alice, A Cry In The Dark and, later, the Steve Martin vehicle Roxanne. However, in my opinion, Iceman marks the pinnacle of Smeaton's career to date. Written for a full orchestra with solo performances by the shakuhachi Japanese wood flute, the score is undoubtedly beautiful in parts, but yet it somehow has a forlorn, almost anguished quality, as if acting as a musical depiction of Charlie's understandably confused mind.

Unusually, Smeaton allows the shakuhachi to actually carry the main theme for much of the score, something which does not usually happen with the instrument - James Horner, who regularly uses the shaku in his scores, normally uses it to add ambience or an "ethereal" quality to his orchestrations, rather than to be the main melodic instrument. By all accounts, the shaku is a very difficult instrument to master, making the superb performance in Iceman all the more astounding. It's initial performance in 'Main Title' is unforgettable, while the subsequent repeats in 'Charlie', 'It's Alive', 'Memories', 'Dreamwalk' (a noble brass-led recapitulation) and the large scale, terribly haunting 'Charlie's Flight and End Title' merely underline Smeaton's talent.

Where Iceman suffers, and whereby it narrowly fails to get top marks, is in its incidental cues. The remainder of the music, where the theme is not present, is soft, dissonant, generally unmemorable "filler" mainly for woodwinds and synths, and which leave little impression on this listener at least. Smeaton does occasionally make an interesting remark with his orchestration: the eerie, wobbly descending synths and bells in 'Discovery'; the primitive flute theme in 'Vivarium', and the two action sequences in 'Breakout' and 'Maynard Surprised/Freedom'. The other dissuading issue for many may be the ludicrously brief running time which, at a scant 28 minutes, may be considered to be almost an insult. My opinion, though, is that the high quality of this release vastly outweighs the lack of quantity. As Yoda says in The Empire Strikes Back, "Judge me by my size, do you?"

For many years, Iceman had been an out of print collectable, having been released on the generally scarce Southern Cross label back in 1992. However, a new batch of identical prints have emerged from the relatively obscure Hot Records distributor, allowing a whole new batch of film score fans to enjoy this spectacular score. The running time may be short, but I truly believe the main theme to be one of the most affecting I have heard in a while.

Track Listing: Running Time: 28 minutes 37 seconds

Southern Cross SCCD-1006 (1984)

Music composed and conducted by Bruce Smeaton. Orchestrations by Bruce Smeaton. Recorded and mixed by Dan Wallin. Edited by Jim Henriksen. Mastered by Robert Vosgien. Album produced by Bruce Smeaton and John Lasher.


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