Black Mountain Side (2014) reminds me that not all archaeology expeditions are echos of Indiana Jones‘ spectacular digs, full of divinities and snakes and evil people.
Sometimes digs are full of evil divinities, villainous deer, and delusional people.
If you look closely, you’ll see snow!
And snow!
In this spritely tale, an archaeological specialist in Amazonian languages is summoned to a camp in the far north of the Alaska wilderness. Choppered in over the deep snow fields, along with groceries and other supplies, he’s been called on to help decipher a mysterious artifact, discovered buried in the ground and in situ, as they say. As he investigates, he meets the poker playing men who run the camp: director, electronics specialist, archaeologists, medical doctor. All good guys.
The next day, the locals, i.e., Inuit, who have been providing the bulk of the labor, abruptly vamoose, heading out over deep snow fields with little in the way of supplies, towards the nearest village that’s miles away.
Something’s wrong.
This is followed by illness, madness, mutations, amputations, and an unfortunate use of guns to resolve some delusional conflicts. As we near the end of this enchanting tale, we finally get that rupture in our finely spun cocoon of rationality, a visit from an entity angry and powerful, but an entity that, too, cannot prove that it even exists. This irrationality, confronting our imported scientists, completes a picture that included cephalopods and a long walk by that scientist.
With a final complication. But let me remind you: cephalopods.
Confusing review? I assure you, I’ve reread the review and tried to clarify, but, like reality, irrational chaos lurks around the edges of this story, the idea of powerful, jealous entities, with alien motivations and probably no sense of humor.
You’ve been warned.
