''Latitude 55°'' is a 1982 Canadian

drama Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on Radio drama, radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a g ...

adventure film The adventure film is a broad genre of film. Some early genre studies found it no different than the Western film or argued that adventure could encompass all Hollywood genres. Commonality was found among historians Brian Taves and Ian Cameron in ...

Plot

Wanda Woodsworth (

Andrée Pelletier Andrée Pelletier (born August 24, 1951) is a Canadian actress, screenwriter and film director. As an actress, she is a five-time Canadian Film Award and Genie Award nominee, receiving nominations for Best Actress at the 29th Canadian Film Awards ...

), a field worker for the Department of Culture, is on her way home to the city after a winter assignment in the northern part of Alberta. Her car breaks down on the deserted highway and as the weather worsens she finds herself stranded in the middle of a

blizzard A blizzard is a severe Winter storm, snowstorm characterized by strong sustained winds and low visibility, lasting for a prolonged period of time—typically at least three or four hours. A ground blizzard is a weather condition where snow th ...

. Her initial calm gives way to anxiety and eventually to panic as she desperately tries to stay awake and alive. At the height of the blizzard, Wanda is rescued by a local potato farmer, Joseph Przysiezny (

August Schellenberg August Werner Schellenberg (July 25, 1936 – August 15, 2013) was a Canadian actor. He played Randolph in the first three installments of the ''Free Willy'' film series (1993–1997) as well as characters in '' Black Robe'' (1991), '' The New Wo ...

), who carries her to a dilapidated shack nearby. For two days and two nights, while waiting for the blizzard to pass, two people stalk each other restlessly, inexorably, with humour and passion, in a painfully revealing series of confrontations that runs the gamut from mistrust and terror to physical intimacy and almost religious ecstasy.

Recognition

* 1983 ** Genie Award for Best Achievement in Art Direction – Richard Hudolin ** Genie Award for Best Achievement in Costume Design – Wendy Partridge **

Genie Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role The Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television presents an annual award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role to the best performance by a lead actor in a Canadian film.Maria Topalovich, ''And the Genie Goes To...: Celebrating 50 Years ...

–

** Genie Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role –

** Genie Award for Best Original Screenplay – John Juliani, Sharon Riis

External links

National Film Board of Canada profile
* 1982 films 1980s adventure drama films English-language Canadian films Canadian adventure drama films 1982 drama films 1980s English-language films 1980s Canadian films English-language adventure drama films {{1980s-Canada-film-stub