In the 18s, Dr. John Rae was a celebrated explorer of the Arctic. He travelled in small vessels with small crews; he adopted the ways of the Inuit to survive the winters; he ate local food; he wore fur. He is also remembered as the man who returned to England in 1851 with the news that the members of the Franklin expedition were dead, had committed cannibalism and had failed to discover the Northwest Passage. For this, he was virtually tarred and feathered by Lady Franklin and her Passage, the director John Walker sets out to defend and honour Rae. He travels to England to trace the story of how Rae became involved in the search for Franklin, taking along his cast and crew, as well as Tagak Curley, an Inuit descendant of the people who discovered the remains of the expedition. Walker’s trip to Britain is also an attempt to correct history: he arranges to meet with the great-great-grandson of Charles Dickens, who was enlisted by Lady Franklin to slander Rae and the Inuit, and who claimed the Inuit were cannibals who had attacked the defenceless expedition. The encounter between the descendants exemplifies the importance and effect of a heartfelt apology, and Passage melds documentary passages and fictional re-enactment very smoothly. Watch for the appearance of Ken McGoogan (author of the book Fatal Passage), dressed in a fine-looking fringed leather jacket as he joins the modern-day adventurers. Early in the movie, upon seeing the statue in London honouring Franklin’s posthumous discovery of the Northwest Passage, Tagak Curley deadpans something to the effect that Franklin wasn’t a great explorer, he just got lost. Too true. It is Dr. John Rae who deserves a statue; he was the real deal.