This is a film about what the Inuit lived like before the arrival of Europeans, and what happened after they arrived to one small community, through the eyes of the survivors. This is not some grand epic, but rather a slow and very intimate story which is filled with great sadness. At first, we hear that the story is being narrated from the point of view of one grandmother (Ningiuq) to her husband at some point in the future, which gives us a sense of comfort that everything will turn out well in the end.
Ningiuq is the main focus of the story, as well as her grandson Maniq. The first part of the film starts in a pre-contact Inuit village, and lets us meet all of its colourful characters. What struck me during this part of the film and what followed was how much I could relate with everyone. It is such a human film, much more so than most films nowadays.
***SPOILERS begin here***
One man tells of how his family met some people in strange boats far away from the village who met them and offered to trade metal needles (far sharper than anything the Inuit own) in return for sleeping with their women. The women wanted the needles...
In any case, winter is coming on, and provisions caught over the summer must be dried. Men from the Inuit village transport Ningiuq, her best friend Kutuujuk and her grandson Maniq over to an island where the three of them will dry the fish that the village has caught over the summer. Before he goes, Maniq's father hands him his harpoon and tells him that when he gets back, he will take him hunting for the first time. On the island, Kutuujuk gets ill and dies. Maniq becomes proficient with the harpoon and even catches his first seal. Ningiuq and Maniq wait for the boat to come, but fall is closing in. Finally, unable to wait any longer, they take their canoe and start the journey back themselves.
A horrible sight meets them back at the village. A European disease has broken out, and no-one is left alive. They decide to go back to the island where they stored some food, taking two puppies with them. Though their tent has broken down, they find a cave where they shelter through the long winter. Ningiuq sings songs and tells stories to Maniq, and Maniq dreams of making the two little pups his sled dogs. Ningiuq says that she knows of a beautiful place to the south where there are many people and children, but that the path there is long and very difficult. They are attacked by wolves, and Ningiuq is wounded. Towards the end, the film gets slower and slower, and Ningiuq begins repeating the same things to Maniq ("you're my grandson, you're so skilled, and I love you very much"). Finally, we see her talking to herself (but as if she were talking to her husband) and realize that her narration throughout the early part of the film was not from some comfortable happy ending, but from this desperate, lonely and not very hopeful situation.
Does the wonderful place in the south really exist? Will they ever get there? That's beyond the scope of this film, which is about the journey and not the destination.
***SPOILERS end here***
The acting and direction here are fantastic, and indeed it's one of those films that really gets you deep down. The music is a bit hit-and-miss, and I felt that the song which plays at the beginning and end ("Why Must We Die?") beats you over the head with the point a bit too much.
I think that most people will like the film, though. The one snag is that it is sometimes very slow, which is something that I've seen in all the Inuit films - the sense of pacing is just much slower in general than in the modern West. But at least it is slow and intimate rather than slow and aloof. I could not stand it if it were the latter.
Ningiuq is the main focus of the story, as well as her grandson Maniq. The first part of the film starts in a pre-contact Inuit village, and lets us meet all of its colourful characters. What struck me during this part of the film and what followed was how much I could relate with everyone. It is such a human film, much more so than most films nowadays.
***SPOILERS begin here***
One man tells of how his family met some people in strange boats far away from the village who met them and offered to trade metal needles (far sharper than anything the Inuit own) in return for sleeping with their women. The women wanted the needles...
In any case, winter is coming on, and provisions caught over the summer must be dried. Men from the Inuit village transport Ningiuq, her best friend Kutuujuk and her grandson Maniq over to an island where the three of them will dry the fish that the village has caught over the summer. Before he goes, Maniq's father hands him his harpoon and tells him that when he gets back, he will take him hunting for the first time. On the island, Kutuujuk gets ill and dies. Maniq becomes proficient with the harpoon and even catches his first seal. Ningiuq and Maniq wait for the boat to come, but fall is closing in. Finally, unable to wait any longer, they take their canoe and start the journey back themselves.
A horrible sight meets them back at the village. A European disease has broken out, and no-one is left alive. They decide to go back to the island where they stored some food, taking two puppies with them. Though their tent has broken down, they find a cave where they shelter through the long winter. Ningiuq sings songs and tells stories to Maniq, and Maniq dreams of making the two little pups his sled dogs. Ningiuq says that she knows of a beautiful place to the south where there are many people and children, but that the path there is long and very difficult. They are attacked by wolves, and Ningiuq is wounded. Towards the end, the film gets slower and slower, and Ningiuq begins repeating the same things to Maniq ("you're my grandson, you're so skilled, and I love you very much"). Finally, we see her talking to herself (but as if she were talking to her husband) and realize that her narration throughout the early part of the film was not from some comfortable happy ending, but from this desperate, lonely and not very hopeful situation.
Does the wonderful place in the south really exist? Will they ever get there? That's beyond the scope of this film, which is about the journey and not the destination.
***SPOILERS end here***
The acting and direction here are fantastic, and indeed it's one of those films that really gets you deep down. The music is a bit hit-and-miss, and I felt that the song which plays at the beginning and end ("Why Must We Die?") beats you over the head with the point a bit too much.
I think that most people will like the film, though. The one snag is that it is sometimes very slow, which is something that I've seen in all the Inuit films - the sense of pacing is just much slower in general than in the modern West. But at least it is slow and intimate rather than slow and aloof. I could not stand it if it were the latter.