"One Day in the Life of Noah Piugattuk" was a fascinating portrait of how a seemingly banal day can become socially charged when put into historical perspective. Zacharias Kunuk is an expert at showing how nuanced ideas and emotions about liberty and traditions are lost in translation and how frustrating and confusing it can be when two completely different social/political structures start to overlap. One can not help but sympathize with the Innuit and get frustrated with the white-man named, "the Boss" and his lack of patience or understanding and his bureaucratic scapegoating to, "it's the law." There is this nice moment near the end when it seems like the white-man seems to identify with the Innuit wanting to stay on their land which makes it all the more troubling that the "Government" and the "Law" will come nevertheless. Beyond the social critique and nuances in Kunuk's characters, this movie is beautifully shot and artfully edited. I don't know why it hasn't gotten even more praise than it already has.
