This rare movie, with a photography by Hans Scheim who had worked with Leni Riefensthal is perhaps the Inuit testimony. It tells the contest between two rivals for the love of an Inuit woman. The forces of nature will decide the winner. Beautifully shot in summer with Inuit actors, its story comes from anaold Inuit legend. Traditional eskimo culture is embodied such as the singing contest to make the opponent laughed at by the audience. Hope a DVD shall be released to make this masterpiece widely available at last.
3 Reviews
An arctic quasi-docudrama/drama that really hits the mark!
mmipyle13 October 2022
"The Wedding of Palo" (originally "Palos Brudefærd") (1934) is not technically a silent, but it is a film made in Greenland in the form of a docu-drama (though really only a drama with equally as much cultural anthropological/ethnographic feature) which has only a muted overlay of speaking featuring the natural speech of the arctic tribe studied by famed Danish explorer and anthropologist Knud Rasmussen. Nevertheless, the film plays much like a silent, and much of the film IS silent. The "plot" features two young men vying for the hand of the same woman. The "vying" ends up being done by "singing" satirical/sarcastic/insulting rhythmic words, aimed by one man against the other, then the other back against his "foe", though one of the men pulls a knife and... The story really then begins...
What attracted me most was that, though the "antics" and the doings were staged, the rowing of the kayaks in very obviously treacherous waters(!) was simply amazing!! Watching the kayaks and the umyaks being maneuvered in general was quite a treat, and though an obvious part of the lives of these people, is alien to most landlubbers in the middle of the States. A bear hunt also occurs among ice floes from a degrading glacier, and the filming is striking and beautifully done. In today's world, you may pull for the bear...
Photographed much like a documentary, the roughness and toughness of the whole (perhaps seemingly antiquated to many modern viewers) actually accentuates the filmography of this early "study", much in the mode of "Nanook of the North", "Eskimo", "The Silent Enemy", and others of the same ilk made in the same time period.
Absolutely worth the watch. This is on the "Nanook of the North" Blu-Ray with other shorts included besides this and "Nanook", released by Flicker Alley. Directed by German director Friedrich Dalsheim.
What attracted me most was that, though the "antics" and the doings were staged, the rowing of the kayaks in very obviously treacherous waters(!) was simply amazing!! Watching the kayaks and the umyaks being maneuvered in general was quite a treat, and though an obvious part of the lives of these people, is alien to most landlubbers in the middle of the States. A bear hunt also occurs among ice floes from a degrading glacier, and the filming is striking and beautifully done. In today's world, you may pull for the bear...
Photographed much like a documentary, the roughness and toughness of the whole (perhaps seemingly antiquated to many modern viewers) actually accentuates the filmography of this early "study", much in the mode of "Nanook of the North", "Eskimo", "The Silent Enemy", and others of the same ilk made in the same time period.
Absolutely worth the watch. This is on the "Nanook of the North" Blu-Ray with other shorts included besides this and "Nanook", released by Flicker Alley. Directed by German director Friedrich Dalsheim.
Palos Brudefærd now available on DVD
vagnry15 June 2008
I haven't seen the film yet, but looking for it came across the homepage of the Knud Rasmussen Society. Knud Rasmussen was a (famous, in Denmark at least)explorer in Greenland, who was the man behind the film, but died before the film was shown.
Knud Rasmussen was born in Greenland, led several expeditions in Greenland, left a host of blue eyed babies all over Greenland and was mourned all over Denmark when he died in 1935.
The film is introduced by the Danish Prime minister at the time.
The museum sells the film on DVD, it costs around 30 Euro.
The easiest way is probably to mail the Museum as all information on their homepage is in Danish. The museum can easily be found by searching for Knud Rasmussen House in DenmarK
Knud Rasmussen was born in Greenland, led several expeditions in Greenland, left a host of blue eyed babies all over Greenland and was mourned all over Denmark when he died in 1935.
The film is introduced by the Danish Prime minister at the time.
The museum sells the film on DVD, it costs around 30 Euro.
The easiest way is probably to mail the Museum as all information on their homepage is in Danish. The museum can easily be found by searching for Knud Rasmussen House in DenmarK
See also
Awards | FAQ | User Ratings | External Reviews | Metacritic Reviews
