Members of PETA beware--this is not the film for you.
Is it a true documentary or not? That is the question that has plagued many over the years. If you're like me, you first saw this 1922 Robert Flaherty silent in a film history class. An endless debate was held in my class as to whether the filming looked "too staged" to be a true representation of the life of an Inuit family. Perhaps it was staged at times, but I still think Flaherty does a nice job of showing what daily survival was like for Nanook and his family. I still get the shivers when I think of all that ice and snow!
Not exactly an exciting film, but still an interesting one to watch.
Or did they? I agree that much of this picture looks authentic, but there was also a lot of manipulation involved. The Inuit were asked to put away modern utensils and revert to ancient practices for the camera, the characters are not who they are claimed to be (Naonooks wife is not his wife at all) and the death of Nanook and his family? I was a story seeded by the studio to generate interest. And it worked.
ReplyDeletedespite all this I still love this picture. It is a charming Michael Moore stunt 80 years before it became a trend.
I expect Flaherty would not be happy being compared with M. Moore--but it is an apt one! I did not know about the utensils or the wife who wasn't the wife--very interesting.
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