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jaeleslie at 11:15am on 30/03/2003
jaeleslie at 11:15am on 30/03/2003We watched a very interesting video last night, The Fast Runner (Atanarjuat). At least I thought it was interesting. We thought it was going to be about a runner, which naturally had Mr S's attention as he is a runner, but it was incredibly long (161 minutes it says here on the box) so he wandered off for a snack for a bit in the middle. He never likes subtitles anyway. We knew this was about the Inuit, "Inuktitut with English subtitles" it says on the box, but the culture was so foreign we were both lost within the first five minutes, then sort of caught on. Sort of.
I was quite taken with the way it was filmed. It looked like a documentary, or some kind of educational teevee, very bright and clear. The land is beautiful, rocky and rough as it is in the summer, rough and white without fences or roads in the winter, stretching out like the prairie, not so soft. But the people were dressed and equipped entirely in pre-contact fashion, which took a while to get used to, I am so accustomed to expect modern gear even in Native American historical stories. Are those stone knives! those ladies were scraping a seal hide with stone knives. Bone knives, oil lanterns, real igloos with the midday light pouring through the joints between the blocks. Layers of skins and furs to wear, the women had these distinctive extra-large hoods that turned out to be for putting the babies in, and you began to catch on to class differences in how people were dressed. And you could tell how cold it was by the way the snow squeaked underfoot, and their breath frosted the air even inside (poorer houses) and in the summer. The living conditions that far north would be brutal, and social life very delicately balanced.
It turned out to be a tale of murder, lust, stupidity, betrayal, love, fortitude, perseverance, kindness, magic, justice, and like that. No Merchant-Ivory soft focus though. Brilliant.
The credits were accompanied by footage of the film crew working around this traditional setting, in their modern jeans and parkas. I thought of Tami and wondered if she has been able to make any movies. It was filmed at Igloolik, the same place the people in the story were living, although I imagine it may be more than a cluster of huts and tents these days.
I was quite taken with the way it was filmed. It looked like a documentary, or some kind of educational teevee, very bright and clear. The land is beautiful, rocky and rough as it is in the summer, rough and white without fences or roads in the winter, stretching out like the prairie, not so soft. But the people were dressed and equipped entirely in pre-contact fashion, which took a while to get used to, I am so accustomed to expect modern gear even in Native American historical stories. Are those stone knives! those ladies were scraping a seal hide with stone knives. Bone knives, oil lanterns, real igloos with the midday light pouring through the joints between the blocks. Layers of skins and furs to wear, the women had these distinctive extra-large hoods that turned out to be for putting the babies in, and you began to catch on to class differences in how people were dressed. And you could tell how cold it was by the way the snow squeaked underfoot, and their breath frosted the air even inside (poorer houses) and in the summer. The living conditions that far north would be brutal, and social life very delicately balanced.
It turned out to be a tale of murder, lust, stupidity, betrayal, love, fortitude, perseverance, kindness, magic, justice, and like that. No Merchant-Ivory soft focus though. Brilliant.
The credits were accompanied by footage of the film crew working around this traditional setting, in their modern jeans and parkas. I thought of Tami and wondered if she has been able to make any movies. It was filmed at Igloolik, the same place the people in the story were living, although I imagine it may be more than a cluster of huts and tents these days.