289 - Nanook of the North, United States, 1922. Dir. Robert Flaherty.
A Story of Life and Love in the Actual Arctic.
Hopewell Sound, Northern Ungava.
"Nearly as large as England, yet occupied by less than three hundred souls."
"Here live the most cheerful people in all the world--the fearless, lovable, happy-go-lucky Eskimo."
A great hunter.
Famous throughout all Ungava.
Nanook, The Bear.
The ice sits in clumps on the undulating water.
Nanook paddles his canoe, a kayak--the kayak's being an invention of the Inuit--with one man in a hole inside a watertight covering, his feet hidden, a child lying supine on top.
His son.
Allee.
Nanook emerges from the cockpit.
Another person emerges from inside the hole.
Nyla.
His wife.
How did she get in there? How did she fit in there?
Then, the baby.
Rainbow.
Then another!
Cunayou.
His other wife.
Then . . .
Comock.
The dog!
IMDb calls it a cat, but it looks like a dog, and later the film shows a group of them and calls them Huskies. They are dogs.
How did all those people fit inside that canoe?
Here we are in the Arctic Ocean doing a sight gag for a Vaudeville routine.
The Eskimo depend on moss. They use it for fuel.
The deer depend on moss. They use it for food.
The Eskimo hunt the deer. Without it they cannot survive.
They cover their canoes in sealskin. And walrus.
They go to the trading post. The Big Igloo.
This year Nanook has hunted fox, seal, walrus, and seven great polar bears, all of which he defeated in "hand to hand encounters" with his harpoon.
They bring the skins to the trading post.
He barters for knives and beads and colored candy.
The trader shows them the gramophone.
He plays a record. They listen.
The children eat sea biscuits and lard.
Allee overeats and then takes caster oil.
Nanook fishes.
He walks on an ice floe. Finds a spot. Sits on a mat of thatched sticks. Lowers a line at the end of his harpoon. No bait. Lures. Two pieces of ivory. He jigs the line. Lures the fish. Kills the big ones with his teeth.
The score follows the rhythm of his jigging.
He wields a tool like a curved trident, shaped at the tip to surround the fish and hold it to the ice as he lops off its head. He loads more than a dozen large onto his kayak.
A fellow fisherman lies on top, straddling the salmon, getting a ride to shore.
The salmon migrate. There are days when none are to be found. Someone spots a walrus. A herd of walruses. A pod. A huddle. An ugly. The men go to hunt them.
The two-ton mammals. The Tigers of the North.
They catch one. Kill it immediately. Process it. Eat its meat. Bring back the remains.
Nanook builds an igloo.
He licks his knife, made of walrus ivory. He cuts the snow. Makes bricks.
The children slide down the hill, using their bodies as sleds. Then they use a sled.
The bricks are taller than Nanook's waist. He works swiftly, cuts deftly.
Nyla and Cunayou chink the the cracks, seal the gaps, stop the wind.
The baby sleeps in Nyla's hood. On her neck.
The puppy rides in Cunayou's hood. On her neck.
"Complete within the hour."
Nanook looks out the door hole and smiles. Laughs for the camera.
He has built another igloo, a smaller one. For the puppies.
He cuts an ice brick from the frozen lake. He opens a hole in the igloo and installs the ice brick, creating a window. To reflect the light. To direct the light. Inside.
The family enters. With their bear- and deerskin robes. Their stone lamp. Their stone pots.
He teaches his son to shoot a bow and arrow. He shoots at bear sculptures Nanook has carved from snow.
The family cooks inside the igloo. They build a fire but must keep the overall temperature below freezing to keep the walls from melting.
They sleep, undressed but warm, under the skins inside the packed snow walls.
They next day they hunt seal.
Nanook pulls hard on the taught line. The seal pulls back, through the tiny hole. Back and forth. Who will win? Nanook calls for help from the men. Together they win.
The winds come hard. The family moves. Takes shelter in an abandoned igloo. Takes cover. Huddles together. Keeps warm.
The dogs sit quietly in the icy cold, their furs covered in white.
The family sleeps.
The snows drift. Make banks. The dogs wait. Finally sleep.
They will start again tomorrow.
Tia Mak.
The End.
Flaherty had filmed up here seven years before, in 1914 and 15, but he lost his film when his cigarette fell onto the nitrate negative and burned up all the film.
So he spent four years raising funds to come again.
And he came again.
Two years later Nanook died in a snowstorm.
But he is captured here.
Forever.
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