This silent film was made at the time when separation between drama and documentary did not exist, so is widely (and incorrectly) considered to be the first ever documentary film, I found it in the book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, and I was really looking forward to it. Basically filmmaker Robert J. Flaherty spent a year living with and documenting the life of Nanook and his family, a group of Eskimos, or Inuits, living in the Arctic Circle. The family consists of Nanook, a superb fisherman and hunter; his wife Nyla; his other wife Cunayou; and his sons Allee and Allegoo. Approximately three-hundred nomadic people live in the Canadian Arctic, on the eastern shores of Hudson's Bay, in a region called Ungava. The film mostly follows the family as they travel through the white wilderness, in kayaks and on dog sled, they occasionally encounter western civilisation, but primarily live a life of subsistence. Nanook and the men stay alive hunting food, which is very difficult, their food sources are primarily sea related - salmon, seal and walrus, but they do occasionally encounter land animals as well, such as white foxes, polar bears and deer. The harsh weather conditions provide uncertain opportunities, and the ice shifting causes problems for both travelling and hunting, but Nanook manages to find a way for him and his family through the difficult situations. The best scene of the film is Nanook's amazing architectural skill and speed when building an igloo for him and his family to spend the night, using his large knife to sculpt the structure, creating makeshift ice bricks and a "glass" window. I agree the film is perhaps primitive looking by today's standards, a man and his family surviving in the frozen wastes, and it is obvious a few of the scenes were setup, but it remains a historic, ground- breaking piece of work, it should be celebrated as an inspirational landmark classic silent documentary. It was number 44 on The 50 Greatest Documentaries. Good!
Review of Nanook of the North
