Year: 1922
Director: Robert Flaherty
Country: US
Language: N/A
Nanook of the North is commonly considered to be the first feature length documentary, a genre of film-making which obviously did not exist until that time. There is a problem with this labeling this film a "documentary" however as the Director himself was very candid about many scenes being staged. The most exciting part of the movie involve typical Inuit hardships like constructing an igloo or hunting a seal, but Flaherty admitted that these scenes were exaggerated for entertainment value. Audiences and critics did not notice, as the film was a financial and critical success in its time.
The film documents one year in the life of Nanook, an Eskimo (Inuit), and his family. It describes the trading, hunting, fishing and migrations of a group barely touched by industrial technology. Nanook of the North was widely shown and praised as the first full-length, anthropological "documentary" in cinematographic history.
Though much of the film was staged, we shouldn't diminish the actual work Flaherty put in. He dragged a camera to the Arctic, not a Hollywood set as the subtitles would note, and struggled right along with Nanook and the family for the duration of filming.He journeyed to the harshest climate on earth to film its inhabitants in semi-geniune situations. There is a meta-narrative about the making of the film reflected in the struggles of this Inuit family.
Flaherty goes to great pains to stress the gentleness, resourcefulness and humour of the Inuit. He commands the support and sympathies of the audience when demonstrating the difficulty of their situation, while also demonstrating the heroic nature of their survival. Through crafty editing he turns a seemingly mundane life into an action adventure drama with many perils. It's quite exhilarating to say the least. Brimming with energy and remarkable crafstmanship, Nanook of the North is very worthy of the praise it gets.
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