Nanook

Jeff Holley

Richard Simpson

ENGL 342

Reflection

 

Nanook of the North

 

If Robert Flaherty was the "father of documentary and cinematic ethnography" (Rony, 100), it's not hard to see why, with his poised and extroverted nature of framing work in a way that was fun for both the viewer and those he was filming. Flaherty might not have initially chosen to follow his father's footsteps as a mining engineer. Still, his career was reminiscent of exploring his father's job, who often took his son with him while searching for ore (Barnouw, 33). Naturally, the knowledge he gained as a child led him to evolve into his later profession as a filmmaker because of this background. Still, Flaherty was "a man of intense charm" (Barnouw, 39), which undoubtedly gave him more incredible opportunity to have the relationship he had with the culture he was immersed in. 

 

The film took years to make, probably because it had never been done before.  The "happy to lucky" attitudes of the Inuit Itivimuit Tribe, and primarily the "cuddly primitive man" known as Nanook and his immediate family (Barnouw, 35) became the purpose of the film. This film celebrated the life, the struggle, the harshness of the unforgiving nature of how this small group of Inuit who lived and showed to the world something never before seen. They took to the camera well, were aware of being filmed, and allowed for each activity patiently to assist in getting the shot. 

 

Whether it was navigating sea ice in a kayak with the entire family, as we see at the beginning of the film, each one exiting the boat one by one like magic.  This scene, leaving the kayak, even included the dog all one by one going the top hole like a magician pulling a rabbit out of it. Another scene Flaherty filmed when cutting an ice window to allow sunlight in the igloo, that took an hour to build, a fantastic feat in such a harsh environment was also incredible to watch. 

 

I was sad to learn his second film, "Moana" with the Somoan's, that took a different approach to what the Polynesians then had encountered with missionaries and traders, by filming them with their traditional "siagos" instead of their "white man clothes" (Barnouw, 45).  Unfortunately, that film was a "box office failure" (Barnouw, 48), and his career as a filmmaker gradually ended a decade after his "popular culture" phenomenon (Barnouw, 51).