As fascinating and suspenseful as any fictional movie adventure, Nanook of the North remains, 80 years after its premiere, a landmark film both in the history of the documentary movement and of the cinema itself.
In 1920, explorer and filmmaker Robert Flaherty called upon his ten years of experiece in the frigid sub-zero Hudson Bay region of Canada to make a "photoplay" about life there. As his subject, he cast the Eskimo hunter Nanook and a photogenic "family," personalities so real that no Holywood screenwriter could have dreamed them up. With unobtrusive, quietly powerful cinematography, Flaherty proceded to film one stunning sequence after another of Nanook's cold and primitive existence. The result is a documentary arresting in its immediacy, full of the stark action of desparate hunts for food, and warmed by the inspiring efforts of a family who must fight together for survival. Nanook himself actually died of starvation only two years after shooting was completed, a fact that only strengthens the film's extraordinary impact.
With Nanook of the North, Robert Flaherty found the natural drama of real life, inspired by the presence of the camera, that documentarians have sought ever since. Though the director would continue to make "reality films" sensitively revealing far-away lands and peoples, Nanook of the North is still regarded as his masterpiece. Kino on Video is proud to present this timeless film in the original director's cut, digitally mastered at the correct speed from beautiful source materials, and dramatically enhanced with a new orchestral score by Timothy Brock. Also featured is an interview with Frances Flaherty, the director's widow and co-director of the film. |
