{"id":24391,"date":"2012-02-29T10:57:12","date_gmt":"2012-02-29T17:57:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=24391"},"modified":"2020-12-27T23:37:07","modified_gmt":"2020-12-28T06:37:07","slug":"nanook-of-the-north-1922","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=24391","title":{"rendered":"Nanook of the North (1922)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;The mysterious Barren Lands &#8212; desolate, boulder-strewn, wind-swept &#8212; illimitable spaces which top the world.&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Nanook-of-the-North-Poster.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Nanook-of-the-North-Poster-201x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"201\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-24400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Nanook-of-the-North-Poster-201x300.jpg 201w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Nanook-of-the-North-Poster-85x128.jpg 85w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Nanook-of-the-North-Poster.jpg 507w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 201px) 100vw, 201px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nAn Inuit hunter (Allakariallak) struggles to help his two wives (Nyla and Cunayou) and two children survive in the harsh Arctic Circle.\n<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p>\n<strong>Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Antarctica and the Arctic<\/li>\n<li>Documentary<\/li>\n<li>Native Americans<\/li>\n<li>Robert Flaherty Films<\/li>\n<li>Silent Films<\/li>\n<li>Survival<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Response to Peary\u2019s Review: <\/strong><br \/>\nPeary begins his review of <em>Nanook of the North<\/em> &#8212; &#8220;probably the most famous of all documentaries&#8221; &#8212; by noting that its director, <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Robert_Flaherty\">Robert Flaherty<\/a> (a &#8220;mining-explorer-turned-filmmaker&#8221;), made the picture &#8220;to show audiences around the world why he admired the Eskimo people&#8221;, who (in Flaherty&#8217;s own words) &#8220;had taken care of [him] on different expeditions over a ten year period&#8221;. Peary argues that while &#8220;visually the picture is still fascinating&#8221;, the &#8220;human drama seems a little lacking&#8221;; he complains that &#8220;you never really learn what these people are like, just what they do to survive&#8221;. He also notes that &#8220;critics have always complained that Flaherty had his subjects create scenes specifically for the camera&#8221;, with some of them &#8220;com[ing] across as phony&#8221;. <\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;m much less concerned than Peary about either of these two issues. Watching how a group of humans manage to survive in seemingly unlivable conditions is sufficient &#8220;drama&#8221; for my tastes; and while it&#8217;s true that many of the scenes were commissioned specifically for the film, as Roger Ebert puts it so bluntly in his <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rogerebert.com\/reviews\/great-movie-nanook-of-the-north-1922#:~:text=%22Nanook%22%20is%20notcinema%20verite.,other%20end%20of%20that%20line.\">&#8220;Great Movies&#8221; review<\/a>, &#8220;If you stage a walrus hunt, it still involves hunting a walrus, and the walrus hasn&#8217;t seen the script.&#8221; What does concern me a bit are two other points: first, that Nanook and his &#8220;family&#8221; aren&#8217;t really a family (apparently Flaherty talked openly about this fact, but it&#8217;s not mentioned at any point during the film itself, which feels deceptive); and second, that the survival techniques used by Nanook were already becoming antiquated at the time Flaherty shot his footage. In both cases, simply providing a written disclaimer at the beginning of the film would have been enough to satisfy my needs. <\/p>\n<p>Regardless, <em>Nanook<\/em>&#8230; remains a movie all film fanatics should see &#8212; not only for its incredible pseudo-ethnographic footage of a bygone era, but for its undeniable (if controversial) place in documentary filmmaking history. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Fine pseudo-ethnographic footage of early-20th-century Inuit life<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Nanook-Toy-Bear.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Nanook-Toy-Bear.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"512\" height=\"384\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-24398\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Nanook-Toy-Bear.png 512w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Nanook-Toy-Bear-128x96.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Nanook-Toy-Bear-300x225.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 512px) 100vw, 512px\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Nanook-Babies.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Nanook-Babies.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"512\" height=\"384\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-24403\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Nanook-Babies.png 512w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Nanook-Babies-128x96.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Nanook-Babies-300x225.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 512px) 100vw, 512px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Many fascinating scenes of Arctic survival and ingenuity<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Nanook-Igloo.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Nanook-Igloo.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"512\" height=\"384\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-24399\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Nanook-Igloo.png 512w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Nanook-Igloo-128x96.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Nanook-Igloo-300x225.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 512px) 100vw, 512px\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Nanook-Fishing.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Nanook-Fishing.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"512\" height=\"384\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-24395\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Nanook-Fishing.png 512w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Nanook-Fishing-128x96.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Nanook-Fishing-300x225.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 512px) 100vw, 512px\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Nanook-Seal-Hole.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Nanook-Seal-Hole.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"512\" height=\"384\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-24396\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Nanook-Seal-Hole.png 512w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Nanook-Seal-Hole-128x96.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Nanook-Seal-Hole-300x225.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 512px) 100vw, 512px\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Nanook-Walrus.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Nanook-Walrus.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"512\" height=\"384\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-24394\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Nanook-Walrus.png 512w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Nanook-Walrus-128x96.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Nanook-Walrus-300x225.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 512px) 100vw, 512px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nYes, as a classic of the documentary genre. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Categories<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Historically Relevant<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p> (<span style=\"color:red;font-weight:bold;\">Listed in <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-static\/1001Movies.htm\"><em>1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die<\/em><\/a><\/span>) <\/p>\n<p><strong>Links: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0013427\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rogerebert.com\/reviews\/great-movie-nanook-of-the-north-1922#:~:text=%22Nanook%22%20is%20notcinema%20verite.,other%20end%20of%20that%20line.\">Roger Ebert&#8217;s Great Movies Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tcm.com\/tcmdb\/title\/327275\/nanook-of-the-north#articles-reviews?articleId=296740\">TCM Article<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.timeout.com\/movies\/nanook-of-the-north\">Time Out Capsule Review<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;The mysterious Barren Lands &#8212; desolate, boulder-strewn, wind-swept &#8212; illimitable spaces which top the world.&#8221; Synopsis: An Inuit hunter (Allakariallak) struggles to help his two wives (Nyla and Cunayou) and two children survive in the harsh Arctic Circle. Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors: Antarctica and the Arctic Documentary Native Americans Robert Flaherty Films Silent Films Survival Response to Peary\u2019s Review: Peary begins his review of Nanook of the North &#8212; &#8220;probably the most famous of all documentaries&#8221; &#8212; by noting&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=24391\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24391","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-responses-to-peary"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24391","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24391"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24391\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":60130,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24391\/revisions\/60130"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24391"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24391"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24391"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}