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DAY 9: September 9th, 2008.
Nanook Of The North
The documentary Nanook of the North follows the life of one man, an Inuit
named Nanook, and his family. The documentary, which has many scenes of re-enactments because the original film was lot in a fire, shows the Inuit family and their need for survival, such as building an igloo.
The scene in which they do build an igloo would have taken much longer, but Flaherty uses an editing technique known as time compression to show pivotal stages in the building of the igloo, until it’s complete. What normally would take hours to do is done on film in 5 minutes. This type of editing was new during that time, which we commonly see today.
This film showed people for the first time life outside of their world. Nanook knew he was preserving the life of his people on record, he died two years after the film was released.
The main theme throughout this film is the commonality of people, it was to show a way of life and people that most of us never knew. It was a way to help us understand our own lives. In one scene it shows the children playing in the snow, they are doing what every kid does and are having fun doing it. The audience can connect to this, which is why the film was so popular in it’ time.
Nanook of the North is a groundbreaking film, for documentaries and is the foundation to what we see today. I enjoyed the film for the most part, but the fact that the film was staged really takes me out of the experience. The people who are being documented know they are, so to me they may not be playing themselves and that takes out the realism. I would only recommend this film to people who are interested in the subject matter or want to take film classes.
Nanook Of The North
The documentary Nanook of the North follows the life of one man, an Inuit
named Nanook, and his family. The documentary, which has many scenes of re-enactments because the original film was lot in a fire, shows the Inuit family and their need for survival, such as building an igloo.
The scene in which they do build an igloo would have taken much longer, but Flaherty uses an editing technique known as time compression to show pivotal stages in the building of the igloo, until it’s complete. What normally would take hours to do is done on film in 5 minutes. This type of editing was new during that time, which we commonly see today.
This film showed people for the first time life outside of their world. Nanook knew he was preserving the life of his people on record, he died two years after the film was released.
The main theme throughout this film is the commonality of people, it was to show a way of life and people that most of us never knew. It was a way to help us understand our own lives. In one scene it shows the children playing in the snow, they are doing what every kid does and are having fun doing it. The audience can connect to this, which is why the film was so popular in it’ time.
Nanook of the North is a groundbreaking film, for documentaries and is the foundation to what we see today. I enjoyed the film for the most part, but the fact that the film was staged really takes me out of the experience. The people who are being documented know they are, so to me they may not be playing themselves and that takes out the realism. I would only recommend this film to people who are interested in the subject matter or want to take film classes.