Monday, October 30, 2006
Week 10: National Cinema
Atarnajuat: The Fast Runner
Country: Canada
Year: 2001
Director: Zacharias Kunuk
Length: 168 min
Language: Inuktiut
Awards:
Critical Comment:
For a film that is based on an epic tale especially one that has been passed down from generation to generation and has survived on oral tradition alone, it is closest to the heart of the audience. Stories that our parents pass down unto us from our ancestors never seem to lose its charm no matter how many times they told to us. There is an appeal in traditional stories that always fascinate us and it is difficult to capture the emotions, intensity, life lessons and moralistic values of good over evil. One day, these same stories and their mystical effects would be passed down unto our own children and the cycle continues. In Atarnajuat, everything revolves around a cycle. There is a beginning and there is an end but in between it breeds a new cycle and they would continue with its own cycle.
The basic unit of the Inuits in the film is the family. There is a natural reliance on others especially on the ones who are family in order to survive in the cold environment where the film is set. Once the family tie is broken, it develops many misery, suffering, pain that in turn creates emotions of jealousy, selfishness and vengence. These are the spokes of the wheel that turns its unending cycle, affecting anyone that gets in its path. Only through perseverance and unity in the family can these cycles end and the hardship would stop. The cycle begins when Sauri murders another Inuit to become the chief. His family becomes tainted with the same evil as Oki lust over his supposedly promised bethroed, Atuat. Puja, who is the only one who manages to find her way into Atarnajuat's family sows distrust between Atarnajuat and his brother. Once evil is allowed to enter a family, that family would face the consequences. Even though Atuat and his sister-in-law forgives Puja, it was her that led to the murder of Atarquat. To the family that is destroyed by Puja and Oki, Atuat shows perseverance in the face of misery. Atarnajuat escapes and finds refugee from a lone Inuit who protects him and nourishes him back to health. Atarnajuat becomes the avenger that wants to reunite with his family and bring an end to the vicious cycle that has ruined his family and caused the death of his brother. By the end, Atarnajuat shows mercy even when Oki deserves death but vengence will only beget vengence. By sparing Oki's life, the cycle ends although not without a sad ending in the end.
Such values that good will prevail over evil if only eventually through time, the film teaches very basic human lessons. Through the mystical and sentimental narrative of an old tale, represented on film, this story would begin a new cycle of its own. Atarnajuat has shown that film does not require an ambitious narrative in deliver simple lessons of life, the ability of film as a form of representation has helped the Inuit to share a story that can teach these life lessons just as well. Film has preserved a tale that has relied on oral tradition and hopefully through film the tale would pass on.
Atarnajuat uses close-up shots.This gives intimacy between characters instead of taking long shots to see the wide expand of the Antartic. The film also allows us to have a glimpse at the lifestyle of the ancient Inuit people who survived solely on hunting. Raw and bloody meat are means of survival and is shown almost directly without remorse. In the cultural context of the Inuit, these are bounty that are very important part of their lives.
Another element of Atarnajuat is the presence of spirits. There are good spirits as well as evil spirits. Atarnajuat was guided by his father's spirit that allowed him to escape from his would-be murderers. The evil spirit which has ruled the hearts of Oki and his thugs is finally excorsised at the end of the film.
Readings:
Country: CanadaYear: 2001
Director: Zacharias Kunuk
Length: 168 min
Language: Inuktiut
Awards:
- Golden Camera - Zacharias Kunuk (Cannes Film Festival)
- Best Foreign-Language Film (Central Ohio Film Critics Award)
- Lina Brocka Award - Zacharias Kunuk (Cinemanila International Film Festival)
- New Director's Award - Zacharias Kunuk (Edinburgh International Film Festival)
- FIPRESCI Prize Special Mention - Zacharias Kunuk (Flanders International Film Festival)
- Grand Prix - Zacharias Kunuk (Flanders International Film Festival)
- Claude Jutra - Zacharias Kunuk (Genie Awards)
- Best Achievement in Direction - Zacharias Kunuk (Genie Awards)
- Best Achievement in Editing - Zacharias Kunuk, Norman Cohn & Marie-Christine Sarda (Genie Awards)
- Best Achievement in Music Original Score - Chris Crilly (Genie Awards)
- Best Motion Picture - Norman Cohn, Paul Apak Angilirq, Zacharias Kunuk & Germaine Wong (Genie Awards)
- Best Screenplay - Paul Apak Angilirq (Genie Awards)
- Best Feature Film - Zacharias Kunuk (Hawaii International Film Festival)
- Best Feature - Zacharias Kunuk (Newport International Film Festival)
- Best Feature Film - Zacharias Kunuk (San Diego International Film Festival)
- Best Feature - Zacharias Kunuk (Santa Fe Film Festival)
- Best Canadian Film (Toronto Film Critics Association Awards)
- Best Film Feature - Zacharias Kunukk (Toronto Film Critics Association Awards)
- Best Canadian Feature Film - Zacharias Kunuk (Toronto International Film Festival)
Critical Comment:
For a film that is based on an epic tale especially one that has been passed down from generation to generation and has survived on oral tradition alone, it is closest to the heart of the audience. Stories that our parents pass down unto us from our ancestors never seem to lose its charm no matter how many times they told to us. There is an appeal in traditional stories that always fascinate us and it is difficult to capture the emotions, intensity, life lessons and moralistic values of good over evil. One day, these same stories and their mystical effects would be passed down unto our own children and the cycle continues. In Atarnajuat, everything revolves around a cycle. There is a beginning and there is an end but in between it breeds a new cycle and they would continue with its own cycle.
The basic unit of the Inuits in the film is the family. There is a natural reliance on others especially on the ones who are family in order to survive in the cold environment where the film is set. Once the family tie is broken, it develops many misery, suffering, pain that in turn creates emotions of jealousy, selfishness and vengence. These are the spokes of the wheel that turns its unending cycle, affecting anyone that gets in its path. Only through perseverance and unity in the family can these cycles end and the hardship would stop. The cycle begins when Sauri murders another Inuit to become the chief. His family becomes tainted with the same evil as Oki lust over his supposedly promised bethroed, Atuat. Puja, who is the only one who manages to find her way into Atarnajuat's family sows distrust between Atarnajuat and his brother. Once evil is allowed to enter a family, that family would face the consequences. Even though Atuat and his sister-in-law forgives Puja, it was her that led to the murder of Atarquat. To the family that is destroyed by Puja and Oki, Atuat shows perseverance in the face of misery. Atarnajuat escapes and finds refugee from a lone Inuit who protects him and nourishes him back to health. Atarnajuat becomes the avenger that wants to reunite with his family and bring an end to the vicious cycle that has ruined his family and caused the death of his brother. By the end, Atarnajuat shows mercy even when Oki deserves death but vengence will only beget vengence. By sparing Oki's life, the cycle ends although not without a sad ending in the end.
Such values that good will prevail over evil if only eventually through time, the film teaches very basic human lessons. Through the mystical and sentimental narrative of an old tale, represented on film, this story would begin a new cycle of its own. Atarnajuat has shown that film does not require an ambitious narrative in deliver simple lessons of life, the ability of film as a form of representation has helped the Inuit to share a story that can teach these life lessons just as well. Film has preserved a tale that has relied on oral tradition and hopefully through film the tale would pass on.
Atarnajuat uses close-up shots.This gives intimacy between characters instead of taking long shots to see the wide expand of the Antartic. The film also allows us to have a glimpse at the lifestyle of the ancient Inuit people who survived solely on hunting. Raw and bloody meat are means of survival and is shown almost directly without remorse. In the cultural context of the Inuit, these are bounty that are very important part of their lives.
Another element of Atarnajuat is the presence of spirits. There are good spirits as well as evil spirits. Atarnajuat was guided by his father's spirit that allowed him to escape from his would-be murderers. The evil spirit which has ruled the hearts of Oki and his thugs is finally excorsised at the end of the film.
Readings:
- Said, S.F (2002) 'Northern Exposure' Sight and Sound 12:2, February, 22-25. I fully agree with this reading that sees Atarnajuat as an epic tale that inspires fascination from timeless classics like the Gilgamesh. Such tales have an attachment to folk lore that it mesmerizes us (whether as audience or listeners) with its fantasy. I find it interesting that Said pointed out the similarites Atarnajuat has with Joseph Camphell's narrative structure. There is a hidden appeal for us to such stories of grand porportions of drama and resolution that Atarnajuat is clearly in line with. This reading has given me a mental note when watching films so that I can know the reasons of why we enjoy such films and their experience is timeless.
- Crofts, Stephen (1993) 'Reconceptualising National Cinema/s', Quarterly Review of Film and Video 13:3, 49-67. This clearly differentiates between first, second and third cinema. The implication I get from this rather complicated reading is that while national productions are meant to appeal to its own cultural context and are read as such, once it is taken out of that context the readings could drastically change. National cinema is thus a tricky definition to describe a cinema. While one meaning is derived from a film from its local audiences, it gives out entirely new meaning when it is viewed globally. So National Cinema cannot be identified for the type of film that they are well known for producing because even that identity varies outside its national structures. Atarnajuat perhaps has found success only when it has been taken outside it context and shown to the outside world. To the Inuits, the way of life and the harsh cold environment of Iglooik is accepted as normal but to others who have read and criticized the film it is that environment that has created a meaning in itself as the discourse of man versus a nature that requires patience and close family relations for survival.
- Chun, Kimberly (2002) 'Storytelling in the Artic Circle: An Interview with Zacharias Kunuk' Cineaste 28:1, Winter 21-23. This interview with Zacharias Kunuk describes how Atarnajuat was made and how difficult it is to make the film due to environmental and weather conditions. Through this interview I can see how Kunuk wanted to preserve the themes and lifestyle of the Inuit people in this film. He explains how legends like Atarnajuat and the lessons to be learned from it are very much a part of the Inuit people. These are the cultural context that national cinemas revolves and developes on which is unique to itself. However, I find it ironic on how Kunuk had a hard time finding the proper funding to film Atarnajuat when as a national film should find its easiest access into national cinema. Also, the success of Atarnajuat enjoyed abroad rather than in Canada
# posted by KC @ 5:07 AM 
