Nanook of the North (1922)

Director:

Robert J. Flaherty

Writers:

Frances H. Flaherty (idea)
Robert J. Flaherty (writer)

Release Date:

11 June 1922 (USA)

Genre:

Documentary

Tagline:

A story of life and love in the actual Arctic.

Plot:

Documents one year in the life of Nanook, an Eskimo (Inuit) and his family. Describes the trading, hunting...

Plot Keywords:

Inuit | Eskimo | Kayak | Snow | Igloo

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Allakariallak	...	Nanook (as Nanook)
Nyla	...	Herself (Nanook's wife, the smiling one)
Cunayou	...	Herself (Nanook's wife)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Allee	...	Himself (Nanook's son)
Allegoo	...	Himself (Nanook's son)
Berry Kroeger	...	Narrator (1939 re-release) (uncredited)

Directed by
Robert J. Flaherty

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Frances H. Flaherty		idea
Robert J. Flaherty		writer

Produced by
Robert J. Flaherty	....	producer
John Révillon	....	executive producer

Original Music by
Rudolf Schramm		(1947)
Stanley Silverman		(1976)

Cinematography by
Robert J. Flaherty

Film Editing by
Herbert Edwards		(1947 version)
Robert J. Flaherty
Charles Gelb

Other crew
David H. Shepard	....	film restoration
Willard Van Dyke	....	supervisor international film seminars

Production Companies

• Les Frères Revillon
• Pathé Exchange

Distributors

• Criterion Collection, The (2004) (USA) (DVD)
• Cult & Classic (Brazil) (video)
• Divisa Home Video (2005) (Spain) (DVD)
• Living Colour Entertainment (2007) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• Pathé Exchange
• Reel Media International (2004) (worldwide) (video)
• Reel Media International (2007) (worldwide) (all media)
• Suevia Films (2004) (Spain) (DVD)
• Unknown Video (video)

Also Known As:

Nanouk l'Esquimau (France)

Runtime:

79 min

Country:

USA | France

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Silent

Certification:

Portugal:17 (original rating) | Portugal:M/6 (DVD rating) | Canada:G (Manitoba/Nova Scotia/Québec) | Canada:PG (Ontario) | Germany:6 | Spain:T | UK:U (re-release) (1947)

Filming Locations:

Hudson Bay, Québec, Canada

Company:

Les Frères Revillon

Trivia:

Rated #6 in 2002 by International Documentary Assn. on its list of Top 20 Documentaries of all time.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in When Comedy Was King (1960)

a time and place and scenes from a walk of life, nothing more or less

Robert Flaherty is one of the more noted documentarians in the history of film. It is not without some concentration (ironically maybe) to watch his most well-known work, Nanook of North, which is as much documentary as it is almost the very first widely seen "Home movie". There's no narration aside from the several title cards listing the obvious things that Nanook and his family/tribe are doing in the arctic. Therefore this is much more of a visual kind of documentary, not as outrageous and experimental as those of Dziga Vertov of the same period (using what camera equipment available, shooting seemingly on the fly), but with a distinct view on what life is usually like for these people. We basically see them doing very elementary tasks, more based on living day-to-day in this harsh climate than anything overly dramatized. That all of the scenes are really 'staged' (and, apparently, it's not even Nanook's real wife) doesn't deter the viewer from what is being shown. It's like a mix of the objective and subjective- objective in the sense that 'this is what it is, the Eskimos hunting for food, raising their children, making their shelter in igloos, and making trips to ensure their survival'. Subjective in that Flaherty's camera is creating a specific view of these people, their faces captured memorably in the scratchy print of the film. In a way it's also like the first, and perhaps more groundbreaking, of the lot of nature documentaries to follow over the years, though to a primitive extreme. In all, Nanook of the North is meant to above all show the versatility of these people, both the physical nature (i.e. hunting the seal, which is the most exciting in the film) and the nature of the spirit of these people, living this way as a cycle over and over again.