Happy People: A Year in the Taiga (2010)

A documentary on the indigenous people living in Bakhtia, the heart of the Siberian Taiga; some 300 villagers whose daily routines have barely changed over the last century and live according to their own values and cultural traditions.

Directors:

Dmitry Vasyukov, Werner Herzog

Writers:

Rudolph Herzog, Werner Herzog,

Stars:

Werner Herzog

1 win.

Cast

Credited cast:
Werner Herzog	...	(voice)

Storyline

In the center of the story is the life of the indigenous people of the village Bakhtia at the river Yenisei in the Siberian Taiga. The camera follows the protagonists in the village over a period of a year. The natives, whose daily routines have barely changed over the last centuries, keep living their lives according to their own cultural traditions. The expressive pictures are accompanied by original sound bites quoting the villagers.

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Plot Keywords:

taiga | village | siberia | father figure | remote location | 

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Genres:

Documentary

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

Germany

Language:

English Russian

Release Date:

15 November 2012 (Germany)

Also Known As:

Gent feliç. Un any a la taigà

Filming Locations:

Siberia, Russia

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

$10,481 (USA) (25 January 2013)

Gross:

$336,648 (USA) (3 May 2013)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Studio Babelsberg

Technical Specs

Runtime:

90 min

Color:

Color

User Reviews

Eye on the Taiga

Solid and straightforward illumination of the ways in which a few fur-trappers live and work year-round in the Siberian Taiga.

Starting in Spring, we follow the stoic men on their seasonal routines in the village of Bakhtia on the Yenisei river. The utterly unique sight and sound of that big old river thawing and moving and creaking under the warm sun is totally sublime. With the onset of summer, the villagers participate in a fishing frenzy while fending off massive swarms of mosquitoes by rubbing tar all over themselves, their kids and their dogs. As autumn brings torrential rains, the water level rises and the trappers anxiously begin boating their heavy supplies into the vast forest. They begin repairing their traditional traps scattered throughout the expanse while re-constructing their personal wooden huts, which they will use as shelters along their treks through the deep snow.

Other than one hilarious moment showing an alternatively modern fishing method, most all preparations for the long and lonely winter of work in the wilderness are performed according to very old cultural traditions. The simple and skilled construction of skis, traps, canoes, and huts from natural materials is shown with a patient fascination that draws us into a culture uniquely connected to the earth.

Herzog's narration adds insight and a quirky humor to this otherwise forthright film. His patent deadpan humor -- largely deriving in his over-enunciated German accent -- and his honest admiration of these self-reliant men living off the land in total freedom from materialism and bureaucracy is refreshing, even if a bit romanticized.