>>REVIEW
THE JOURNALS OF KNUD RASMUSSEN
STARRING Pakak Innukshuk, Leah Angutimarik, Kim Bodnia and Jakob Cedergren
DIRECTED BY Zacharias Kunuk and Norman Cohn
Opens Saturday, September 30
Check listings
It’s safe to say that 2001’s Atanarjuat (The Fast Runner), Zacharias Kunuk and Norman Cohn’s previous project, a three-hour digital film that won worldwide critical (the Caméra d'Or at Cannes) and public (best Canadian feature at Toronto) attention, is no easy task to follow. For their sophomore project the Inuit team of director/producer Kunuk and director of photography/producer/editor Cohen, based in Igloolik, Nunavut, adapted the non-fiction journals of Danish explorer and scientist Knud Rasmussen (Jens Jørn Spottag), an ethnographer who recorded his 1922 research trip to Iglulik with a few fellow Danes, where he encountered Aua (Pakak Innukshuk), one of the last great Inuit shaman. Re-telling the white-man’s journal from the point of view of the visited, Kunuk and Cohn explore the inevitability of Inuit reacting to the swiftly encroaching modern history – a time where the written begins to usurp the oral and, notably, a process that Rasmussen can’t help but bring with him.
Rasmussen soon endears himself to Aua, though, introducing us to his small family clan and their relationships, including Aua’s daughter Apak (Leah Angutimarik), who mourns her shaman husband’s death by sleeping with him in a starkly visualized spiritual world while ignoring her new husband by day. After witnessing the spiritual affectations of Aua and his tight group, Rasmussen broaches the idea of visiting nearby relatives. Along the journey, though, the group soon comes into conflict with the North’s rough terrain and blistering storms, barely moving forward each day. By the time they reach the camp, they have no food and must confront their lifelong spiritual beliefs at the mercy of Aua’s recently reformed, distant Christian relatives, who offer a combination of food and an Inuit-language bible.
Atanarjuat pleased critics and audiences with its relentlessly bleak yet focused pacing and narrative, combining stunning videography of contemporary natural landscapes and their inherent isolation with a unique tale of personal persistence. The Journals of Knud Rasmussen features traditional tales told in long takes (mostly in close-up) that don't hold as much weight. Similarly, the editing style also frequently lacks both narrative motivation and an overall cohesive sense of pacing; running at just about two hours, the film would have done well to employ some of the extra time Atanarjuat spent on establishing atmosphere and visual context. Be sure to stick around for the credits, featuring some of Rasmussen's original photographs and the best shot of the entire film – an isolating zoom of a dogsled pulled across the vast tundra. |
Copyright ©2006 FFWD. All rights reserved.