This is a sociological video documentary that recreates the daily life of the Eskimo Nanuk family, directed by Robert Flaherty, the father of American documentaries.
The Eskimos live on the fringes of the Arctic, where the weather is cold and there are few resources for survival. The clothes, shoes, hats, etc. needed for daily life are all made by the Eskimos with the skins of their own hunted prey. Others, such as radios, butter, and entertainment items were brought by foreign merchants. They have no currency, and they trade their hunted marine meats and the warm hides of sea creatures for those exotic items from merchants.
As someone growing up in the 21st century, the living environment of the Eskimos was too harsh for me. Guangdong is like summer all year round. Looking around, there are lush green plants and vibrant life everywhere. Every day, they see an ice field thousands of miles away.
Perhaps the director wanted to show the image of a primitive person living in a harsh environment and isolated from the world, so in the film, the Nanook family would gulp down bloody raw meat, choked on butter, and danced while listening to the radio. It's that they don't know anything. But in fact, according to the information I know, the Eskimos are very smart, and they helped a lot in making this film, showing their life to the observation team, taking them hunting, taking them to experience the ice and snow on the edge of the Arctic, and even Help the camera team repair when their camera equipment is broken. So in my opinion, they are not "crazy primitive people", they are a group of defenders who stick to themselves and love the icefield. The modern world is far less for them than that ice and snow world.
The whole film has a lot of interesting music, which is accompanied by the figures of Eskimos living hard, which seems to convey to us the spirit of not being afraid of hardships and optimistic about life.
There is one scene in the movie that I like very much: the Nanook family processes the fur of their prey, fills their stomachs, and then all enter the igloo they built to rest. The warm images of people hugging and sleeping in the igloo and the dogs who are about to be frozen but still waiting outside the igloo make people feel that life is not so bitter, but also a little sweet.
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