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This is a good title for a Christmas offering. Probably the only feature film shot on location so close to the north pole. It's also the first time I've presented a Canadian film, produced in part by the National Film Board. Atanarjuat is no masterpiece but does have some merits. Chiefly, it's a great showcase for Inuit culture. Most of us probably find the Inuit pretty exotic (I'm interested in all nomadic peoples), and the film gives us a glimpse into their lives. The performances and story are interesting. As I mentioned, this film is flawed; the cinematography is particularly sub standard. I would have thought that any cinematographer would give his walrus teeth for a chance to shoot on a location where magic hour was a month long. (I doubt a DP would ever willingly part with his eye teeth.) Unfortunately in Atanarjuat the arctic never looked so bereft of beauty.

You can download Atanarjuat here. And there are dozens of bittorrent clients to choose from.

Something struck me this summer in Canada, starting with a stopover in Vancouver Airport. There were some marvellous displays of native American art, mostly very impressive wood carvings from the west coast, but also items from the far north. And later, on the shores of Georgian Bay in Ontario, I learned a new word from some children, inukshuk, Inuktitut for image of man. I'd never seen an inukshuk before and I reflected on their slow spread southward, and their penetration of the Canadian consciousness.

I remember a previous trip which took me through Los Angeles Airport. There I was treated to a display of Hollywood artifacts, an appropriate focus of American culture. I thought in comparison Canada was lacking in some way. But I guess geography and thousands of years of precolombian history are a powerful force when it comes to filling a cultural vacuum. Not that there is anything wrong with the cultural baggage of the European colonial powers, but it's not compelling enough to fullfil the needs of a country as vast and diverse as Canada.

Another sign of the resurgence of native culture can be seen in the universities. When I was there, linguists were required to study a second, non European language. There were a lot to choose from, but it basically meant an Asian language. I was rather put out by the fact that there were no native American languages taught. Not even one. These languages are largely pre-literate, not a factor in their favour, but I'm referring to languages taught in the Linguistics Department, not literature. Anyway, I wondered about this before I started to write this post and searched the University of Toronto. This is what I found. The department has been in existence for some ten years now.

Here are some additional links I found. Here's some general stuff on Inuit culture, and the University of Buffalo has an excellent page of samples of throat singing, a custom banned for years by Christians, now making a comeback.