Atanarjuat, The Fast Runner (Zacharias
Kunuk) 2002
Apparently the first feature film in the Inuit language,
Zacharias Kunuk’s debut feature Atanarjuat,
the Fast Runner is certainly pretty. Filled with gorgeous and expansive
snowy landscapes that are shot impeccably on digital video, the movie manages to
make even the splotches of yellow snow look good. Even if the handheld camera
work occasionally gets too hyperactive and the rampant lens flare sometimes
annoys, there’s little denying the impressive cinematography on display here.
As the involving Eskimo epic that it wants to be, however, it feels somewhat
lacking.
Atanarjuat tries to achieve grand scope, initially presenting the
protagonist as a child and following him through adulthood, but the simplicity
of the plot conspires against those goals. The acting doesn’t add any sort of
emotional complexity here, and though the non-professional actors aren’t
exactly bad, they don’t manage to fully convey the horrors of the patricide
and tyranny that they have to contend with. As a result, the director tends to
rely on a reaction shot of a crying child whenever he wants to move us. Kunuk
comes off as a sentimentalist, scuttling his attempts to inflate his story into
something bigger, leaving remains that feel as psychologically uncomplicated as
the similarly themed The Lion King.
Atanarjuat’s
running time approaches three hours long, making the title feel a bit
oxymoronic, but I didn’t much mind the film’s length. Since it finds a
workable rhythm early on, there’s a more desperate need for editorializing
than there is for editing. Though the movie is most successful when it acts as a
documentary, showing us the rituals, songs, and lifestyle of the Eskimos it
follows, it’s tough to say exactly what we’re meant to feel at several
moments throughout the film, because we don’t quite understand the mores of
the culture that’s portrayed. It’s often hard for those unacquainted with
Inuit society to tell whose behavior is more out of line when conflict arises.
When the title character flirts with the villain’s betrothed wife, the villain
decides to kill him for it. It’s anyone’s guess how justified any of this
is, though, until the simplistic ending trots along, stultifying any impressions
that any of the film’s morality fell into a gray area. The attempts to
incorporate mysticism into the work are largely unsuccessful, at best, and a
laughable distraction at worst. With a stronger plot or more emotional
resonance, Atanarjuat might have been something special. As such, the film,
despite its historical significance, is a failure.
* * 1/2
4/01/02
Jeremy Heilman
