(Canada, 94 min.)
Dir. Zacharias Kunuk, Writ. Zacharias Kunuk, Norman Cohn
Starring: Benjamin Kunuk, Karen Ivalu, John Qunaq
Programme: Platform (World Premiere)
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| Courtesy of TIFF |
The tables have turned on the western. The popular genre has
roots in colonial power as it draws upon the myths of Manifest Destiny and
American expansionism. The arid landscape of the frontier is a limitless space
ready for settlers to cultivate and pillage. Progress comes at any cost and
without concern for the people who built a relationship with the land long
before the settlers’ arrival. The western frontier is therefore a hostile
territory for Indigenous characters, best known as “savages” from the days of
the early talkies, as the world of the western was no country for non-white men. Times are changing.
The film loosely resembles the Ford film as it tells a story
of a conflict between two families. The rift within the Inuit community explodes
when two women from one family are kidnapped in a violent attack, and the
husband of one of the victims vows revenge like any dutiful westerner would.
Lots of chasing, running, and dogsledding ensues as Kuanana (Benjamin Kunuk)
treks across the arctic in search of his wife.
Zacharias Kunuk and co-director Natar Ungalaaq (who makes a
brief appearance in the film) make excellent use of the natural landscape as
Kuanana braves the elements to restore honour to his family. Westerns use the
sense of limitless possibility embroiled within a landscape to drive their
themes of progress and civilisation, but Maliglutit
uses the expansive power of the Arctic setting to envision a frontier that is
cold and unforgiving. Images of the searchers peering through telescopes almost
feel redundant as the borderless tundra of ice and snow creates a setting that
offers no place to hide. Long takes let the power of the frigid arctic consume The Searchers as Maliglutit watches the small dots of weary hunters traverse the
land, engulfed by the unforgiving elements and fuelled by them.
The high frequency of long takes mixes suspense with malaise.
Unlike Kunuk’s Atanarjuat: The Fast
Runner, Maliglutit runs at a
glacial pace. It’s very slow, but the sluggishness of the film emphasises the
harshness of the landscape as breath crystallises in the air and icicles form
on mustaches as the searchers trudge through the snow. As with Atanarjuat,
Kunuk delivers a new form of direct cinema as Maliglutit favours minimalism and realism. The film draws on the
power of the natural elements, like the landscape and sunlight, to present a
part of the world that rarely appears on film.
Few images of Inuit life exist from this chapter of history
and Maliglutit offers a snapshot of
the north that feels timeless. Kunuk offers few elements to indicate the time
period, too, aside from a rifle, a telescope, and a ceramic coffee mug that
mark the action within a post-colonial context. The film draws upon Inuit myth
and folklore as Kunuk frames the narrative within the tradition of oral
storytelling as unseen speakers relate the tale in silhouette throughout the
journey. A totem that Kuanana receives adds the spiritual power of the animals,
too, as calls of the loon reverberate throughout the film. These calls mix with
the haunting soundtrack as music and throat singing by Tanya Tagaq fuel the
hunt. Maliglutit turns the western on
its head as its sends rugged white cowboys out with the sunset and envisions a
western that’s no cowboys, all Inuit. It’s a visionary work.
TIFF runs Sept. 8-18.
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