Nanuk, der Eskimo

Überraschenderweise ist meine Lieblingsversion des Films hier die Hybridversion mit einem gesprochenen Kommentar oder einem Kommentar, der mit angemessener Intonation die Zwischentitel liest. Die Geschichte der Familie Nanuks und ihrer Irrungen und Wirrungen ist heute noch genauso aktuell wie damals. Der Vater kümmert sich, die Familie hilft hier und da mit, technischen Fortschritt zu erleben kann Spaß machen. Das Schönste ist natürlich der Bau des neuen Iglus, bei dem man nicht einmal das Fenster aus bearbeitetem Eis vergessen hat. In der Zwischenzeit waren die Kinder rodeln, und bei der Behausung wurde sogar an eine kleine Hundehütte gedacht. Schön, dass der Urvater des modernen Dokumentarfilms so ein netter Film sein kann. (15.05.2012)

One of the first documents ever created, "Nanook - the primitive man" has gained quite a few critics, mainly because the camera is not only a tool that records, but the man behind it also coordinates. It is partly staged because Flaherty simply wanted to have good shots. Considering that he burned his previous material, which took hours to make, he did not want to shoot something that would not be perfect for him. And in a way, it is perfect. At the time, it was interesting and sometimes raw, both in what we see and what we feel in the scenes, they can be imprinted in memory, but mainly, they can present the lives of those depicted here. You believe that they live like this, and you realize that you don't want to live like this. A strong documentary that will definitely surprise with the quality of the image even after more than 90 years. (15.02.2014)

What I like about Nanook from the North is its unpretentious and unaffected humane dimension. The respect and good intentions with which Flaherty approached the project are very much evident, i.e. to understand the needs of Eskimo life and to present them in the most authentic form to the civilized world. It would have worked even better if the episodic action had been formed into a more coherent cinematic story, which wouldn't have been such a problem given the staged scenes, but even as a probe into another world framed by both basic animal motivations and the most transparent form of unadulterated humanity, this feature-length documentary still makes a full and timely impression nearly a century later.... 85% (07.12.2015)