Customer Reviews

Atanarjuat: Fast Runner

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The beauty of this movie lies in its unique style that pulls viewers up close with the people and the action, allowing us to catch a glimpse of rich Inuit culture and their harsh yet life-sustaining beautiful homeland through seasons. The material culture was meticulously researched and presented as beautiful clothing, ice architecture, and other personal belongings, which are sometimes given hidden meanings for "the Southern" viewers. Maybe our storyteller Zacharias Kunuk intentionally made them more eloquent than the spoken narrative, which is curiously kept minimal. When I first saw it I was often confused about what is happening until I learned more about the legend much later.

I recommend the "Deluxe" DVD set available from www.amazon.ca, which comes with special features including the original legend, the production diary, cast bios, and family trees of Atanarjuat and Oki. You can get the same information from [...] Those materials are very helpful to appreciate the movie.

People of Nunavut is fortunate to be blessed with Zacharias Kunuk, a great filmmaker and visionary. I was lucky to be in Canada last summer when I caught three episodes of "Nunavut (Our Land)" on Bravo!, produced by Igloolik Isuma Production in 1995, which tells tales of an Inuit community in 1940s with a style similar to Atanarjuat. I am totally fascinated by the works of Isuma. To learn more about them, visit [...]

What made this story so great was its span over generations, showing many ways in which people conspire against eachother, and the many ways people respond to others' conspiracies.

I did have to rewind a little to make sure I knew who was who in the big scheme of things, and make sure I understood what was going on, but overall, this film is easy to digest for anyone with some intelligence and curiosity.

Aside from the power of the story itself, the sensual experience of watching the film was totally novel, it being set in Igloolik 1000 years ago. The cast did a great job.

Watching this movie is a bit like, if you can imagine this, watching a TV movie made by an ancient bronze-age television network. In other words, it's TV, and the plot is pretty straightforward ... but it's prehistoric TV! The actors are eskimos plucked right off the ice. We've never lived this way, and we're thrown into a television that's impossibly foreign. The texture of their lives comes through in this movie like a shockwave. Well-filmed and acted, but not in the normal sense. It's strikingly real, in a way I feel is barely understood any more.

The crazy thing is -- why aren't there more movies from the bronze age? A thousand aboriginal stories disappear everyday -- and we have -one- movie like this? All the other movies are about white people meeting aboriginal culture, and the disappearance of their way of life, etc. But Atanarjuat comes straight from the beating heart of a lifestyle that goes back to our origins. That's why it gets 5 stars from me ... This isn't a movie. It's a piece of who we are.

All of the terrific reviews below underscored here, BUT:
if you're going to drop $25 for this DVD, spend about $5 USDollars more and buy the CANADIAN "deluxe" version --
it includes a second "making of" disc that adds the trailer, an account of the legend behind the story,
and several other goodies.

There are several vendors in Canada (including www.Amazon.ca)
that carry the two-disc set, and it's a region-1-DVD, so it will play on your US DVD player.

Highly recommended ... gorgeous film --

Watching Fast Runner, I felt like a quiet member of the Inuit family sitting around a fire hearing this story and my imagination saw this film. This is masterful storytelling. The end credits document how much the filmmakers (actors and production people) wanted to bring this story to us in a medium we could understand. I was very cynical about my ability to like a movie this long in such a language. After 3 hours, I felt at home, covered in seal skins and my belly full of seal meat. My curiosity about what I didnŐt grasp has me researching this film and story. It is not for everybody, but, for the movie viewer who loves to seek truth from every culture and find another link in that human experience, 3 hours will almost seem too short. I donŐt know how well I would survive that north in Canada, but I have a vague idea how to survive because of this film. I will never complain about rolling blackouts again. What a hard life even if it has access to more modern amenities! To everyone involved in Fast Runner, THANK YOU!!!

This movie is very good and very very realistic. You won`t even remember that there were subtitles. The people in it are Eskimos this is not a karate film. The wife is very beautiful and it is very interesting to see a different life stlye and not see any movie stars.

Its and alright film, has some inuit folklore which is good, and it shows some inuit woman breasts as well

A Canadian classic, saw the movie on the big screen, I wanted to share it with a friend in France. It should be in everyone's library.

One of the best films I have ever seen. This is not a movie for everyone. However, if you have an open mind, enjoy learing about other cultures, and are not afraid to think, then get this movie now. Cinemetography is excellent. I believe that it will be used as a teaching tool in anthopology courses for the next 100 years.

Good stuff.

This is a fantastic film. It is a little slow at the beginning, but that reflects the nature of the far north; having lived and travelled in the Western Arctic, I can attest to the "slow-pace" of life that most northerners cherish and enjoy. I think it does a great job of capturing many aspects of Inuit culture such as the importance of family, the role of humour, etc. The film is based on a "strong" Inuit story/legend that is complex and involved; it's nice to see this considering that Aboriginal stories are typically stereotyped as short and carrying a "simple" moral lesson for children.

It's a great movie and I would recommend it to anyone. It's a nice change from the usual big-budget films most of us watch regularly.