Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner (2002)

I like the storyline of this show,it attract me so much

I love this movie so much

Why so much hype?

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

This was a good, surprisingly engrossing film given its long running time and slow pace. I have read some excellent reviews on it and don't know as I can much improve on what's already been said, but I do have one or two comments I'd like to add to the mix. First is regarding the confusing beginning. I was lost for that half hour, but thereafter the film righted itself and the rest was captivating. (Note: Wikipedia has a pretty good plot summary and if you follow along with that while watching the movie, you will get more out of it. The summary is really only necessary for the first and last half hours.)I think the thing that must be reemphasized is that this film is a reenactment of an Inuit legend intended for Inuit audiences. The Inuit already know the legend and do not need the beginning (or any other part of it) to be blatantly laid out. It is similar to our recent movies about Hansel and Gretel and Jack and the Beanstalk. Those two films would be confusing if you had no back story, but due to our culture, most of us are very familiar with the tales. Better parallels could be some of the super-hero films coming out today. We have all known about Kryptonite since grade-school. But if you grew up in an isolated state, the Superman movies would also be pretty confusing. Finally, this film was intended for Inuit audiences. We are really just voyeurs allowed to peek in and experience their world. There was never any intention to compete with Hollywood and this film does not measure up to ALL the Hollywood ideals. But it is a timeless story filmed in a beautiful location with wonderful actors (anyone who says otherwise has no familiarity with northern peoples.). Of any marginally mainstream movie that deals with life in the traditional arctic, ATFR gives the truest representation. It is worth a watch for the great story and to give you a jaw-dropping appreciation for the brutality of that life and the ruggedness of the people who are able to endure it.

The film is spellbinding as storytelling, it also prompts admiration for the Inuit people's patience, resilience and their overriding concern for harmony with the world around them. An Inuit tribesman gets caught up in internecine struggles for power, possession of women and revenge.Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner is a spectacular and strange folkloric epic, driven by basic human impulses that make it remarkably gripping, even over a running time of almost three hours. It's utterly distinctive and original. The film is ranked 47th in the They Shoot Pictures Don't They list of The 21st Century's Most Acclaimed Films.

The film is so bad on so many scores I can only surmise that a PC need to be kind to the culture of Eskimos is behind the lavishment of praise. This Canadian film won all its country's honors? Let's not forget that Canada does not call its aboriginal peoples American (Canadian) Indians or Native Americans (Canadians), rather the PC numbingly (& ultimately meaningless) First Nations. Accordingly, the Eskimo culture has been re-termed Inuit, after 1 of several languages spoken in the Canadian Arctic- a bit of Inuit cultural imperialism, eh? I'll call an Eskimo an Eskimo- a term derived from yet another Native lingo. Do I say I live in the EU (Estados Unidos) because a Spaniard would associate that acronym with the USA, rather than the European Union? Did we call the USSR the CCCP? Of course not!…. The characters are utterly clueless of any depth to life, the director has no sense of narrative nor editing skills, nor any ability to transcend stereotypes (just compare this dreck to the delightful Native American comedy of a few years back- Smoke Signals- with a strong script & well-developed characters by Sherman Alexie), the visuals are poorly constructed & dull, & the score is predictably laced with mind-numbingly obvious chants & gutturals. While not the worst film I've ever seen, given its indie-artsy buildup (generally more credible than flat-out Hollywood Oscar buzz), I have to term Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner the most disappointing film in a very long time. About the only positive thing about Eskimo culture that can be discerned from this film is that they will not have to be subjected to it- at least not for a few more centuries!

"Atanarjuat (The Fast Runner)" is a perfect movie for a hot, summer day -- ice, snow, freezing water and cold wisps of breath as far as the horizon and beyond. But beyond the "Nanook of the North"-type, docudrama fascination with seeing how to really build an igloo, this first Inuit production is a gripping epic. Like the movie "Kandahar," the honest verisimilitude of a world we would never see on our own by native filmmakers and actors adds immeasurably to the experience.I was confused by the prologue with its flash backs and flash forwards and it took me a bit to sort the characters out. But once I did I felt like I was watching a primal universal story unfold, with the same very humanness of Genesis and Greek and Roman myths -- sexual attraction, seductive vs. loyal women (ah, all through time and space men think with the same part of their anatomy!), sibling rivalry, jealousy, elder wisdom, natural leadership, playful children, the search for food and supporting a family, and --as always -- seeking an explanation for man's violent tendencies. Here's it's all compounded by the exigencies of living in a very difficult environment where enemies perforce have to cooperate to survive, and privacy and independence can be death. I absolutely got completely swept up in the story; if the audience wasn't a bunch of senior citizens they probably would have joined in my involuntary oohs and aahs at the dastardly acts of villains, the struggles and revenge by the hero (particularly his amazing naked escape over a glacier), the beautiful smiles of the women, and the victory of true love -- and reaction to the solution unique to their culture. These are not stereotypes but towering mythic figures given life and cold breath.Over the credits, we see how they shot this film in excruciatingly difficult situations for both actors and film crew. The cinematography is particularly outstanding as our eyes adjust to the differences in micro-climates (and it is sometimes summer - time for caribou hunting).The music, however, is disappointing -- rather than native sounds we hear a melange of world music from Shanachie CDs, including throat singing from the other side of the world -- what's with that? (originally written 7/7/2002)