NANOOK OF THE NORTH: A Silent Film Classic Reevaluated

For more than fifteen years I taught a Film History course and one of the films that I screened every year for my students was Nanoonk of the North, which was considered the first documentary.  At the time, there was information that some scenes may have been staged, but the film was mostly accepted as factual and accurate as to how Inuit lived. However, in subsequent years film historians uncovered information that the film wasn’t a true account of life in the Arctic.

Written, directed, filmed, edited and produced by Robert J. Flaherty, Nanook of the North is a 1922 silent film that was shot between August 1920 and August 1921 and focuses on one Inuit family.  Among other things, this work changed how films, whose purpose was to document reality, were viewed.  At the time, there was no distinction made between documentaries and dramatic (fictional) films and for decades, Nanook of the North was considered the first documentary film. Today, after various aspects of how the film was made has been investigated by film historians, it is more accurately termed a docudrama, or docufiction.  Although such words might seem a contradiction in terms, they became more accepted in the 1960s with the publication of books such as Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood, termed a non-fiction novel (also a contradiction of terms) because it combined true events and figures with fictional conversations. Although Nanook of the North was, for many decades, considered an accurate filmic record of Inuit life as it was being lived, it is actually a blend of reality and fiction.

Poster for Nanook of the North.

 

Nanook of the North premiered at the Capital Theater in New York City on June 11, 1922 and was an unparalleled commercial success. Although the film introduced audiences of the time to the Inuit, much of what they saw was either a distortion or blatantly untrue.  Even the film’s central figure was given a nom de cinéma; his actual name was Allakariallak, but Flaherty decided to call him Nanook, meaning polar bear in Inuktitiuk, because he believed it to be more marketable, more memorable and, of course, more pronounceable for non-Inuit audiences.

Nanook.

 

For decades audiences the world over accepted Nanook of the North as fact, believing that what they saw was how Inuit people lived.  However, much of the film was staged rather than being what later came to be known as cinéma vérité.

The plot of Nanook of the North is simple: Nanook and his family travel, he builds an igloo, starts a fire using moss, fishes through a hole in the ice, hunts a walrus, and goes to a trading post where he encounters a gramophone.

Nyla, Nanook’s wife in the film.

 

Another false aspect of Nanook of the North involves Nanook’s two“wives,” in the film called Nyla and Cunayou, who were actually Flaherty’s common-law wives and not married to Allakariallak (Nanook).  Also, Nanook’s children in the film were not actually related to Allakariallak.

Nanook on an ice floe.

 

At the time that Nanook of the North was filmed the Inuit were hunting with guns, wore Western clothing (often in combination with traditional clothing), and they were aware of gramophones and other technologies. They were also not a “vanishing race.” However, Flaherty had his cast wear clothing that was long out of fashion and showed Nanook hunting with a harpoon as well as acting surprised upon seeing the gramophone as if he had never encountered one.

Nanook with the gramophone.

 

            The scene involving the gramophone was played for comic effect, creating the impression that Nanook is but a simple primitive. Nanook stares at the device and, then, puts his ear closer to it. Finally, the trader hands the record to Nanook who at first simply stares at it and then bites it and smiles childlike. The scene is meant to be a humorous one as the audience laughs at the naivete of Nanook and people isolated from Western culture. In truth, the scene was entirely scripted and Allakariallak knew what a gramophone was.

Audiences were charmed by the figure of Nanook. How could they not be?  He was presented as guileless, though clever and brave. However, in reality, life in the Arctic was not happy-go-lucky, especially for women whose favors were often traded to white men for supplies.  Women were also beaten and sometimes forcibly kidnapped to be taken as wives.  In some cases, one man would kill another in order to steal his wife. For men, life was also harsh. They could be killed hunting polar bears, or drown while hunting or fishing from their kayak.

Nanook building an igloo.

 

In one of the most famous sequences in the film Nanook constructs an igloo. Since the interior of a traditional igloo was too dark for Flaherty’s bulky camera of the time to film, Allakariallak and the Inuit portraying his wives and children built a special three-walled igloo to allow for interior shots. Ironically, many of Flaherty’s Inuit film crew knew more about his camera than he did.

Nanook hunting with a harpoon.

 

Nanook of the North has also been criticized because the sequence involving a walrus hunt was staged with the character of Nanook using a harpoon rather than a riffle. However, film critic Roger Ebert made a cogent point with regard to this sequence, “If you stage a walrus hunt, it still involves hunting a walrus, and the walrus hasn’t seen the script.”

 

Nanook of the North original title card.

For decades Nanook of the North was presented as documentary reality. Its veracity was not questioned since it was believed that “a picture is worth a thousand words.”  Complicating matters was the fact that few people visited the Arctic and Arctic peoples were isolated from the rest of the world. Despite criticism, Nanook of the North captured many authentic details of Inuit culture, which was little known to outsiders and remains so. In spite of its flaws, what shines through in the film is Nanook’s humanity. Today, the Internet offers the Inuit a “window on the outside world,” and it also allows non-Inuit to have a window into the Arctic. International air travel has also allowed for cross cultural exchanges.  In addition, there are now Inuit film directors, writers, curators, and artists who are setting aright the outmoded stereotypes about the Arctic and the people who inhabit it.  And that is a good thing.

 

Should you wish to view Nanook of the North it can be accessed at the link below:

 

https://www.freegreatmovies.com/Free-Movie/Nanook-of-the-North/166