The film does have just a bit of narration at the
beginning: “Traditionally, we move with
the seasons, following the animals… Our islands lay undiscovered by the modern
world until 1913, when explorer Robert Flaherty arrived.” Flaherty began
his documentary film career in the region, but his footage was lost. The
narrator tells us: “Our story was never
seen…Now we have created new footage of our past based on our memories and oral
history, because by seeing how we have changed we can better adapt to the
future.” It’s an interesting set-up. And we see two people in coats made of
feathers travel by canoe to one of the islands and go looking for eggs, then
build a fire and cook the eggs. This is done without any narration or dialogue.
Then by contrast we see how people go about the same
tasks in present day - traveling by motorboat, gathering the eggs and down. The
dialogue of the scene is what the camera picks up of their conversations as
they go about their work. “Eider down in
seaweed is the best kind to pick.”
Later we learn that “the
eiders move with the sea ice, looking for good feeding areas among the open
water habitats.” But after thousands of ducks died one winter, a study
began on “how changing sea ice was
affecting the ability of eider ducks to get through the winter.” The
changes have been brought on, at least in part, by the building of several dams
and reservoirs, and by the dumping of fresh water at the wrong time of year.
There are some gorgeous shots in the film. The sunset
footage near the beginning is beautiful. And there is plenty of great nature
footage of the eiders and other birds. Again, most of this footage is without
any narration, just some nice instrumental music. There are excellent
underwater shots of ducks diving to the bottom for food, and then rising again
to the surface. There is also impressive footage of thousands of eiders taking
flight. For me, the film’s most affecting footage is that of the ducks.
There is some footage that is difficult to watch. Early
on there is a scene of men hunting the ducks and then cooking their meat. And I
could really do without the footage of the seal being killed and gutted. A
warning: that scene goes on for a while and doesn’t pull back. There is also
some footage of how folks in the area live, and some of it feels a bit
pointless, particularly the bit where some young guys in the area pretend
they’re in a music video.
But overall, it's a truly interesting and unusual
documentary.
Special Features
The DVD contains some bonus footage. There are five
separate scenes, totaling approximately twenty-one minutes. All of them are
narrated. One scene gives more background information on the area and other
animals of the area, with some great nature shots. Another details a bit of the
history of the area, including information on Flaherty and some early
photographs. The most interesting scene for me is that on the eiders. It
provides more information on the birds, showing us the differences in the looks
of the adult male, the adult female and the young. There is some great footage,
as well as aerial still photos, showing their large numbers.
There are three other scenes, under the heading “Behind
The Scenes.” These deal with the recreation scenes of the film, and total
approximately fourteen minutes. They are not narrated. The first shows the
community building the two igloos which are used in the film. The second shows
people making the eider skin parkas worn in those sections of the film. (This
one is a bit difficult to watch.) The third is on the making of the seal skin kayak.
There is also a music video of a song titled “SKQ” by a
band called Arctic Records. It’s not a good song.
People Of A Feather
was directed by Joel Heath, and is scheduled to be released on DVD on February
25, 2014 through First Run Features.
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