Editing Nanook of the North

{{short description|1922 film by Robert J. Flaherty}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2020}}
{{Use American English|date=December 2022}}
{{Infobox film
|name = Nanook of the North
|image = Nanook_of_the_north.jpg
|director = [[Robert J. Flaherty]]
|writer = Robert J. Flaherty
|starring = {{ubl|Allakariallak|Nyla|Cunayou}}
|producer = Robert J. Flaherty
|cinematography = Robert J. Flaherty
|editing = {{ubl|Robert J. Flaherty|Charles Gelb}}
|studio = [[Revillon Frères]]
|distributor = [[Pathé Exchange]]
|released = {{film date|1922|6|11}}
|runtime = 79 minutes
|country = United States<br>France
|language = Silent film with English intertitles
|budget = $53,000
|gross = 
}}
{{Anthropology of art}}
'''''Nanook of the North'''''{{efn|Fully titled '''''Nanook of the North: A Story of Life and Love in the Actual Arctic'''''}} is a 1922 American [[silent film]] that combines elements of [[documentary]] and [[docudrama]]/[[docufiction]], at a time when the concept of separating films into documentary and [[drama]] did not yet exist.<ref name="Documentary history">{{cite web |last1=Milewski |first1=Allison |title=What Makes A Film A Documentary? |url=https://www.amdoc.org/engage/resources/honest-truths-ethics-documentary-film/icebreaker-what-makes-film-documentary/ |website=American Documentary |access-date=11 February 2025}}</ref><ref>Nanook of the North incorporates many [[docudrama]] elements, including the "casting" of locals into fictitious "roles" and family relationships, as well as anachronistic "staged" hunting scenes. It is not a [[docufiction]] (See: [[List of docufiction films]]){{citation needed|date=December 2022}}</ref> In the tradition of what would later be called [[salvage ethnography]],<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Meenu Sabu |author2=Binu Zachariah |title=Contradictions in the First Filmic Portrayal of the Inuit: A Study of Nanook of the North |journal=International Journal of Arts, Science and Humanities |date=June 2024 |volume=11 |issue=2 |page=93 |doi=10.5281/zenodo.12606245 |url=https://shanlaxjournals.in/journals/index.php/sijash/article/download/8266/7283/ |publisher=Shanlax Journals |language=English |format=PDF |issn=2582-0397}}</ref> the film follows the struggles of the [[Inuit|Inuk man]] named Nanook and his family in the [[Canadian Arctic]]. It is written and directed by [[Robert J. Flaherty]], who also served as [[cinematographer]], [[film editor|editor]], and [[film producer|producer]].<ref name="Robert Flaherty credits">{{cite web |title=Robert J. Flaherty |url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0280904/?ref_=fn_all_nme_1 |website=IMDb.com |publisher=Internet Movie Database |access-date=11 February 2025}}</ref>

Some have criticized Flaherty for staging several sequences,<ref>{{cite web |title=Nanook of the North |work=Criterion Collection |url=https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/42-nanook-of-the-north |access-date=September 28, 2022}}</ref> but the film has been described by [[Roger Ebert]] as "stand[ing] alone" among Flaherty's films "in its stark regard for the courage and ingenuity of its heroes."<ref name= Ebert /><ref>{{cite web |url=http://alainjsilver.epizy.com/nanook/index.htm|title=Robert Flaherty's "''Nanook of the North''"|author=Silver, Alain|author-link=Alain Silver|publisher=One World Magazine |access-date=September 28, 2022}}</ref>

It was the first feature-length documentary to achieve commercial success, proving the financial viability of the genre and inspiring many films to come.

In 1989, ''Nanook of the North'' was among the first group of 25 films selected by the [[Library of Congress]] for preservation in the United States [[National Film Registry]] for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".<ref>{{cite news|date=September 19, 1989|title=ENTERTAINMENT: Film Registry Picks First 25 Movies|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-09-19-mn-347-story.html|work=[[Los Angeles Times]]|location=[[Washington, D.C.]]|access-date=April 22, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Complete National Film Registry Listing |url=https://www.loc.gov/programs/national-film-preservation-board/film-registry/complete-national-film-registry-listing/|website=Library of Congress|access-date=May 6, 2020}}</ref>

==Plot==
[[File:Robert Flaherty Nyla 1920.jpg|thumb|left|Nyla, wife of Nanook]]
[[File:Nanuk Port Harrison 1920.jpg|thumb|left|Nanook (Allakariallak),<ref>{{cite web|url=http://mccord-museum.qc.ca/fr/collection/artefacts/MP-0000.596.1&section=196 |title=MP-0000.596.1 &#124; Le chasseur au harpon, 1920–1929 &#124; Impression &#124; Robert J. Flaherty &#124; Musée McCord |publisher=Mccord-museum.qc.ca |access-date=June 13, 2012}}</ref> 1920]]
The documentary follows the lives of an [[Inuk]], Nanook, and his family as they travel, search for food, and trade in the [[Ungava Peninsula]] of northern [[Quebec]], Canada. Nanook, his wife Nyla and their family are introduced as fearless heroes who endure rigors no other race could survive.  The audience sees Nanook, often with his family, hunt a [[walrus]], build an igloo, go about his day, and perform other tasks.

==Production==

===Development===
In 1910, Flaherty was hired by [[William Mackenzie (railway entrepreneur)|Sir William Mackenzie]] as an explorer and prospector searching for iron ore and other mineral deposits along the [[Hudson Bay]] for the [[Canadian Northern Railway]].<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1">{{Cite web|title=Arctic Profiles: Robert J. Flaherty (1884-1951)|url=http://pubs.aina.ucalgary.ca/arctic/Arctic40-4-354.pdf}}</ref> Learning about the lands and people there, Flaherty decided on his third expedition in 1913 to bring with him a glass-plate still camera and movie camera as well as a small portable printer and processor. Knowing nothing about film, he took a three-week course on the elementary techniques of filmmaking and film processing with the Eastman Kodak Company in [[Rochester, New York]].<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite web|title=Growing Things: the Rural Patience of Robert Flaherty (1994 revision)|url=https://yorkspace.library.yorku.ca/xmlui/bitstream/handle/10315/36201/%5BEWC%5D%20Growing%20Things%20-%20the%20Rural%20Patience%20of%20Robert%20Flaherty%20%282019%2004%2028%29.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y}}</ref>

===Filming===
Using a [[Bell & Howell]] camera, a portable developing and printing machine, and some lighting equipment, Flaherty spent 1914 and 1915 shooting hours of film of [[Inuit]] life. By 1916, Flaherty had enough footage to begin evaluating screenings and was met with wide enthusiasm. However, in 1916, Flaherty dropped a cigarette onto the [[original camera negative]] (which was highly flammable [[Nitrocellulose#Nitrate film fires|nitrate stock]]) and lost 30,000 feet of film.<ref name=Barnouw>{{cite book|last=Barnouw|first=Erik|author-link=Erik Barnouw|title=Documentary:A History of the Non-Fiction Film|year=1993|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford|pages=33–35}}</ref> With his first attempt ruined, Flaherty decided to not only return for new footage, but also to refocus the film on one Inuit family as he felt his earlier footage was too much like a [[travel journal|travelogue]]. Spending four years raising money, Flaherty was eventually funded by [[France|French]] fur company [[Revillon Frères]] and returned to the North and shot from August 1920 to August 1921. As a main character, Flaherty chose the celebrated hunter of the Itivimuit tribe, Allakariallak. The full collaboration of the Inuit was key to Flaherty's success as the Inuit were his film crew and many of them knew his camera better than he did.<ref name=Barnouw1>{{cite book|last=Barnouw|first=Erik|author-link=Erik Barnouw|title=Documentary:A History of the Non-Fiction Film|year=1993|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford|pages=34–36}}</ref>

====Building of the igloo====
The building of the [[igloo]] is one of the most celebrated sequences in the film, but interior photography presented a problem. Building an igloo large enough for a camera to enter resulted in the dome collapsing, and when they finally succeeded in making the igloo it was too dark for photography. Instead, the images of the inside of the igloo in the film were actually shot in a special three-walled igloo for Flaherty's bulky camera so that there would be enough light for it to capture interior shots.<ref name=Barnouw2>{{cite book | last=Barnouw| first=Erik| author-link=Erik Barnouw| title= Documentary : A History of the Non-Fiction Film| year=1993| publisher=Oxford University Press| location=Oxford| page=36}}</ref> This instead is what Flaherty said: "The average Eskimo igloo, about 12 feet in diameter, was much too small. On the dimensions I laid out for him, a diameter of 25 feet, Nanook and his companions started to build the biggest igloo of their lives. For two days they worked, the women and children helping them. Then came the hard part—to cut insets for the five large slab-ice windows without weakening the dome. They had hardly begun when the dome fell into pieces to the ground. 'Never mind,' said Nanook, 'I can do it next time.' For two days more they worked, but again with the same result; as soon as they began sitting in the ice windows their structure fell to the ground. It was a huge joke by this time and holding their sides they laughed their misfortune away. Again, Nanook began on the 'big Aggie igloo', but this time the women and children hauled barrels of water on sledges from the waterhole and iced the walls as they went up. Finally, the igloo was finished, and they stood eyeing it as satisfied as so many small children over a house of blocks. The light from the ice-windows proved inadequate, however, and when the interiors were finally filmed the dome's half just over the camera had to be cut away, so Nanook and his family went to sleep and awakened with all the cold of out-of-doors pouring in."<ref>Robert Flaherty Talking," in Cinema 1950, edited by Roger Manvell (London: Pelican, 1950) 18–19.</ref>

==Controversy==
[[File:Tournage de Nanook of the North 1922.jpg|thumb|Filming of Nanook of the North in 1922]]

===Hoax claims===
"Nanook" was in fact named Allakariallak ({{IPA|iu|al.la.ka.ɢi.al.lak|pron}}); Flaherty chose "[[Nanook]]" ("polar bear" in Inuktitut mythology) because he felt its seeming genuineness made it more marketable.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Third Eye: Race, Cinema, and Ethnographic Spectacle |author= Fatimah Tobing Rony |page=104 |year=1996 |publisher=Duke University Press |location=Durham and London}}</ref> The "wife" shown in the film was not really his wife. According to Charlie Nayoumealuk, who was interviewed in ''Nanook Revisited'' (1990), "the two women in ''Nanook'' – Nyla (Alice [?] Nuvalinga) and Cunayou (whose real name we do not know) were not Allakariallak's wives, but were in fact [[Common-law marriage|common-law wives]] of Flaherty."<ref>{{cite book |title=Defamiliarizing the aboriginal: cultural practices and decolonization in Canada |author= Julia Emberley |page=86 (citing Fatimah Tobing Rony, Taxidermy and Romantic Ethnography: Robert Flaherty's ''Nanook of the North'')}}</ref> And although Allakariallak normally used a gun when hunting, Flaherty encouraged him to hunt after the fashion of his recent ancestors in order to capture the way the [[Inuit]] lived before [[European colonization of the Americas]]. Flaherty also exaggerated the peril to Inuit hunters with his claim, often repeated, that Allakariallak had died of starvation less than two years after the film was completed, whereas in fact he died at home, likely of [[tuberculosis]].<ref>Pamela R. Stern, ''Historical Dictionary of the Inuit'' (Lanham, MD:Scarecrow Press, 2004), p. 23.</ref><ref>Robert J. Christopher, ''Robert and Frances Flaherty: A Documentary Life, 1883–1922'' (Montréal and Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2005), pp. 387–388</ref>

Furthermore, it has been criticized{{by whom|date=November 2022}} for portraying Inuit as without technology or culture, and situates them outside modern history. It was also criticized for comparing Inuit to animals. The film is considered by some to be an artifact of popular culture at the time and also a result of a historical fascination for Inuit performers in exhibitions, zoos, fairs, museums and early cinema.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Third Eye: Race, Cinema, and Ethnographic Spectacle |author= Fatimah Tobing Rony |year=1996 |publisher=Duke University Press |location=Durham and London}}</ref>

Flaherty defended his work by stating, "one often has to distort a thing in order to catch its true spirit."<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Gray|first=Hugh|title=Robert Flaherty and the Naturalistic Documentary|jstor=1209484|journal=Hollywood Quarterly|year=1950|volume=5|issue=1|pages=47|doi=10.2307/1209484}}</ref> Later filmmakers have pointed out that the only cameras available to Flaherty at the time were both large and immobile, making it impossible to effectively capture most interior shots or unstructured exterior scenes without significantly modifying the environment and subject action.<ref>[[Molly Dineen]] and AA Gill in BBC Archive on 4: The Camera Never Lies, 2016</ref>

===Visit to the trading post===
In one scene, Nanook and his family arrive in a kayak at the trading post. Going to trade his hunt from the year, including the skins of foxes, seals, and polar bears, Nanook comes in contact with white people and there is an amusing interaction as the two cultures meet. The trader plays music on a [[Phonograph|gramophone]] and tries to explain how a man 'cans' his voice. Bending forward and staring at the machine, Nanook puts his ear closer as the trader cranks the mechanism again. The trader removes the record and hands it to Nanook who at first peers at it and then puts it in his mouth and bites it. The scene is meant to be a comical 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.<ref name=Rothman>{{cite book|last=Rothman|first=William|author-link=William Rothman|title=Documentary Film Classics|url=https://archive.org/details/documentaryfilmc00will|url-access=registration|year=1997|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge|pages=[https://archive.org/details/documentaryfilmc00will/page/9 9–11]}}</ref>

===Hunting of the walrus===
It has been noted that in the 1920s, when Nanook was filmed, the Inuit had already begun integrating the use of Western clothing and were using rifles to hunt rather than harpoons,<ref name=":0">{{cite web|last=Duncan|first=Dean W.|title=Nanook of the North|url=http://www.criterion.com/current/posts/42-nanook-of-the-north|publisher=Criterion Collection|access-date=April 3, 2012}}</ref> but this does not negate that the Inuit knew how to make [[Inuit clothing|traditional clothing]] from animals found in their environment, could still fashion traditional weapons and were perfectly able to make use of them if found to be preferable for a given situation.
{{blockquote|The film is not technically sophisticated; how could it be, with one camera, no lights, freezing cold, and everyone equally at the mercy of nature? But it has an authenticity that prevails over any complaints that some of the sequences were staged. If you stage a walrus hunt, it still involves hunting a walrus, and the walrus hasn't seen the script. What shines through is the humanity and optimism of the Inuit.<ref name="Ebert">{{cite web |last1=Ebert |first1=Roger |title=Reality at the end of the world |url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-nanook-of-the-north-1922 |website=RogerEbert.com |publisher=Ebert Digital LLC |access-date=20 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211207063546/https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-nanook-of-the-north-1922 |archive-date=7 December 2021 |language=en |date=25 September 2005}}</ref>|[[Roger Ebert]]}}

==Reception==
As the first "nonfiction" work of its scale, ''Nanook of the North'' was ground-breaking cinema. It captured many authentic details of a culture little known to outsiders, and it was filmed in a remote location. Hailed almost unanimously by critics, the film was a box-office success in the United States and abroad. In the following years, many others would try to follow Flaherty's success with "primitive peoples" films.<ref name=Barnouw3>{{cite book|last=Barnouw|first=Erik|author-link=Erik Barnouw|title=Documentary:A History of the Non-Fiction Film|year=1993|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford|pages=47–48}}</ref> In ''[[The Nation (magazine)| The Nation]]'' in 1946, critic [[James Agee]] wrote: "''Nanook'' has a beautiful simplicity, cheer, and hardiness which no subsequent documentary has improved on and which most have lost or perverted."<ref>Agee, James - ''Agee on Film Vol.1'' © 1958 by The James Agee Trust</ref> In 2005, film critic [[Roger Ebert]] described the film's central figure, Nanook, as "one of the most vital and unforgettable human beings ever recorded on film."<ref name= Ebert /> In a 2014 ''[[Sight and Sound]]'' poll, film critics voted ''Nanook of the North'' the seventh-best documentary film of all time.<ref name="BBC-doc">{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-28602506 |title=Silent film tops documentary poll |access-date=August 1, 2014 |work=BBC News|date=August 2014 }}</ref>

On [[review aggregator]] website [[Rotten Tomatoes]], the film holds [[List of films with a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes|an approval rating of 100%]] based on 30 reviews, with an average rating of 8.68/10. The site's critics' consensus reads: "An enthralling documentary and a visual feat, ''Nanook of the North'' fascinates with its dramatic depiction of life in an extremely hostile environment."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/nanook_of_the_north|title=Nanook of the North (1922)|website=[[Rotten Tomatoes]]|publisher=[[Fandango Media]]|access-date=April 12, 2020}}</ref>

==Home media==
In 1999, ''Nanook of the North'' was digitally remastered and released on DVD by [[The Criterion Collection]]. It includes an interview with Flaherty's widow (and ''Nanook of the North'' co-editor), Frances Flaherty, photos from Flaherty's trip to the arctic, and excerpts from a TV documentary, ''Flaherty and Film.''<ref>{{cite web|title=Nanook of the North|url=http://www.criterion.com/films/574-nanook-of-the-north|publisher=The Criterion Collection|access-date=April 3, 2012}}</ref> In 2013, Flicker Alley released a remastered Blu-ray version that includes six other arctic films.

==Popular culture==
[[File:Nanook of the North (1922) by Robert J. Flaherty 4K.webm|thumb|thumbtime=2:10|The full film]]

===Film===
* The 1923 silent film comedy ''A Tough Winter'' parodied ''Nanook of the North''.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Gale |first1=Lillian |title=A Rough [sic] Winter |url=https://archive.org/details/motionpicturenew00moti/page/n581 |access-date=February 16, 2019 |work=Motion Picture News (Jan–Feb 1923) |date=February 3, 1923 |page=589}}</ref><ref name="TheFilmDaily">{{cite news |title=A Tough Winter |url=https://archive.org/stream/filmdaily2324newy#page/n213/mode/2up |access-date=February 16, 2019 |work=The Film Daily |date=January 23, 1923}}</ref>  It was produced by [[Hal Roach]] and directed by [[Charley Chase]], and starred [[Snub Pollard]] with [[Marie Mosquini]] and [[James Finlayson (actor)|James Finlayson]].<ref name="TheFilmDaily" /><ref>{{cite web |title=A TOUGH WINTER (1923) – Snub Pollard |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7g1wx6d6VHs |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/7g1wx6d6VHs| archive-date=2021-12-11 |url-status=live|website=YouTube | date=September 9, 2013 |access-date=February 16, 2019}}{{cbignore}}</ref>
* ''[[Kabloonak]]'' is a 1994 film about the making of ''Nanook of the North''. [[Charles Dance]] plays Flaherty and Adamie Quasiak Inukpuk (a relative of Nanook) plays Nanook.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/519260/kabloonak/#overview |title=Kabloonak|publisher=[[Turner Classic Movies]]|access-date=July 1, 2023}}</ref>

===Television===
* In episode 2 of the 2015 series ''[[Documentary Now!]]'' (IFC), "Kunuk Uncovered" is a [[mockumentary]] parodying the 1990 documentary about the making of Nanook of the North titled ''Nanook Revisited'', especially addressing the staging and manipulation of the original documentary.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.avclub.com/documentary-now-kunuk-uncovered-1798184721 |title=Documentary Now!: "Kunuk Uncovered"|access-date=July 2, 2023|date=August 27, 2015|first=Kayla Kumari|last=Upadhyaya|publisher=[[The A.V. Club]]}}</ref>
* An episode of the [[Cartoon Network]] series ''[[Evil Con Carne]]'' is titled "No No Nanook", referencing both this film and the play ''[[No, No, Nanette]]''.

===Music===

* "Nanook of the North" is the name of the protagonist in the Arctic-Themed [[Frank Zappa]] conjoined songs "[[Don't Eat the Yellow Snow]]" and "Nanook Rubs It."<ref>{{cite book 
|last1=Lowe|first1=Kelly Fisher
|title=The Words and Music of Frank Zappa
|date=2006 
|publisher=Preager
|location=Westport, Connecticut
|page=111
|isbn=0275987795
}}
</ref>

==See also==
* [[List of films with a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes]], a film review aggregator website

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

;Bibliography
{{Refbegin}}
* {{cite journal |last=Flaherty |first=Robert J. |date=August 1922 |title=How I Filmed "Nanook Of The North": Adventures With The Eskimos To Get Pictures Of Their Home Life And Their Battles With Nature To Get Food. |journal=[[World's Work|The World's Work: A History of Our Time]] |volume=XLIV |pages=553–560 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZW0AAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA2-PA553 |access-date=August 4, 2009 }}
* {{cite journal |last=Flaherty |first=Robert J. |date=September 1922 |title=Life Among The Eskimos: The Difficulties And Hardships Of The Arctic. how Motion Pictures Were Secured of Nanook Of The North And His Hardy And Generous People |journal=[[World's Work|The World's Work: A History of Our Time]] |volume=XLIV |pages=632–640 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZW0AAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA2-PA632 |access-date=August 4, 2009 }}
* [[Melanie McGrath|McGrath, Melanie]] (2006) ''The Long Exile, A True Story of Deception and Survival Amongst the Inuit of the Canadian Arctic'', Harper-Collins
{{Refend}}

==Further reading==
*''Nanook of the North'' essay by Daniel Eagan in America's Film Legacy: The Authoritative Guide to the Landmark Movies in the National Film Registry, A&C Black, 2010 {{ISBN|0826429777}}, pages 83–84

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
{{wikisource}}
*[https://www.loc.gov/static/programs/national-film-preservation-board/documents/nanook2.pdf ''Nanook of the North'' essay by Patricia R. Zimmermann and Sean Zimmermann Auyash] on the [[National Film Registry]] website
*{{AFI film|1598}}
* {{IMDb title|0013427}}
* {{Internet Archive film|nanookOfTheNorth1922}}
* [https://archive.org/details/TheNanookIncident ''Experimental footage done with Nanook of the North''] at the [[Internet Archive]]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20190510162244/https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-nanook-of-the-north-1922 Great Movies: ''Nanook of the North''] by [[Roger Ebert]]
*[https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/42-nanook-of-the-north ''Nanook of the North''] an essay by Dean W. Duncan at the [[Criterion Collection]]

{{Robert J. Flaherty|state=expanded}}
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{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nanook of the North}}
[[Category:1922 films]]
[[Category:1922 documentary films]]
[[Category:1920s American films]]
[[Category:1920s French films]]
[[Category:American black-and-white films]]
[[Category:American docufiction films]]
[[Category:American silent feature films]]
[[Category:Anthropology documentary films]]
[[Category:Articles containing video clips]]
[[Category:Black-and-white documentary films]]
[[Category:Documentary films about Inuit in Canada]]
[[Category:Ethnofiction films]]
[[Category:Films about hunter-gatherers]]
[[Category:Films directed by Robert Flaherty]]
[[Category:Films set in Quebec]]
[[Category:Films shot in Quebec]]
[[Category:French documentary films]]
[[Category:Nord-du-Québec]]
[[Category:Pathé Exchange films]]
[[Category:Race-related controversies in film]]
[[Category:Stereotypes of Inuit people]]
[[Category:Surviving American silent films]]
[[Category:United States National Film Registry films]]