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The Arctic: An evil spirit has befallen an Inuit community, they just don't know it yet: When Atanarjuat
(Natar Ungalaaq) falls in love with Atuat (Sylvia Ivalu), he has to
challenge Oki (Peter-Henry
Arnatsiaq), to whom she is promised to, to
win her hand in a fight - which he does, fair & square. But when he
later - already married - makes love to Puja (Lucy
Tulugarjuk), his brother Amaqjuaq's (Pakak
Innuksuk) wife & Okis sister, & is caught while
doing so, evil takes its course: Puja - expelled from Atanarjuat's
family, goes to her brother (who has a score to settle with atanarjuat
anyways) & talks him into avenging her. So he kills Amaqjuaq &
chases Atanarjuat - naked through a long running sequence in the snow -
away from the tribe, unable to catch up with him & kill him too.
Back home, he feels safe from his rival anyways, kills his father, the
chieftain, to obtain leadership himself, & rapes Atuat. But contrary
to Okis hopes, Atanarjuat didn't die in the cold but found refuge with a
small neighbouring family who nursed him back to health. Returning to
the tribe, he offers friendship & forgiveness to Oki & his
minions, but instead gives them a retaliatory beating in an igloo on
ice-frozen ground in which only he - wearing special shoes - is able to
stand without slipping. However, he refuses to kill him, instead lets
justice prevail: Oki & Puja are expelled from the tribe, the evil
spirit is exorcised.
The synopsis of this movie actually sounds way better than the movie
actually is - sure, there are some great sequences, shots & nice,
unusual scenery, but Atanarjuat is just to goddam long. It has a
story that could be told in, say 1 ½ hours, instead it's clocking in at
2 Ύ. It does in fact suffer from a syndrom which many movies made
primarily for the world cinema crowd suffer from, a syndrom I'd
like to call (in absence of a better word) ethnological accuracy
- it being something like the not quite that annoying kid brother of political
correctness -, meaning the movie takes way more time to show the
daily routines, life conditions & traditions of the Inuit in every
detail than to tell the actual story, almost as if it was a documentary
with a story accidently tagged on. So whenever something really does
happen, it feels like too little, too late.
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amazon.co.uk
amazon.de
eThaiCD.com
find Atanarjuat The Fast Runner at adultvideouniverse.com
