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The Fast Runner review
:. Director: Zacharias Kunuk
:. Starring: Natar Ungalaaq, Sylvia Ivalu
:. Running Time: 2:52
:. Year: 2001
:. Country: Canada
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An amazing first feature, this film is a cross between a mythological epic in the fictional narrative tradition of Homer's The Odyssey, and a documentary for an anthropology college class. The film's language is Inuit; the subtitles and the crisp digital photography are the only reminders that we are actually watching a movie, one that has actors and everything, so quickly are we pulled into the primitive Arctic setting of our characters. But I found myself questioning reality over and again: are those actors up on the screen, or is this a documentary? I knew, really, of course they're actors but, wow!
And, when is this story happening? In the present? In the distant past? Or is it set in the far, far distant time of ancestors long gone to their icy heaven? Many reviewers have voted for the latter, though finding the compelling story timeless. Yet for me, Atanarjuat could be a modern story that happens to be told about some extremely primitive people living today in a very distant place, not long ago in time. Such is this film's immense sense of timelessness. But it did jar me to see two of the women make up after an argument by shaking hands—surely not originally an Inuit custom. True, the visuals show zero evidence of modern technology. That in of itself makes the film highly watchable. Not only do these folk seem to get along well without cell phones or television, they have snazzy warm clothes obtained without benefit either of Goretex or Wilson's House of Leather. And with the same little metal (?) knife they cut their meat and skin their seals. One wonders if such a versatile tool can be found on the Home Shopping Network. Audiences sit spellbound, watching how human beings survive in this way.
The storytelling skills of the director are not completely flawless. But if we stick with the unknowns, the unclear, the confusing sequences of the initial half hour or so, we are rewarded finally with a carefully unfolding tale of love, jealousy, homicidal violence, sexual temptation and sisterhood and brotherhood (on ice-capades). Briefly, Atanarjuat is our hero, and he is envied and hated by Oki, son of the tribe's leader, because 1) Oki's fiancée loves the good-natured Atanrjuat, not Oki (a miserable fellow if there ever was one) and 2) even though Atanarjuat is not as buff as Oki, he's faster and purer of heart, and has embarrassed Oki in the traditional duel used in this culture to settle disputes, where men take turns smashing each other on the side of the head until one or the other gets unconscious. This victory leads to: 3) Atuat marrying Atanarjuat. How, when, where and with whose help evil Oki strikes back makes up the central elements of the story.
The audience can relate to this unusual film on a number of levels, including that of pondering the sources of evil. The climactic ending when our hero rises above the revenge instinct suggests the complex and challenging nature of human society. Why can't we all just get along together? A timeless question, apparently, and a solution to the problem, is offered by this tribe.
You can see how "modern" this story basically is. On one level it is an Arctic soap opera. But soap operas can be very compelling. This film, made in 2001, has won at least five different Film Festival Awards (including Cannes' Golden Camera), awards for photography, music, costume design, editing, as well as for direction. It is a winner, with one reservation: some might feel it is too slow for too long, at least until the amazing sequence when Atanarjuat takes off naked, running on ice, as it were. It's worth the wait.
Carol Saturansky
 Movie Reviews: from 1998 to 2011
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