"This is nonsense. What kind of human being is he? How can people act like that?"
A film that's a little maddening in how elongated everything is, but at its core is a stirring conversation between an elderly Inuit man and a white government emissary who wants to relocate his family to a settlement in 1961. Through a very long discussion, we see how far apart these men are culturally, and also just how difficult it is for the Inuit translator, who haltingly translates for them with varying degrees of accuracy.
From the white man's perspective, it's the law, and the Inuit children should/must attend school. When the chips are down, he even threatens to come back later for them. He says he wants to "understand" and "help" Noah but never really tries to understand him or his culture, or help him by realizing people can live in different ways on this earth, and that his own culture is not necessarily superior. I didn't care much for the cinematography in this film since it seems to consist almost exclusively on static tight shots of faces, but it's very effective when we see the incredulity in Noah's eyes over the inhumanity of this smiling (and later strangely crying) white man. The film is effective in showing Noah's intelligence and dignity, and he reacts as any reasonable person would - how can you move me from my home? What if I forcibly tried to remove you from your home?
With that said, the film will not be for everyone because of how drawn out it is. I mean, here's the breakdown:
Drinking tea in the morning - 8 minutes (interspersed with coughing)
Trek across the snow in dog sleds until stopping for a tea break - 16 minutes
Meeting the white man and subsequent conversation through an interpreter - 73 minutes
Trek back across the snow - 5 minutes (fixed camera at head of sled, looking back at passengers the entire time)
Drinking tea at home again - 4 minutes (again, literally watching them drink and munch a biscuit)
Seeing the actual Noah Piugattuk in 1992, age 92, singing a traditional song - 4 minutes
I'm sure there is a point to showing how quiet their lives are while drinking tea, showing the cooperation in getting out and running along the sled to lighten the load, and showing this long, repetitious conversation where the two sides clearly just disagree (but one ominously has the government on its side) ... but the length was a lot to ask of viewers. It could have been much better, but for the perspective shift and the representation of Inuit humanity, I'm glad I saw it.
