Nanook of the North (1922)

This whole thing was so cool to watch, but I’m still trying to wrap my head around how many people fit into that kayak.

meg✨

Get you a spouse who will chew your seal skin boots before a long day of ice fishing

darth icky

63/100 Couldn't care less that Flaherty staged some of this, as it plays more like fiction than a documentary in any case—not surprising, since the latter concept didn't really exist at the time (and the word itself, I now learn, was coined four years later in reference to…

Mike D'Angelo

What happens when Lumiere’s actualities start connecting shots rather than existing one-by-one, on their own. In a way Flaherty pushes even this - a significant number of sequences end up being staged, sometimes for practicality, other times to show a way of life that no…

Neil Bahadur

Often referred to as "the first full-length, anthropological documentary in cinematographic history," this docudrama is certainly a classic. As an explorer and prospector for the Canadian Pacific Railway, director Robert J. Flaherty made several trips to Hudson Bay in the…

TajLV

No spoilers, but it was nifty how he built a window in his igloo.

Will Sloan

A stunning documentary that captures the beauty of everyday life, with a seemingly high regard for its subjects. Several scenes are elegantly captured and absolutely fascinating, and had I not researched Flaherty’s behind-the-scenes strategy, I’d like and appreciate the…

Wesley Stenzel

Undergrads enthusiastically raise their hands and join in a spirited conversation on the ethics of the documentary.

teamgal

“The mysterious Barren Lands - desolate, boulder-strewn, wind-swept - illimitable spaces which top the world” I stumbled across Nanook of the North while looking for a documentary on Inuit lifestyle and culture without realising that it is believed to be the very first…

braden