Nanook Of the North

So I talked in person to Gabriel Thibaudeau (of Metropolis fame, from by blog entry on that, for the uncultured amongst you *wink*)!!!

My fascination with the Innuit people and the first nation people in general continue. They screened Nanook of the North, a 1922 film by Robert J. Flaherty, documenting the life of Inuk Nanook and his family. For all you film nerds, it is considered the first ever feature length documentary. As a silent movie then, it has to be accompanied by a soundtrack, preferrably live. And like Metropolis, it was Gabriel Thibaudeau and an 8 piece orchestra, with two Innuit throat singers. The synchronization was not as perfect as in Metropolis, but the whole thing was a little shaky when one of the Iroquois throat singers showed up late, due to traffic!!!!

So when they killed a big seal in the starving winter months, and then they all started devouring it, raw, I thought, 'hmmm... can I do that if I go and live there with them?' after some back and forth I decided yes I can, of course I'll get sick a couple times, but yes, I can... it is like sushi... ok sushi with blood dripping... but I do love sushi so... But I figured, what I won't be able to do is, go stay in the igloo during a heavy snow storm and leave them huskies, them huskies that trasported us all around outside the igloo, with snow blowing in their faces, howling... No, I will probably not be able to do that.... And I will want to take them in, and everyone will look at me like I was some snobbish city person, which maybe I am...

At the end of the movie, this hippie walks to me and starts conversation about my photos and all, he says he knows the organizer and may he present me to him.... yeah right hippie... but it turned out he did know the organizer, I tell you those hippies... so I met some First Nation people, and I kept asking everyone where they were from and they were at most 300-500miles away from Montreal, not one from Nunavut..... after sometime I restrained myself from throwing myself at these people and begging them to take me to live there with them for like 3-6 months and see polar bears....

So through this hippie then I got to meet Gabriel Thibaudeau. Ok so it wasn't like MJ walking the crowds, even though for me it was like that - so he was pretty approachable. And when I met him, I didn't know what to say or ask - I just managed to tell him that I also saw Metropolis - he was impressed and he went on to tell me about how Metropolis was a hard project for him, as it was 2.5hrs and all... Anyway, it was really a cool experience - I can only feel bad about them suburbanites who don't get to experience all this richness....