Chapter 6 Recording and Presenting Reality 211By this time, Flaherty had mastered the entire fi lmmaking process,
having learned to develop and print his own fi lms. He recognized the
value of considerable shooting when dealing with a natural setting and
unpredictable events and—as his own cinematographer—had honed a keen
sense of visual expression and timing. Th ese attributes would combine with
his storytelling gift s and compelling subject matter to produce a fi lm that
became a landmark in the evolution of documentary fi lm and a resounding
success with the public.
Flaherty involved the Inuit extensively with his methods, screening
rushes with them and discussing events and activities they could fi lm that
would tell the story of their culture. In fact, the Inuit were totally integrated
in the shoot, learning to take apart and rebuild a camera, process fi lm, and
assist Flaherty with all aspects of production. Th e physical conditions are
captured in the movie one can see today. Th e cold could transform the fi lm
into thin frozen glass-like strips. Flaherty cut a hole the size of a 35mm frame
in the side of his completely light proof hut, attached a printing machine to
the wall, and then used sunlight to expose his fi lm. While shooting, Flaherty
and his group barely survived blizzards and diffi cult treks across frozen
stretches of land.Dilemmas of Documenting Reality
In Nanook of the North, we see many of the most essential components of
non-fi ction fi lmmaking and a number of the most important sources of
controversy in documentary traditions that have been debated ever since its
debut. With this fi lm, Flaherty depicts a group of people living in their natural
setting. Th ey are involved with tasks and actions that make up their daily
lives. However, in wishing to depict and preserve a vision of the traditional
lifestyles of this ethnic group, Flaherty made decisions to remove any traces
of infl uence from contemporary industrialized culture, such as the rifl es
that the hunters would actually be using or certain clothes that they would
have been wearing by then. In addition, aspects of events were staged for the
camera when suffi cient or acceptable footage was not forthcoming.
By taking a camera, bringing it to a natural setting, and having people
perform activities that were relatively natural and true-to-life, Flaherty
created a motion picture that deals with the factual reality of passed-down
traditions and lived experiences of a group of people. Th e choices he faced
in the depiction of people, events, and settings are those confronted by any
documentary fi lmmaker when addressing their topic drawn from reality. At
the time of the movie, no one had considered what a “documentary fi lm”
would be. Flaherty was proceeding as he saw fi t to produce a motion picture
that would engage audiences and show them the lifestyle of the Inuit in their
natural environment. When Nanook and the other characters partake in most
of the activities of the fi lm—ice fi shing, building an igloo, traveling in a kayak
as a family—they are performing activities that had been standard aspects
of daily life in their culture and that were being transformed or supplanted
in the face of modern life.VIEWFINDER
“That is the cornerstone of
documentary fi lmmaking.
You have to have respect
and you have to be humble
and you have to submit to
the reality that you wish
to capture.”–Mira Nair–
Indian director of fi ction and
documentary fi lms whose
projects include Salaam
Bombay! (1988), Mississippi
Masala (1991), and Monsoon
Wedding (2001)Copyright 2010 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).