Eskimos of Pond Inlet

Jun. 1

Apart from acting in a student film (“TRYST” written by Tom Westbrook, filmed and edited by Peter Armstrong), this was my first experience of filmmaking. I have written about this experience - what it was like, and the remarkable way it revealed to me the intimate and easy relationship between documentary film and oral culture - most recently and at some length in a contribution to The Hands’ Measure, Essays Honouring Law Aksaajuq Otak (p 157-166), and the text of this below). But this was the project where I learned about anthropological film and, indeed, about many of the technical elements in any documentary film-making. The film grew from my work in the eastern Arctic in the early 1970s. The shoot was in the spring of 1975. The director was Michael Grigsby, with Ivan Strasburg and Mike McDuffie as camera and sound. The editor was David Gladwell. I could not have been more fortunate - each one of the crew was brilliant at their job, and all of them were happy to give me more or less continuous on-the-ground tutorials. They also trusted me to listen to the Inuit of Pond Inlet and take their guidance as to each part of the film work. When it came to the edit, David Gladwell welcomed me in the cutting-room for all of every day of the process.

This film was just one of the 62 that came to make up the Disappearing World Series, but I believe it is the only one to rely entirely on translated subtitles. It is a film without a word of English (apart from a fur trader saying ‘thank you’ to the many from whom he is buying a seal skin). At the time, there were some doubts about the film. A senior executive at Granada told me, ahead of its being broadcast, that even if nobody much wanted to watch it, it did help Granda fill its quota of ‘quality television’. At least one of the Disappearing World production team dismissed it as boring. Yet it did quite well, and I have been struck by the intensity and enthusiasm of response to it expressed by First Nations and other Canadian students at the many screenings of it I have attended over the past twenty years. Perhaps because of its commitment to the voices of the people themselves, and the respectful camera that was at the heart of Grigsby’s directorial style, it stands the test of time surprisingly well.

Documents

Essay: Hugh Brody - ‘The People’s Land—The Film’ PDF →

Synopsis

For the Eskimos of Pond Inlet - a new village in North Baffin Island in which they have been settled by the Canadian Government – the life of the semi-nomadic hunter has given way to that of wage-labourer, in what appears as a pre-fabricated 'township'. Although hunting provides an important supplement to the Eskimos' income, it is now a part-time activity, and since 1975 (ten years after the start of the government's housing programme) nobody has lived all year round in hunting camps. For the older inhabitants of Pond Inlet, the old way of life is still vivid (in 1935 only 37 Eskimos lived in the village) and their reminiscences and recollections form part of a powerful statement about the present situation. These statements take the form of monologues, or comments addressed to friends and family about the effects of fifty years of contact with whites.

Apart from these 'interviews' with the Eskimos, the film accompanies one family – grandfather, father, mother and children – as they go out hunting seals and jigging for fish. The visual contrast between the splendours of the open spaces of snow and water and the township of Pond Inlet is a startling one which reinforces the Eskimos' statements. We also see one member of this family selling seal skins in a trade store, and captioned information is given about the cost of maintaining the hunter's equipment and what he can expect to earn in any one year. The material was filmed during a seven week period in June and July 1975.

A sophisticated observational style is used, with long takes, few pans, no commentary or formal interviews and full subtitling. Caption cards are used to good effect, conveying necessary information without intruding on the narrative. These 'technical' factors have important consequences for the film's anthropological value, not least because one of the aims was to enable the Eskimos to 'speak for themselves'. Although it would be naive to suggest that the 'people's voice' manages to override the exigencies of making such a film for a 52 minute television slot, the Eskimos did have a say in the making of the film, and one of them was also involved in the editing. The striking oratorical style of the Eskimos awakens the viewer to the point that in this film they are addressing the Whites, voicing their distrust, having overcome the fear with which they first encountered these 'visitors' to the people's land.

52 minutes / Colour / 1977

Available from: Royal Anthropological Institute

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For purchase here