Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner |
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| Directed by | Zacharias Kunuk |
| Produced by |
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| Written by | Paul Apak Angilirq |
| Starring |
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| Music by | Chris Crilly |
| Cinematography | Norman Cohn |
| Editing by |
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| Distributed by | Odeon Films |
| Release date(s) | 13 May 2001 (Cannes premiere) 12 April 2002 (Canada) |
| Running time | 172 minutes |
| Country | Canada |
| Language | Inuktitut |
| Budget | CA$1,960,000 (est.) |
| Money made | $5,998,310 |
Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner (Inuktitut: ᐊᑕᓈᕐᔪᐊᑦ) is a 2001 Canadian epic film directed by Inuit filmmaker Zacharias Kunuk and produced by his company Isuma Igloolik Productions. It was the first feature film ever to be written, directed and acted entirely in the Inuktitut language.
Set in the ancient past, the film retells an Inuit legend passed down through centuries of oral tradition. It revolves around the title character, whose marriage with his two wives earns him the animosity of the son of the band leader, who kills Atanarjuat's brother and forces Atanarjuat to flee by foot.
The film premiered at the 54th Cannes Film Festival in May 2001, and was released in Canada on 12 April 2002. A major critical success, Atanarjuat won the Caméra d'Or (Golden Camera) at Cannes, and six Genie Awards, including Best Motion Picture. Atanarjuat was also a commercial success, becoming Canada's top-grossing release of 2002, outperforming the mainstream comedy Men with Brooms. It grossed more than US$5 million worldwide. In 2015, a poll of filmmakers and critics in the Toronto International Film Festival named it the greatest Canadian film of all time.
Plot
At Igloolik ("place of houses") in the Eastern Arctic wilderness at the dawn of the first millennium, Qulitalik bids goodbye to his sister Panikpak, wife of Kumaglak, promising to come if she calls for help in her heart. She gives him her husband's rabbit's foot for spiritual power.
In a flashback, the community is visited by the strange shaman Tungajuaq. During a spiritual duel with the visitor, the camp leader Kumaglak dies. The visitor removes the walrus-tooth necklace from Kumaglak's body, and puts the necklace around the neck of Kumaglak's son Sauri, who thus becomes camp leader. Much later, the shaman's magic has poisoned the community with hatred. Tulimaq, the laughing stock of the camp, is having bad luck hunting and can barely feed his family, but Panikpak brings meat for Tulimaq's children, Atanarjuat and Amaqjuaq, hoping that one day they will make things right.
Atanarjuat grows up to be a fast runner, Amaqjuaq is strong, and they are rivals with Sauri and his son Oki. During a game of 'wolf tag' Atanarjuat pursues the beautiful Atuat, provoking jealousy in Oki. Oki's sister Puja also shows interest in Atanarjuat. In a punching duel with Oki, Atanarjuat wins the right to marry Atuat. Later, Atanarjuat leaves his wife Atuat at a camp to hunt caribou, but he stops at Sauri's camp, where he is persuaded to take Puja on the hunt. Camping by a lake, Atanarjuat and Puja sing and flirt.
Later, Atanarjuat is in an unhappy marriage with Atuat and Puja. He sees his brother with Puja and, feeling jealous, strikes Puja. She runs to Sauri's camp and tells them that Atanarjuat tried to kill her, so Sauri and Oki decide to kill Atanarjuat; Panikpak, however, remains skeptical of Puja's accusations. Puja returns to Atanarjuat's camp apologizing, and is accepted back. One day the women decide to go find eggs, but first Puja places a boot outside the tent where the men are resting. Oki and two henchmen sneak up and plunge their spears through the tent wall. Amaqjuaq is killed, but Oki is startled by a vision of his grandfather Kumaglak, and Atanarjuat, naked and barefoot, bursts out of the tent and runs for miles across the ice, pursued by Oki's gang. Atanarjuat escapes by following a vision of Qulitalik and jumping a wide open crack in the ice. Eventually he collapses in exhaustion with bloody feet. He is rescued by Qulitalik and his family, who conceal him when Oki arrives in pursuit.
Back at Igloolik, Sauri refuses to let Oki have Atuat, but Oki rudely makes advances on Atuat, who is comforted by Panikpak. During a hunt, Oki stabs Sauri and claims it was an accident, and takes over as camp leader. In her heart, Panikpak summons her brother Qulitalik to come, as they agreed years ago. Qulitalik feels her call and makes magic with the rabbit foot: at Igloolik Oki catches a rabbit with his bare hands, eats it, and falls under a spell that makes him forget his grievances. Qulitalik and the family make the long sled journey back to Igloolik with Atanarjuat, who has healed. Atanarjuat is joyfully reunited with Atuat but rejects Puja. The spell-happy Oki just wants to have a feast. But Atanarjuat prepares an ice floor in an igloo and invites Oki and his brothers inside. He slips antlers on his feet to grip the ice and subdues them, declaring that the killing is over. It is now time to confront the evil that has plagued the community for so long. With everyone gathered together, Qulitalik calls forth the spirits, and the evil shaman Tungajuaq appears, grunting like a polar bear. Qulitalik confronts the shaman with the powerful spirit of the walrus and magic soil, Panikpak shakes the walrus tooth necklace, and the shaman is destroyed and vanishes. Panikpak tells the group it is time for forgiveness: Oki, Puja and their friends are forgiven for their evil deeds, but are exiled from Igloolik forever.
Cast
Atanarjuat's family
- Natar Ungalaaq as Atanarjuat, "the fast runner"
- Pakak Innuksuk as Amaqjuaq, "the strong one", Atanarjuat's older brother
- Neeve Irngaut as Uluriaq, wife of Amaqjuaq
- Felix Alaralak as Tulimaq, Atanarjuat's father
- Stephen Qrunnut as Young Tulimaq
- Kumaglaq, the young son of Atanarjuat and Atuat; namesake of the old camp leader.
Oki's family
- Peter-Henry Arnatsiaq as Oki, Atanarjuat's rival
- Lucy Tulugarjuk as Puja, Oki's spoiled sister
- Apayata Kotierk as Kumaglak, the old camp leader
- Madeline Ivalu as Panikpak, wife of Kumaglak, mother of Sauri, grandmother of Oki and Puja, and sister of Qulitalik
- Mary Angutautuk as Young Panikpak
- Pauloosie Qulitalik as Qulitalik, brother of Panikpak
- Charlie Qulitalik as Young Qulitalik
- Mary Qulitalik as Niriuniq, wife of Qulitalik
- Eugene Ipkarnak as Sauri, camp leader
- Eric Nutarariaq as Young Sauri
Others
- Sylvia Ivalu as Atuat, sought as a wife by Atanarjuat and Oki
- Abraham Ulayuruluk as Tungajuaq, the evil shaman
- Luke Taqqaugaq as Pittiulak, Oki's sidekick
- Alex Uttak as Pakak, Oki's sidekick
Production
Development
The film is set in Igloolik ("place of houses") in the Eastern Arctic wilderness at the dawn of the first millennium, The names of Atanarjuat and his brother first appeared in writing in the journals of the explorer Captain George Lyon, who took part in a British expedition to search for the Northwest Passage in 1821–23. The Inuit believe the story of Atanarjuat to be more than five centuries old. This agrees with geomorphological estimates that Qikiqtaarjuk (Herschel Island), Inuktitut for little island and now a peninsula of Igloolik Island, on which much of the action occurs, became a peninsula about 500 years ago due to isostatic rebound. The main elements of the original story are that two brothers are betrayed by their wives and help set up a sneak attack. Rivals plunge their spears through the walls of the brothers' tent, but the fast runner makes an escape across the ice, naked and barefoot. After being rescued and healing, the fast runner sets up his own ambush and succeeds in killing his rivals. It was the first Inuktitut-language screenplay, and the project became the first feature film in Inuktitut.
Writer Paul Apak Angilirq, director Zacharias Kunuk, and many others on the production team had heard the Atanarjuat legend when they were young. Over the course of five years, Angilirq interviewed seven elders for their versions of the story and combined them into one treatment. The final script was developed by the team of Angilirq, Norman Cohn (producer and cinematographer), Kunuk, Herve Paniaq (tribal elder), and Pauloosie Qulitalik. Angilirq died due to cancer during film production in 1998.
Despite the emphasis on accuracy, the film takes liberties with the original Inuit myth: "At the film's core is a crucial lie", wrote Justin Shubow in The American Prospect, which is that the original legend ended in a revenge killing, whereas in the film Atanarjuat stops short of shedding blood. Kunuk felt this was "A message more fitting for our times", and agreed that it "probably" reflected the influence of Christianity and its concept of forgiveness on contemporary Inuit.
After Isuma applied to Telefilm Canada in spring 1998 for financial support, plans were made to begin filming in Igloolik, Nunavut in April. The month was important because April is typically the only time of year in Northern Canada when camera equipment could film winter scenes without malfunctioning due to cold. Kunuk found there was a lack of funding available from Telefilm and the Canadian government, which prioritized English and French-language productions over the languages of Aboriginal Peoples in Canada, and would not provide more than $100,000 for a film in an Aboriginal language, which would make Atanarjuat impossible. Kunuk regarded this as racial discrimination.
Due to difficulty with funding, Isuma instead successfully appealed for support of the National Film Board of Canada. Although the NFB had abandoned fiction, Isuma argued that in documenting Inuit mythology, Atanarjuat was similar to a documentary film. The budget was approved at $1.96 million.
Filming
Achieving historical accuracy was paramount to the production. According to anthropologist Bernard Saladin d'Anglure the biggest challenge was resurrecting the beliefs and practice of shamanism, "the major frame of reference for Inuit life". Research into historical sources—often the journals of European explorers—provided the basis for the reconstruction of clothes and customs. Elders were consulted. In an interview, Paul Apak Angilirq said:
We go to the elders and ask information about the old ways, about religion, about things that a lot of people have no remembrance of now... They are helping us write down what people would have said and acted in the past, and what the dialogue would have been like ... We speak 'baby talk' compared to the elders. But for Atanarjuat, we want people speaking real Inuktitut ... When we are writing the script, they might jump in and say, 'Oh, we wouldn't say such a word to our in-law! We wouldn't say anything to our brother's wives! It was against the law!'"
The filming crew was 90% Inuit. Filming began in 1999, stretching from 3 p.m. to 3 a.m., given the sun was always up. Cohn used natural light in shooting with his Sony DVW 700 digital camera, avoiding switches from the automatic camera settings. The film production pumped more than $1.5 million into the local economy of Igloolik and employed about 60 people. Given the small population, everyone in Igloolik knew at least one crew member.
Kunuk explained how the crew set out:
Everything was different—the way we traveled, the way we camped. It was just like when we go out today, spring camping, putting up canvas tents and moving from here to there. We would go fifty miles out into the country where there were no roads, nothing. Like the land was from the time it was created. There would be fifteen tents and eighty people, all the kids running around, just waiting for a perfect day. When we had a perfect day, the actors put on their make-up and costumes, and we went onto the site where we wanted to shoot.
The crew would costume the actors and apply make-up, only for the production to stall for four hours for ideal weather, which Kunuk said required the patience found in Inuit hunting.
Release
The film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2001. It was also screened at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2001.
Its commercial release in Canada came on 12 April 2002, with the only bidder for distribution rights being Alliance Atlantis and its affiliate, Odeon Films. It had already been playing in France for seven weeks, and was on 83 screens. The film opened in New York City on 7 June 2002.
