"The Fast Runner" is a pedestrian story of treachery among a tribe of primitive natives - in this case the Inuits of the arctic region of Canada. On the upside the film has an abundance of raw Spartan arctic beauty; haunting music and percussion; real native actors speaking what is presumably the Inuit tongue; and a fascinating sense of authenticity. On the downside, the film is viscous, long, esoteric, difficult to follow, and plays better as a documentary with the thin story of murder and deceit among peaceful people being buried under ice and snow as we watch the Inuit's simple day-to-day survival tasks and never see the more interesting activities such as a caribou hunt. In short, the film doesn't work well as either a drama or a documentary though it seems to try to straddle both. Possible target audiences? Subscribers to National Geographic. (B)
Review of Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner
Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner
(2001)
More noble than interesting. More interesting than entertaining.
14 February 2003