| SiGN UP! join
the DigsNews mailing list + we'll keep you posted about updates and other DIGS-related news .
|
|
|
|
| ..
|
rented
any good movies lately?
jump
to the
boards
and recommend it.
|
copyright ©1999-2003
DigsMagazine.com.
|
Plot synopsis
Set in the icy arctic at an unspecified time in the distant past, The
Fast Runner tells the epic story of an ancient Inuit legend that
begins when an evil spirit invades a small, quiet village, and tears the
once close-knit community apart. A generation later and the rift has yet
to heal: the children of those present on the night the spirit cursed
the community continue to bicker and clash. At the center of all the
tension is the rivalry between brothers Atanarjuat ("the fast
runner") and Amaqjuaq ("the strong one"), and Oki, the
mean, bitter son of the community's leader. The situation comes to a
head when Atanarjuat wins the affections of Atuat, the sweet young woman
who's long been promised to Oki. Oki and Atanarjuat settle the matter in
the traditional way, in a ritualized fight that takes place in front of
the whole community. Atanarjuat unexpectedly wins, and a very angry Oki
has no choice but to let Atuat go. The relationship between the two
clans only grows more complicated when some time later, Oki offers
Atanarjuat his sister Puja as a traveling companion on a long hunting
journey. Sly, manipulative, trouble-making Puja has long had her heart
set on Atanarjuat, and eagerly ingratiates her way into Atanarjuat's
family as a second wife - much to the expectant Atuat's disapproval. But
when Puja commits an unforgivable act of betrayal to her new family,
she's cast out and sent back to Oki and her old family in disgrace. This
sets off a chain of events that leads to a brutal death, an exhilarating
escape, a temporary exile… and eventually, the reunification and
redemption of the community.
Review
"Amazing" is one of those adjectives I'll admit I have
a tendency to overuse. Like "fantastic", or
"fabulous", it's a word that flies off my tongue so readily
that it somewhat negates the whole point of using so strong an
adjective. So when I say The Fast Runner is amazing, I want you
to understand that in this case, at least, I don't just mean it's good,
or even great - I mean it's one of those movies that left me feeling
like my eyes had been opened wide. To begin with, there's the
astonishing stark beauty of the arctic landscape: all that white
stretching on and on and on, dazzlingly bright, so barren and strange
it's like another planet. Then there's the ethnographic element: you
can't watch this movie without marveling at the way in which these
people live. From the very first (and very disorienting) opening scene,
The Fast Runner throws you into this ancient Inuit way of life: you
can practically smell the blood when they're getting ready to dig in to
a fat slab of raw seal meat (vegetarians beware), and feel the warmth
and coziness of a well-built igloo. But The Fast Runner doesn't
exoticize the people or the culture. We see how they nosh, how they
hunt, how they dress, and where they sleep, but by the end of the movie,
we're so immersed in this world that none of it seems particularly
bizarre at all. Atanarjuat, Atuat and co. are bawdy, funny, earthy,
flawed: just plain human. And what we discover then is that The Fast
Runner gets at things that are so much more universal and elemental
than the specifics of how a people look or live. Love, lust, jealousy,
rivalry, betrayal, revenge, murder: this is the stuff that of which
great epics have always been made. The Fast Runner tells a story
that's familiar no matter what culture you happen to have grown up in -
but in a way that you've never seen before. —reviewed
by Yee-Fan Sun
--------------------------->
lounge . nourish
. host .
laze
. home .
|
