Atanarjuat - The Fast Runner [2002]

The movie starts when a demon visits an Inuit group and curses them. At this time, Tulimag is having trouble to feed his family and already starts receiving a treatment that is not the "usual" this society gives to its members. Eskimos are known for their generosity and solidarity, but Tulimag becomes the object of ridicule and he is only given the leftovers from the food the others get. Years later, his two sons are well respected and some of the best hunters in the group. Atanarjuat and Amaqjuart have a good life and are very close to each other. Atanarjuat is in love with Atuat, but she is promised to Oki, who is willing to fight for her. In the meantime, Oki's sister, Puja, is interested in Atanarjuat. The events develop and we get to see the special rules they use in their "duels" and their customs regarding marriages. When a severe tragedy knocks on the door, the adventure picks up in pace and the interest of the audience is grabbed until the end without letting go.

Except for the painfully slow pace at the beginning, this is a highly enjoyable movie. Nevertheless, you have to be in the mood to sit down for three hours and be patient until the events turn into something really interesting. Apart from the story in this particular case, I enjoyed learning about the uses and culture of this society, about which I knew very little. The other remarkable aspect is the photography, which is absolutely stunning! Overall, I think it is a creation worth seeing, but you have to carefully pick the moment to do so.


Warmth in the cold   March 24, 2004
8 out of 8 found this review helpful

A beautiful film about social responsibility and how people live together. The film is acted and directed by Inuit people, and, in their harsh but stunning environment, living together is a skill necessary for survival.
Oki, the son of the group's leader, bullies his way through life. Atanarjuat falls in love with Atuat, the woman promised to Oki. When they get together, Oki is out for revenge. Oki and his brothers murder Atanarjuat's brother, and then turn their attention to Atanarjuat - this leads to a breathtaking, toe-curling chase across the icy land, with Atanarjuat running for his life, stark naked.
Despite the cold, the human relationships are warm and touching. The actors are beautiful and the film presents a wealth of information about traditional Inuit life without being preachy. The images and the story will stay with you for a long time.


WONDERFUL EPIC TALE HONESTLY PRESENTED   August 24, 2006
F. Sweet (Midwestern USA)
6 out of 6 found this review helpful

This movie is not to be missed! It is original and refreshingly uncompromising in its intensity. Virtually the entire production staff and cast are Inuit -- native Eskimos of the Northwest Territories. Where to begin?

The director Zacharias Kunuk, when he was a boy, he first heard the thousand-year-old legend of Atanarjuat. "You never forget that image of this naked man running on the ice," he said at a recent interview. "You wonder what's going through his head, and you never want to experience it." But we're getting ahead of the story. In Kunuk's presentation, THE FAST RUNNER defies cliches and stereotypes about Inuit culture. Not only that, but evidence of the film's sophistication and excellence is that in 2002 it had been awarded the Camera d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. However, it badly reflects on our "culture" that THE FAST RUNNER has made a mere $2-million at the box office -- while a summer series of trashy, loud, mindless action-adventure flicks have raked it in by the tens of millions. But I digress.

This is an epic account of an 11th-century Inuit blood feud, that had been shot on digital video in northernmost Canada. They shot on location a hundred miles or more above the Arctic Circle. The scene is eerily and spectacularly beautiful. The scene is also mysterious, sensual, emotionally intense.

The movie is universal in recounting: love, desire, sexual betrayal, rape, jealousy, intrigue, murder, patricide, revenge, exorcism, mental telepathy, and fate. There is so much crammed into this epic tale that the three hours go by without notice. It is amazing that Zacharias Kunuk could squeeze so much life into ONLY three.hours. Yet all of this is played out in a single Inuit clan. The underlying group's problems, according to the elders, come from a curse that has fallen upon the group. Meanwhile, everyday Inuit life is preseeented to us in fascinating detail: the women's face tattoos, the carefully tended seal-oil lamps, the endless variation in the texture of the snow, the boisterously rough relationship of the sled dogs to their masters, the extravagant couture, the bawdy put-downs, dining on raw meat while loudly exclaiming on its delightful freshness -- or its fetid age.

The plot revolves around a sexual rivalry between two cousins, Atanarjuat and Oki, which eventually leads to ritual head punches in a contest for the favors of the beautiful Atuat. Atanarjuat, generally regarded as the weaker of the two young hunters, unexpectedly wins. Oki is unconsolably jelous and simmers in a perpetual homocidal rage. The family relations become even more complicated once Atanarjuat even takes Oki's saucy sister, Puja, as his second wife.The noble-looking Atanarjuat (Natar Ungalaaq) settles into the good life while the snarling Oki plots revenge and schemes how to get Atuat who "rightfully" belongs to him. Meanwhile, the flirtatious, trouble making Puja is played off against the demure Atuat. Puja thrives on intensifying conflict -- while avoiding obligatory community work.

Eventually, Oki murderously strikes killing Atanarjuat's brother, but misses Atanarjuat who springs naked from his tent and runs for his life across the seemingly endless Arctic ice. Pursued by Oki and his two henchmen, Atanarjuat's escape seems hopeless. Imagine the scene: a naked man running for his life across a frozen desert while three determined hunters are hell bent on running him down to kill him.

The film has to be seen to be believed. You'll never forget it.


"I can only sing this song to someone who understands it." Give yourself half a chance and you will   April 16, 2007
C. O. DeRiemer (San Antonio, Texas, USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful



"Evil came to us like death and we just had to live with it," says the legend teller. The Fast Runner is a powerful, fascinating film about an Inuit community of less than two dozen people, living their lives above the Arctic Circle anywhere from a thousand to a couple hundred years ago. Their world is made up of vast frozen tundra and endless snow combined with the claustrophobia of living together in such close quarters that there are no secrets. Their survival and happiness depend on everyone living together in harmony. When the leadership of this group is assumed under questionable circumstances, when a rival is humiliated and when power is worked unfairly, evil descends on the group. The feelings of envy, ambition and lust which lead to murder may be familiar to anyone in any culture; how this plays out in such a small group of people and in such cold, severe conditions turns this movie into a unique and engrossing experience.

Saari is the leader of the group. He has a son, Oki (Peter-Henry Amatsiaq), and a daughter, Puja (Lucy Tulugarjuk). Tulmaq, now dead, had been a rival for leadership long ago, but had been humiliated until his spirit was broken. He had two sons, Amaqjuaq, who was called the Strong One, and Atanarjuat (Natar Ungalaaq), who was called the Fast Runner. Oki has grown to be a bully. As a child he and Ayuat (Sylvia Ivalu) were promised to each other, but now she and Atanarjuat have fallen in love. Oki and Atanarjuat settle the issue in a brutal fight. In front of the group, they stand facing each other. Then they take turns deliberately hitting each other on the side of the head as powerfully as they can. The one who fails to get up loses, and that is Oki. From then on we see how Oki's resentments and envy, and his sister's own trouble-making, lead to murder. By the time this small community casts out evil, Amaqjuaq is dead and Atanarjuat has barely escape with his life, running naked over ice fields and through pools of icy water, pursued by three killers, Oki in the lead. If nothing else does, this race against death will stay with you. Atanarjuat survives and finally returns to the group, where justice is meted out.

This film puts us in the middle of this tiny community. We see how they live, how they hunt, how they survive, they way they build an igloo, what they butcher and how they eat, how they dress. More powerfully, we see how they must adjust and accommodate. This is a community so small that resentments must be settled early, where humor can be direct, where intimacy is a part of the life; and where jealousy, envy, trouble-making, love and passion are the same as everywhere else. "I can only sing this song to someone who understands it," the legend teller says at the beginning of the movie. The story is long (172 minutes), the language, Inukitut, is strange, the environment is frigid and unforgiving. But the people come from the same pool of humanity as we do. Give this film half a chance and you'll find you understand the song.

The DVD picture and audio are excellent. There are no significant extras. If you enjoy films which concern themselves with people of dramatically different cultures, you might find interesting The Story of the Weeping Camel, Himalaya, Close to Eden and Saltmen of Tibet.


hang in there!!!   January 9, 2008
J. Ball (UK)
Great film if you have the patience.
As was said in another review, if you hang in there you will be rewarded.
It is a fascinating insight into Innuit culture and a style of living that we may not easily relate too.... though i think it sends out messages that are relevant to us all.
You certainly can't accuse the filmakers of painting a romantic picture of their own culture.