rmichaelpyle
I sit beside Gladys now!
member is offline
Joined: Mar 2006
Gender: Male 
Posts: 1,115
|  | "MAN OF ARAN" (1931) Robert Flaherty
« Thread Started on Nov 8, 2009, 6:46am » | |
Last night I watched a fantastic film made by the American filmmaker Robert Flaherty (who made "Nanook of the North") in the small three Island chain of Aran off of the coast of Ireland called "Man of Aran" (1931). It was made much like "Nanook of the North" in a documentary style, although the truth of the matter is that he made the film as a "piece of poetry" in the sense that some of the things shown may not have been part of that culture for as long as thirty years. Nevertheless, the actors who played the parts were all genuine citizens of Aran and not actors for a living, and they carried out their parts magnificently. It was incredibly difficult to live in Aran in 1931, as it is today, but much more so then. One of the scenes which is given much time is the fishing for the basking shark, the largest fish in the Atlantic Ocean. It is so overwhelming - those scenes of catching the fish - it has to be seen to be believed! There are three main sections to the film, land life, fishing for the basking shark, and coming home in a storm, the last the likes of which are not something that can be written about, but need to be seen to be understood. The storms off of the coast of Aran when the waves come over the three to five hundred foot cliff walls are simply too huge to comprehend. The waves crash over the walls and onto the land above!
This film is in perfect condition, as though it were made yesterday. The film is done with the use of sound, although the sound is minimal. There is a specially written music track over much of the film that uses musical themes of Aran. There are several extras on the DVD besides, including a full documentary made in 1978 on the making of the film. I watched that, too.
This is very highly recommended. Anyone who has a taste in their mouth for adventure and docudrama and great filmmaking will certainly like this film immensely!
| |
|
![[Home]](http://s4.images.proboards.com/menu/home.gif)
![[Help]](http://s4.images.proboards.com/menu/help.gif)
![[Search]](http://s4.images.proboards.com/menu/search.gif)
![[Login]](http://s4.images.proboards.com/menu/login.gif)
![[Register]](http://s4.images.proboards.com/menu/register.gif)
![[Search This Thread]](http://s4.images.proboards.com/search2.gif)
![[Send Topic To Friend]](http://s4.images.proboards.com/buttons/sendtopic.gif)
![[Print]](http://s4.images.proboards.com/buttons/print.gif)
Author
Logged