MCN: Gary Dretzka's Digital Nation

Whenever a blizzard slams the East Coast - or, more specifically, the Washington-to-Boston corridor - an army of hyperventilating weathercasters, office-bound editors and bundled-up reporters treat the meteorological event as if it were the Perfect Storm and they were George Clooney battening down the hatches on the Andrea Gail. The same thing happens in Los Angeles whenever more than three or four drops of rain fall on Beverly Hills.

Last week's snowstorm was a lollapalooza, all right, and it made for some great video clips. But, except for the inevitable fatalities and flight delays, the mid-Atlantic whiteout was but a momentary blip on the Doppler Radar screen of life.

That some news outlets chose to assign stories on how the cold and snow might affect the Grammy ceremony, in Manhattan, was absurd to the point of hilarity.

A crisp stroll on the Red Carpet -- even in the barely there gowns most of the women chose to wear - is a cakewalk compared to what most kids experience every winter's day, during recess, in places like North Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin and the entirety of Canada. And, they can't complain to their publicists when Jack Frost nips their little noses.

I was reminded of how the non-celebrity masses manage to cope with the cold while watching Atanarjuat (The Fast Runner), which has just been released on DVD in the United States. Compared to the tiny Inuit community of Igloolik, in the Canadian Arctic, Aspen and Park City might as well be Miami.

Imagine being an actor required to dodge puddles on a slushy ice floe, while being pursued by a trio of spear-waving Inuit warriors ... and, you're naked. If you can't quite picture such an assignment pick up the DVD and watch Natar Ungalaaq do just that.

For that one bone-chilling scene alone, Ungalaaq deserved a Best Supporting Actor nomination.

According to the press kit, The Fast Runner is the first feature-length fiction film written, produced, directed and acted by Inuit. The characters all speak in the native tongue throughout, as well.

Paul Apak Angilirq and Zacharias Kunuk based their icy thriller on an ancient legend that chronicles a life-threatening struggle between powerful natural and supernatural characters. For countless generations, Igloolik elders have kept the legend of Atanarjuat alive to teach young Inuit the danger of setting personal desire above the needs of the group.

On the face of it, then, Fast Runner is like most other moralistic folk tales.

This one, however, manages to fill nearly three hours of screen time with some of the most visually arresting and intellectually satisfying moments in memory. What Lawrence of Arabia did for the desert, Fast Runner does for the Canadian Arctic.

At first, it's easy to feel confused by the physical and sartorial similarity of the actors and the head-first leap into the narrative. After a half-hour or so, however, things start to gel and it isn't all that difficult to distinguish between the characters.

Then, too, there's enough sex and violence to satisfy even the most jaded of Cinemax subscribers. (Plus, be forewarned, there are several unpleasant scenes showing sled dogs being disciplined and animals being butchered for food).

Naturally, then, the Cannes favorite wasn't nominated for an Academy Award in the Best Foreign Language Film category. It was, however, among the far-more-stellar list of finalists in this year's Foreign Film category for the Independent Spirit Awards.

So, how does Fast Runner fit into a column about digital technology?

For one thing, at three hours, it might be the longest feature filmed entirely on digital video (Betacam). For its theatrical run, Lot 47 had to transfer the footage to 35mm, but it still looked terrific.

Columbia TriStar's DVD features a pristine anamorphic transfer (1.85:1), which, to me, suggests it went from digital video to disc without a stop in between. Only the most diehard of film junkies will find the DVD to be anything less than visually spectacular … especially when one considers most of it was lit by the midnight sun.

Kunuk and cinematographer Norman Cohn have captured the austere landscape of an Arctic that is at once seductive and threatening. The DV camera missed few details, while the deep blues of the sky and different shades of white are impeccably rendered.

My television set is nothing special, but I couldn't shake the feeling that someone had installed an HDTV in our family room overnight.

The DVD's high sheen and absence of grain certainly will disorientate newcomers to digital-video, and it will take some time for everyone else to feel completely comfortable with the look. On the upside, these same visual qualities give Fast Runner a documentary feel right out Robert Flaherty's Nanook of the North.

The sound quality is excellent, in that the digital soundtrack clearly captures all the crunching boots, hissing sled rails and haunting story songs. What's more amazing was the sound lab's ability to transcribe the several degrees of icy silence that were captured on tape.

Filming in extremely cold weather is no treat for anyone, but cinematographers face unique problems when using traditional 35mm cameras in such conditions. Like diesel engines, cameras balk at turning over when the temperatures drop below zero.

There's little in the way of bonus material on the disc, so viewers will have to wait for the making-of documentary. Viewers should stay tuned throughout the final credits, though, as a few short clips have been inserted to help demonstrate how sleds and other native tools were used to follow the action (including the naked run).

It's quite an experience.

***

I grew up on the frozen tundra of Wisconsin, in the days before the invention of the wind-chill factor (so, we rarely knew how miserable we were supposed to be). I now live in Los Angeles, teach in Las Vegas and rarely leave the sunny Southwest in the months between October and April.

Anyone who can't get enough of the snow and cold, however, might consider these titles for a mid-winter film festival. All actually were filmed in frozen environs or look as if the cast and crew needed daily transfusions of anti-freeze.

1) The White Dawn: Philip Kaufman goes native.
2) Affliction: Frozen hearts and bodies.
3) Smilla's Sense of Snow: Julia Ormond romps across an ice floe sans cap.
4) The Shining: Chilling in all ways.
5) Enemy at the Gates: War in a true hell.
6) Fargo: Being from Wisconsin, I thought it was a documentary.
7) The Ice Storm: a.k.a. The Little Chill.
8) Ice Age: What's next, digital ice cubes?
9) Die Another Day: Iceland in all its glory.
10) Everest: Scaling the heights of frozen folley.
11) The Donner Party: Hannibal Lecter goes west.
12) Alive: Hannibal Lecter goes south.
13) The Endurance: Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition: Stranger than fiction.
14) Vertical Limit: New Zealand for the Himalayas.
15) The Clan of the Cave Bear: Anyone got a match?
16) Jeremiah Johnson: In which Robert Redford discovers Park City.
17) Downhill Racer: Heating up the slopes.
18) Beyond the Edge: Warren Miller, the skiing auteur.
19) Himalaya: Filmed in parts of Nepal too remote even for most Nepalis.
20) Nanook of the North: The original.

These aren't the only frosty titles available currently out on video, just the ones that gave me the shivers.

I was tempted to add Ski Party to the list, if only for James Brown's performance in a ski lodge and choice of sweater. But, too much of it looks as if it was filmed on a soundstage in Burbank.

If I were you, I'd wait until July to start the film festival.

- Gary Dretzka
February 25, 2003