''Searchers'' () is a 2016
Inuktitut
Inuktitut ( ; , Inuktitut syllabics, syllabics ), also known as Eastern Canadian Inuktitut, is one of the principal Inuit languages of Canada. It is spoken in all areas north of the North American tree line, including parts of the provinces of ...
-language Canadian drama film directed by
Zacharias Kunuk
Zacharias Kunuk (, born November 27, 1957) is a Canadian Inuk producer and director, most notable for his film '' Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner.'' It is the first Canadian dramatic feature film produced entirely in Inuktitut with an all Indige ...
and
Natar Ungalaaq
Natar Ungalaaq (Inuktitut syllabics: ᓇᑕᕐ ᐅᖓᓛᖅ, born 1959) is a Canadian Inuk actor, filmmaker and sculptor whose work is in many major collections of Inuit art. Before playing the lead roles in '' Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner'' (2001) ...
, which premiered at the
Toronto International Film Festival
The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the most prestigious and largest publicly attended film festivals in the world. Founded in 1976, the festival takes place every year in early September. The organi ...
. Based in part on the 1956
John Ford
John Martin Feeney (February 1, 1894 – August 31, 1973), better known as John Ford, was an American film director and producer. He is regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers during the Golden Age of Hollywood, and w ...
film ''
The Searchers
''The Searchers'' is a 1956 American epic Western film directed by John Ford and written by Frank S. Nugent, based on the 1954 novel by Alan Le May. It is set during the Texas–Indian wars, and stars John Wayne as a middle-aged Civil War v ...
'', the film is set in
Northern Canada
Northern Canada (), colloquially the North or the Territories, is the vast northernmost region of Canada, variously defined by geography and politics. Politically, the term refers to the three Provinces_and_territories_of_Canada#Territories, terr ...
in 1913. It centres on Kuanana (Benjamin Kunuk), a man who returns from hunting to discover that much of his family has been killed and his wife and daughter have been kidnapped.
The film was shot in
Nunavut
Nunavut is the largest and northernmost Provinces and territories of Canada#Territories, territory of Canada. It was separated officially from the Northwest Territories on April 1, 1999, via the ''Nunavut Act'' and the Nunavut Land Claims Agr ...
with an entirely
Inuit
Inuit (singular: Inuk) are a group of culturally and historically similar Indigenous peoples traditionally inhabiting the Arctic and Subarctic regions of North America and Russia, including Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwe ...
cast, and with contributions from a local crew. The production was troubled by extreme cold. It has received positive reviews in Canada, and was nominated for two
Canadian Screen Awards
The Canadian Screen Awards () are awards given for artistic and technical merit in the film industry recognizing excellence in Canadian film, English-language television, and digital media ( web series) productions. Given annually by the Academy ...
, including
Best Motion Picture
The Academy Award for Best Picture is one of the Academy Awards (also known as Oscars) presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) since the awards debuted in 1929. This award goes to the producers of the film an ...
.
Plot
In an Inuit community, elders take note that four men, leader Kupak and followers Aulla, Tulimaaq and Timauti, are guilty of murder, lechery and not sharing food. Consequently, they are
exile
Exile or banishment is primarily penal expulsion from one's native country, and secondarily expatriation or prolonged absence from one's homeland under either the compulsion of circumstance or the rigors of some high purpose. Usually persons ...
d from the band and left to wander the Arctic landscape. In a nearby community, Kuanana and his wife Ailla are raising children and living in their extended family. Kuanana sets out to hunt for
caribou
The reindeer or caribou (''Rangifer tarandus'') is a species of deer with circumpolar distribution, native to Arctic, subarctic, tundra, boreal, and mountainous regions of Northern Europe, Siberia, and North America. It is the only represe ...
, with the elder instructing him to take the young Siku as his hunting partner, though Kuanana's son Angutii also wishes to go. While they are absent, Kupak and Aulla, longing for women, ambush Kuanana's igloo, abducting Ailla and her daughter. Kuanana and Siku return to the igloo, and Kuanana is shocked to see it in ruins, and Angutii murdered. The elder, mortally wounded, tells Kuanana that men kidnapped Ailla and her daughter, and gives him a
totem
A totem (from or ''doodem'') is a spirit being, sacred object, or symbol that serves as an emblem of a group of people, such as a family, clan, lineage (anthropology), lineage, or tribe, such as in the Anishinaabe clan system.
While the word ...
to summon a
spirit guide
A spirit guide, in Spiritualism, is an entity that remains as a discarnate spirit to act as a guide or protector to a living incarnated individual.
Description
In traditional African belief systems, well before the spread of Christianity ...
, Kallulik, the
loon
Loons (North American English) or divers (British English, British / Irish English) are a group of aquatic birds found in much of North America and northern Eurasia. All living species of loons are members of the genus ''Gavia'', family (biolog ...
. The elder then dies.
Kuanana calls for Kallulik's help and hears the loon cry, revealing the direction his wife and daughter were taken. Kallulik and Siku set out with
sled dogs
A sled dog is a dog trained and used to pull a land vehicle in harness, most commonly a sled over snow.
Sled dogs have been used in the Arctic for at least 8,000 years and, along with watercraft, were the only transportation in Arctic areas ...
and a telescope. While Ailla and her daughter resist their captors and rapists, and attempt to escape, Kupak and Aulla continue to hold them captive. Feeling a low tone in his ear, Kupak takes the ailment as a bad omen and orders Tulimaaq to see if they are being followed. Kuanana spots them by telescope, and Tulimaaq also sees Kuanana is in pursuit.
Armed with a rifle, Kuanana decides he and Siku will split up, assuring Siku that he can take a passage himself. Kuanana discovers his daughter, tied up alone, and unties her and tells her to hide behind the nearby ridge; she also tips him off as to Ailla's whereabouts. Tulimaaq and Timauti are dispatched. Siku is attacked by Aulla, but coming from behind, Kuanana shoots Aulla and saves Siku. Kuanana then tells Siku to rescue his sister behind the ridge, while Kuanana himself searches for Ailla. Out of bullets, Kuanana is attacked by Kupak; they fight by hand until Ailla emerges from behind, stabbing and killing Kupak. The family is reunited.
Cast
Production
The story is inspired by the 1956
John Ford
John Martin Feeney (February 1, 1894 – August 31, 1973), better known as John Ford, was an American film director and producer. He is regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers during the Golden Age of Hollywood, and w ...
film ''
The Searchers
''The Searchers'' is a 1956 American epic Western film directed by John Ford and written by Frank S. Nugent, based on the 1954 novel by Alan Le May. It is set during the Texas–Indian wars, and stars John Wayne as a middle-aged Civil War v ...
'', although co-director
Zacharias Kunuk
Zacharias Kunuk (, born November 27, 1957) is a Canadian Inuk producer and director, most notable for his film '' Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner.'' It is the first Canadian dramatic feature film produced entirely in Inuktitut with an all Indige ...
discarded the original's plot about conflicts between
white people
White is a Race (human categorization), racial classification of people generally used for those of predominantly Ethnic groups in Europe, European ancestry. It is also a Human skin color, skin color specifier, although the definition can var ...
and indigenous peoples, instead using only Inuit characters. Kunuk explained racism was not an intended theme of the film, though given the time setting, the Inuit would have some items received from white people, as there were trading posts then.
Kunuk said he watched western films in the
Igloolik
Igloolik ( Inuktitut syllabics: , ''Iglulik'', ) is an Inuit hamlet in Foxe Basin, Qikiqtaaluk Region in Nunavut, northern Canada. Because its location on Igloolik Island is close to Melville Peninsula, it is often mistakenly thought to be o ...
community hall as a boy, and declared ''The Searchers'' star
John Wayne
Marion Robert Morrison (May 26, 1907 – June 11, 1979), known professionally as John Wayne, was an American actor. Nicknamed "Duke", he became a Pop icon, popular icon through his starring roles in films which were produced during Hollywood' ...
"was our hero." However, he said his perception of Wayne became more complicated as he learned more about him.
Actor
Natar Ungalaaq
Natar Ungalaaq (Inuktitut syllabics: ᓇᑕᕐ ᐅᖓᓛᖅ, born 1959) is a Canadian Inuk actor, filmmaker and sculptor whose work is in many major collections of Inuit art. Before playing the lead roles in '' Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner'' (2001) ...
made his directorial debut with this film, along with Kunuk, who directed him in the 2001 film ''
Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner''. Kunuk, Ungalaaq and past colleague
Norman Cohn
Norman Rufus Colin Cohn FBA (12 January 1915 – 31 July 2007) was a British academic, historian and writer who spent 14 years as a professorial fellow and as Astor-Wolfson Professor at the University of Sussex.
Life
Cohn was born in London, ...
collaboratively developed the screenplay from 17 to 100 pages.
As part of an initiative to discover and train new actors in the small community of Igloolik,
Nunavut
Nunavut is the largest and northernmost Provinces and territories of Canada#Territories, territory of Canada. It was separated officially from the Northwest Territories on April 1, 1999, via the ''Nunavut Act'' and the Nunavut Land Claims Agr ...
, and to have an entirely Inuit cast, Jocelyne Immaroitok, Johan Qunaq, Karen Ivalu were cast and mentored by Ungaalaq.
[ Experienced actress ]Lucy Tulugarjuk
Lucy Tulugarjuk (born February 28, 1975) is an Inuk-Canadian actress, throat singer, and director. She is executive director for the Nunavut Independent Television Network. She is best known to international audiences for appearing in '' Mission: ...
also starred, and coached the novice performers.
Produced by Kinguliit Productions on a budget of $1.2 million, the film was shot near Igloolik, with the crew travelling to a nearby sea in March 2015 to film. Kunuk claimed it was the coldest weather he had experienced making a film, and that the frostbite
Frostbite is a skin injury that occurs when someone is exposed to extremely low temperatures, causing the freezing of the skin or other tissues, commonly affecting the fingers, toes, nose, ears, cheeks and chin areas. Most often, frostbite occ ...
on the actors visible in the film is real. Kunuk also said the camera equipment had to be covered in sheepskin
Sheepskin is the Hide (skin), hide of a Domestic sheep, sheep, sometimes also called lambskin. Unlike common leather, sheepskin is Tanning (leather), tanned with the Wool, fleece intact, as in a Fur, pelt.Delbridge, Arthur, "The Macquarie Diction ...
to remain operational.[ He found the extreme and unusual temperatures of and , due to ]climate change
Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...
, to be the most difficult part of production. Filming inside igloo
An igloo (Inuit languages: , Inuktitut syllabics (plural: )), also known as a snow house or snow hut, is a type of shelter built of suitable snow.
Although igloos are often associated with all Inuit, they were traditionally used only by the ...
s was somewhat easier, as temperatures within were approximately . Sixty local people were employed to build igloos, inform the crew on archaic Inuktitut
Inuktitut ( ; , Inuktitut syllabics, syllabics ), also known as Eastern Canadian Inuktitut, is one of the principal Inuit languages of Canada. It is spoken in all areas north of the North American tree line, including parts of the provinces of ...
words, make the costumes and prepare food. Elders particularly knew about the fashions.
Release
The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival
The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the most prestigious and largest publicly attended film festivals in the world. Founded in 1976, the festival takes place every year in early September. The organi ...
in September 2016. It also screened at the Vancouver International Film Festival
The Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF) is an annual film festival held in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, for two weeks in late September and early October.
The festival is operated by the Greater Vancouver International Film Festi ...
in October 2016, and the Miami International Film Festival
The Miami Film Festival, formerly Miami International Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Miami, Florida, each March. Since 2015 the festival also runs a smaller Fall Festival, known as the Miami Film Festival GEMS, which presents ...
in March 2017.
From the TIFF circuit, the film opened in Toronto
Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...
, Vancouver
Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...
and Calgary
Calgary () is a major city in the Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the third-largest city and fifth-largest metropolitan area in C ...
on 13 January 2017. It opened in Regina, Saskatchewan
Regina ( ) is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Saskatchewan. The city is the second-largest in the province, and is a commercial centre for southern Saskatchewan. As of the 2021 Canadian census, ...
, Edmonton
Edmonton is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta. It is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Central Alberta ...
and Montreal
Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...
between 19 and 26 January, with a wider release scheduled for May.
Reception
Critical reception
On 7 December 2016, the film was named to the Toronto International Film Festival
The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the most prestigious and largest publicly attended film festivals in the world. Founded in 1976, the festival takes place every year in early September. The organi ...
's annual Canada's Top 10 list.
Writing for ''The Globe and Mail
''The Globe and Mail'' is a Newspapers in Canada, Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in Western Canada, western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of more than 6 million in 2024, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on week ...
'', Kate Taylor gave the film three stars, crediting Kunuk with combining "an archetypal tale of revenge with an almost documentary examination of pre-modern life in the Arctic." However, she said it was not as good as his film '' Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner''. In ''The Toronto Star
The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part of Torstar's Daily News Brands division.
The newspaper was establis ...
'', Peter Howell gave it three and a half stars, wrote that like ''The Searchers'', ''Maliglutit'' portrays "the most naked of emotions, played out over an unforgiving frontier."
In ''The National Post
The ''National Post'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet newspaper and the flagship publication of the American-owned Postmedia Network. It is published Mondays through Saturdays, with Monday released as a digital e-edition only. '', Chris Knight awarded the film three stars, saying it illustrated Inuit customs and had comparable cinematography to ''The Searchers'', classifying it as "a northern" in contrast to westerns
The Western is a genre of fiction typically set in the American frontier (commonly referred to as the "Old West" or the "Wild West") between the California Gold Rush of 1849 and the closing of the frontier in 1890, and commonly associated wit ...
. Norman Wilner, for ''NOW Toronto
''Now'' (styled as ''NOW''), also known as ''NOW Magazine'' is an online publication based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Through most of its existence, ''Now'' was a free alternative weekly newspaper. Physical publication of ''Now'' was suspended ...
'', praised the film for "ingenious" storytelling.
Accolades
Kunuk's nominations for ''Maliglutit'' were noted as among the various nominations for Aboriginal artists at the 5th Canadian Screen Awards
The 5th annual Canadian Screen Awards were held on March 12, 2017, to honour achievements in Canadian film, television, and digital media production in 2016. Nominations were announced on January 17, 2017.
Awards in many of the technical categor ...
. Algonquin Caroline Monnet
Caroline Monnet is an Anishinaabe French and Canadian contemporary artist and filmmaker known for her work in sculpture, installation, and film.
Early life and education
Monnet is a multidisciplinary contemporary artist and filmmaker based in ...
was also nominated in the short documentary category for '' Tshiuetin'', and numerous native actors were nominated.
References
External links
*
''Searchers''
at Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...
{{Zacharias Kunuk
2016 films
2016 drama films
Canadian films about revenge
Canadian drama films
Films directed by Zacharias Kunuk
Films set in 1913
Films set in the Northwest Territories
Films shot in Nunavut
Inuit films
2010s Canadian films