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CM . . . .
Volume VI Number 18 . . . . May 12, 2000
Ole Gjerstad & Martin Kreelak(Directors). Lucie Pageau, Malcolm Guy, Janice Epp, Ole Gjerstad
and for the NFB, Joe MacDonald (Producers).
Montreal, PQ: National Film Board of Canada, 1999.
On April 1, 2000, the territory of Nunavut will celebrate its first anniversary as a political entity.
Nevertheless, it is a land with a long-established history, re-told down generations through story
and song. Journey to Nunavut: Amarok's Song offers the stories of three generations of Inuit:
traditional hunters, 80 year-old Amarok and his wife, Elizabeth; Martin Kreelak, a contemporary
Inuk working for Inuit television, who joins his brother, Morris, every spring, to hunt caribou; and
the teens and young adults from Baker Lake who have grown up in government-created
settlements, complete with satellite television.
These three generations are members of three different cultures: the traditional hunting culture of
the tundra, contemporary commercial and video culture, and the divided world of Martin
Kreelak's generation who lived a traditional life until re-settlement programs and residential
schools wrenched them into a world of twentieth-century amenities. Telling such diverse stories is
an ambitious undertaking, and in trying to meld all of these elements, the video attempts too
much. The abuses of the residential school system and in particular, the Roman Catholic Church,
the paternalism of government-sponsored programs (including footage from an early NFB film,
People of the Rock, which patronizingly depicts the maladjustment of Inuit to their jobs as mine
workers in Rankin Inlet), lead to dependency and substance abuse. Also included are short videos,
shot by students and young people of the Baker Lake area. Although they are the voice of the
new Nunavut, their stories do not fit smoothly into the rest of the narrative, and not just because
of the MTV-style videography. Still, there are bright moments in this video: the extraordinary
beauty of the northern landscape, falsely described as "barren lands," the power of hockey ("the
best thing white people brought north") to bridge geography and race, and the continuity of
traditional skills of hunting and fishing. Towards the end of the video, Martin Kreelak worries
about his children's future in the new territory of Nunavut; where will the jobs come from? Will
past traditions survive? The video ends with Amarok recounting a very bawdy story and stating
that, although he is old and frail, the power of modern media will ensure that his story will
continue to be told, just as the ancient story of Kiviuq has been re-told for generations.
As a classroom or library resource, Journey to Nunavut: Amarok's Song might best be used in
segments; students of Canadian studies, geography, and history will find some provocative
aspects of government policy depicted in the video. And classroom teachers should view the
entire video before showing it. Some students might be upset to see the butchering of a caribou.
Teachers should listen to all of Amarok's story, told in the final minutes of the video, and decide
whether they want their classes to hear it - some listeners might find it offensive.
A story can be told in many ways, and sometimes, changing how it is told makes it more effective.
Journey to Nunavut: The Kreelak Story contains much of the content from Journey to
Nunavut: Amarok's Song, but in a different order and with a different focus. Rather than trying
to tell the story of three generations of Inuit, the focus is primarily on Martin Kreelak, and the
result is a more powerful video. A member of the Caribou Inuit, Kreelak was born in an igloo on
the coast of Hudson Bay in 1954; years later, the family was re-located, Martin attended school
in Chesterfield Inlet, and, in 1985, he joined the Inuit Broadcasting Corporation. A man who has
experienced both southern and traditional Inuit culture, he is keenly aware of the tensions of that
experience and the negative impact it has had on members of his generation. But, family ties and
maintaining connection with the hunting culture of his brother, Morris, "a traditional Inuk," offer
Martin perspective on both the future of Nunavut territory and terrible legacies of the past.
As a classroom resource, Journey to Nunavut: The Kreelak Story, is much more effective than
Amarok's Song. All the best elements of Journey to Nunavut: Amarok's Song, are
maintained: the stunning photography of the landscape, the throat-singing, the stories of hunting
prowess and courage, hunting caribou using both modern technology and traditional skill, clips of
modern life in Baker Lake, and a "suitable-for-classroom" version of the legend of Kiviuq.
Missing are the student videos from Baker Lake, and their exclusion makes for a tighter story. A
useful resource for Canadian studies programs, geography, and history.
Recommended with Reservations (Amarok's Song). Joanne Peters is the teacher-librarian at Kelvin High School in Winnipeg, MB.
To comment on this title or this review, send mail to cm@umanitoba.ca.
Copyright © the Manitoba Library Association.
Reproduction for personal use is permitted only if this copyright notice
is maintained. Any other reproduction is prohibited without
permission.
Published by
TABLE OF CONTENTS FOR THIS ISSUE - May 12, 2000.
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