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Film Description
The American documentary pioneer, Robert Flaherty, spent three years making his celebrated film, Man of Aran, a documentary about the day to day life and fight for existence of the isolated fishing community on the scenic but inhospitable Aran Isles off the west coast of Ireland in the 1930s.
Capturing scenes such as men setting sail in flimsy boats to catch basking sharks on their annual migration - thereby ensuring enough oil for the family for the year ahead - the film is evocative of the hardship and danger of the Islander's lives.
On its release, Sight and Sound proclaimed that there were moments in the film 'among the greatest things that cinema can show'.
‘Most folks don’t know what hardship is - they ought to go and live on Aran to learn about it.’ Thus, in a conversation with a fellow traveller across the Atlantic, wa... more >
‘Most folks don’t know what hardship is - they ought to go and live on Aran to learn about it.’ Thus, in a conversation with a fellow traveller across the Atlantic, was Flaherty’s Man of Aran born. Having then obtained funding from Michael Balcon at Gaumont-British, Flaherty spent 1932-33 on one of the ‘three small wastes of rock’ as he described them, that make up the islands, with his wife and brother assisting him in the creation of his impressionistic tribute to the islanders’ indomitable spirit.
The film is dominated by the roiling, booming sea, its breakers and spray; and the sea’s heave and the buffeting wind take up large parts of the soundtrack. Life on Aran is shown as a constant battle against the elements, which is reflected in the depiction of the islanders who are shown both dwarfed by their surroundings but also heroically outlined against the sky.
The proximity of the life-threatening to the mundane is not overstated – it does not need to be, it is all too readily apparent. Although acclaimed on release for the grandeur of its cinematography, the film was also criticised for its failure to address issues such as the extent of the islanders’ poverty, instead presenting an idealised view of their life. The shark-hunting sequence for example showed a method of fishing at least two generations out of date. It was dangerous too and Flaherty later admitted ‘ I should have been shot for what I asked these superb people to do, all for the sake of a keg of porter and five pounds apiece’. Frances Flaherty however caught the true spirit of her husband’s enterprise when she remarked of the men at sea in a curragh during the film’s climactic storm sequence that 'they became characters out of one of their heroic legends, a saga of themselves'.
Also included as a bonus film on the disc is an important film Flaherty and John Grierson made for the Empire Marketing Board in 1931, Industrial Britain, which is their paean to the ‘newly beautiful things’ of the industrial age and the individual craftsmanship which it still fostered. < less
Flaherty’s staggering film document Man Of Aran records the lives of the Aran islanders who reside just off Ireland’s west coast. This small, familial
community su... more >
Flaherty’s staggering film document Man Of Aran records the lives of the Aran islanders who reside just off Ireland’s west coast. This small, familial
community survives only by means of hunting and fishing, forever surrounded by the relentless onslaught of the Atlantic ocean. Condemned by some for romanticising the lives of such simple people, it is hard not to feel the beauty with which Flaherty’s camera renders their existence. The baiting and
subsequent killing of a basking shark, a fish far greater in size than the boat carrying the fishermen, is an unforgettable event. It is of a timeless
magnitude. This is a film by a great poet, a pioneer vision infused with much charm and awe, at the wonders of life and the mysteries it holds. < less
