Man Of Aran

This film is not currently available on DVD. Film Description Flaherty's classic 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. On the film's release, Sight and Sound proclaimed that there were moments in the film 'among the greatest things that cinema can show'.

Film Details Director Robert Flaherty Starring   Country UK Language ENGLISH   Year 1934

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Review by MovieMail on 4th September 2006

Man of Aran is Robert J. Flaherty's classic documentary about the remote Aran islands off the west coast of Ireland. It was inspired by a conversation about the nature of depression with a fellow passenger on a trans Atlantic crossing following the success of the astonishing film Nanook of the North. “He said that most folks don't know what hardship is; they should go and live on Aran to learn about it,” recalled Flaherty.
Assisted by his wife and brother, Flaherty filmed on Aran during 1932-33, developing his films in a stone lean-to shed next to his cottage. The results are some of the most powerful shots of man battling the elements ever filmed and Man of Aran was acclaimed for the grandeur of its cinematography – Sight and Sound said that there were moments in the film “among the greatest things that cinema can show”.
By showing a family’s day to day struggle with even the most mundane of tasks he symbolises the islanders’ indomitable courage and strength of spirit winning their independence from a land without soil or trees and subject to a relentless battering of the wind and the sea. Some sequences remain with the viewer forever: Man of Aran himself breaking rocks with a sledge hammer silhouetted against the magnificent sea-scape, the epic 2 day shark fishing expedition where the great fish dwarfed the boat and always the relentless sea and ceaseless transporting of seaweed to the barren “fields”. Flaherty used local people to portray his characters and later admitted that it was highly dangerous: “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’.

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Review by Graeme Hobbs on 1st September 2006

‘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.

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Review by Wolfram Parge on 17th February 2005

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.

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