Although reading Ipellie's story prepared me for the crude violence, I think the juxtaposition between the usual quiet, subtle narrative of just witnessing the tribe's interactions and the extremely violent moments makes the brutality that much more horrifying.

I really liked the ending, how the tribe dealt with the malicious actions of Oki and Puja. What I especially appreciate is that even the most "evil" characters still respect the authority of the tribe's decision (or rather the decision of the spirits?) to banish them.

I agree with Melissa's comments about the violence in the movie. The scene with the head-punching contest was especially unsettling for me, and I say this as someone who has seen "Fight Club" and other violent (Western) movies. I guess it really is all about context!!

What struck me most about the film were the Inuit themselves -- their language, customs, etc., -- as well as the stunning visual landscapes and the native music/ chants.

I watched it with my girlfriend, who took a class entitled "Arctic Ecology, People, and Politics" last semester, and thus was able to verify the factuality of some of the Inuit practices that were shown in the film.

(As a brief anecdotal aside, the highlight of the film, for us, came at the very beginning when the sound of howling husky-dogs unexpectedly prompted our dog, (a pit-bull mix), to howl like a wolf himself, which is something that we had never heard him do before. You probably had to be there, but, man, it was funny at the time!!)

At first when I turned the movie on and saw that it was subtitled and almost documentary style I was ready to turn it off. However, I immediately got drawn in as soon as the film started. I think sometimes that I forget that not everyone lives the same way as we do in the United States so to see how hard life really is for this tribe was really interesting. I found myself rooting for Atanarjuat the whole time and hoping that Oki would get what was coming to him. The film was a great supplement to what we have been reading...it really allowed me to see what life is like for some native people we have read about.