An Eskimo who has had little contact with white men goes to a trading post where he accidentally kills a missionary and finds himself being pursued by the police.An Eskimo who has had little contact with white men goes to a trading post where he accidentally kills a missionary and finds himself being pursued by the police.An Eskimo who has had little contact with white men goes to a trading post where he accidentally kills a missionary and finds himself being pursued by the police.
- Awards
- 1 win & 1 nomination
- Kiddok
- (as Anthony Chin)
- Missionary
- (voice)
- (uncredited)
- Asiak
- (voice)
- (uncredited)
Storyline
Did you know
- GoofsAfter giving the bear the baited food, Inuk initially chases it empty handed, then appears with a spear.
- Quotes
Missionary: The Lord be with you.
Inuk: No, just Asiak, Powtee and me. We do not know Lord.
Missionary: A very short sleep ago, you both offended Him.
Inuk: Oh, we did not know. One must apologize.
Missionary: If you will listen to my words and believe in me,the Lord will come and stay with you and follow you in all your travels.
Asiak: [whispers to Inuk] We do not want another with us.
Inuk: Maybe he good hunter.
[to Missionary]
Inuk: We will be pleased if your friend comes with us.
Asiak: He must bring his own sled. Will this Lord bring everything He needs?
Missionary: He will bring you faith.
Inuk: [Puzzled look on face] Faith?
Missionary: That wonderful light that drives back the shadows of sin.
Inuk: [after a moment's thought] OH, light, LIGHT, ahhh...
Asiak: It is good, Inuk,if it is the kind at the trading post, we could save it up for the winter, and our eyes will not get tired anymore...
Inuk: [Offering missionary a bowl of food with live worms wriggling in it] Here is something you will like...
Missionary: [Pushing bowl away] I come to give, not to receive.
Asiak: It is old marrow, it is much better, it is old and full of worms...
Missionary: Maybe another time, not right now.
Inuk: [whispers to Asiak] Has this white man come to insult us?
Missionary: Men don't live by bread alone.
Asiak: [to Inuk] Maybe he wants to laugh with a woman.
- ConnectionsReferenced in Lightning Over Water (1980)
Filmed in the arctic regions of Canada and Greenland, and presenting us with a faithful and loving documentation of Inuit traditions and life, Ray on one hand captures the sheer monumental beauty of the harsh arctic wastelands with a kind of Kubrickian grandeur, while on the other reserving for his characters the utmost sympathy and affection. The stark realism of the uninviting climate contrasted with the good-natured predisposition and unpretentious simplicity of the people living in it. Realism meeting halfways with humanism in a movie that is as humorous and touching as it is cerebral, part survival grit and part mythological folklore.
And then white man comes into Inuk's world. With his rifles, his loud rock'n'roll music, his missionaries preaching their god, his weird customs and laws. That doesn't mean that what precedes Inuk's encounter with the white men of a trading post and the preacher living there is an idyllic utopia - Inuk is ready to club another man to death for taking the woman he planned to make his wife. Still it would be easy to sneer sarcastically from the comfort of our modern homes at the primitive customs of Inuit. "In the age of the atom bomb", says the voice-over narrator, "these people still hunt with bow and arrow". Indeed they do; they also leave their elders alone to die in the snow when they become too old to contribute to the household anymore and they leave their firstborn babies to die unless they are male, so they can take care of them when they in turn grow old. But such is the nature of their lives and the environment they live in.
Anthony Quinn's performance as Inuk is fantastic, equal measure good-natured forwardness and unreserved honesty. A man as likely to offer you his wife as he is to bash your brains in for refusing her. Peter O'Toole (two years before LAWRENCE OF ARABIA) in the role of the officer sent to arrest Inuk for the murder of the preacher doesn't match Quinn but he's a nice addition to the cast. The most dramatically poignant moments in the film come from their interactions as Inuk struggles to comprehend the crime he is accused of. "But my Fathers' laws have not been broken" he says when he is informed he broke the law and will have to be taken back for trial. "When you come to a strange land, bring your wives, not your laws" is what Inuk's wife tells the officer.
A great, great movie I can't recommend enough to fans of tales of survival in stark environments, different cultures and their folklore. NANOOK OF THE NORTH and DERSU UZALA are advised to look out for it.
- chaos-rampant
- Jan 18, 2009
- How long is The Savage Innocents?Powered by Alexa
Details
- Runtime1 hour 50 minutes
- Aspect ratio
- 2.20 : 1