Four of five possible ticket stubs |
While we may work to get ahead, to have vacations, to enjoy
a comfortable life, and perhaps to make things more luxurious for our families,
these men work in order to survive. Everything is done by hand: houses are built, boats are carved, traps are
made each year and frozen water and land is confronted and conquered ...continuously.
Food for themselves and their priceless dogs is a focal point.
As the title suggests, the time span of a year is viewed
with only a slight dot of green appearing in mid-summer. The other three
seasons are gray, gray, and gray decorated with brown houses and muddy farm
yards with snow on them almost all year. The long summer nights do make growing
vegetables in protected pens very rewarding. Along with an abbreviated summer
comes hoards of mosquitoes that made me itch just to see them swarming the men
and their dogs.
I enjoyed this documentary very much….not in the National
Geographic way but in the way that sidestepped any major tragedies in order to
give me an interesting glimpse into a lifestyle I’d never heard of nor seen
before. I believe the happiness these men and their families have comes from
being completely self-reliant. They pride themselves on not having to deal with
laws, taxes, phones, traffic or any of the modern day things that we’ve
embraced in order to simplify - but
often complicating - our lives.
The lives of the people in Taiga are not so difficult that
they miss the beauty of nature, that they don’t have time to appreciate a
simple cup of delicious tea. They love that hunting brings them closer to
nature. I was convinced when the veteran trader says, “…industry and perseverance
are at the top of our agenda.”
I recommend this movie to anyone who wants a break from the
routine “Escape to the Movies” sort of film. I don’t think you’ll regret this
stirring field of vision into the human spirit in unyielding conditions.
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