Happy People: A Year In The Taiga [DVD]

I read one luke warm review about this documentary that felt Werner Herzog was simply on auto pilot. Well all I can say to that is that Werner Herzog on auto pilot is still far better than most directors at their very peak. Werner Herzog in fact cherry picked what he felt to be the best of Dmitry Vasyukov's 4 hour TV documentary and condensed it down to 90 minutes, so any criticism might also be directed at Vasyukov. In his last fine documentary "Cave of Forgotten Dreams", Herzog was left to ponder just what the Paleoloithic hunters of our distant past were like. It is as if in this film he answers the question for himself. He describes one hunter whilst ploughing a lonely furrow through the snow as being remarkably like an ice age hunter, and in that he was dead right. With few concessions to the modern world little has changed for these hunters on the wild Siberian Taiga. The woolly mammoths may have thinned down a bit, but there are still bear and moose aplenty.

The film follows the vastly changing seasons in Bakhtia a small Siberian settlement on the huge Yenisei river, and especially one veteran hunter called Gennady and his devoted dog. Gennady has a snowmobile and modern guns, but little else that has changed in hundreds of years. He uses the same hunting methods that have been in use for centuries. With his essental tool the axe, he is able to construct his own huts and make his own traps for the valuable Sable. He catches the fish that team in the rivers and traverses difficult terrain using the beautiful wooden skis that he has made himself. He is in short the romanticised epitomy of self sustainability. Gennady eulogises on the hunters codes of conduct in the way that the old trapper did in Akira Kurosawa's beautiful hymn to nature "Dersu Uzala", also magically set in the Taiga. Aside from the few modern trappings Gennady bears a close resemblence to the mountain man character played by Robert Redford in "Jeremiah Johnson", set in early 19th century America. In truth the trappers life is a hard and lonely one only suited to a few resiliant individuals. The rigours of working in temperatures that regularly drop to -50 are less romantic to think of.

This is a stunningly beautiful documentary filmed in its entirety in the unspoilt majesty of the Taiga, one of the worlds truly pristine wilderness areas. Vasyukov and his team must really have suffered for their art whilst filming in such harsh conditions, but it was worth it for the stunning images brought back. Herzog has co-written a decent dialogue and provided his very Boris Becker like narration, which despite being strongly German I do rather like. I still can't forgive them for those penalty shoot outs you know! The additional American voiceovers were not so good, but can be forgiven. This documentary provides a fascinating insight into the lives of the hunters, and gives real meaning to the word solitude. There are no extras with this DVD. I loved this film and my only regret is that I would like to be able to see Vasyukov's full four hour documentary. It would be great if someone could make it available, but I doubt that will happen any time soon!

One of the awe-inspiring aspects of some of Werner Herzog's documentaries is the length he'll go to do get to the heart of the film's subjects - here he (or the Russian director?) visits a remote part of Siberia: inaccessible by road, the only way to get there is by helicopter or by boat. If you go by boat, you are restricted by the seasonal weather, for during the winter months the river access is frozen.

It's easy to see why being 'sent to Siberia' was used as a punishment by the Russians; here in the village of Bakhatia, 300 people eke out their lives in tremendously hard conditions - we accompany one of the locals, a hunter, as he makes his annual hike into the wilderness to set traps, maintain his huts, feed his dogs - and most importantly, earn money!

His skills in building traditional traps are breathtaking, his hardiness extraordinary - he works with his dog in temperatures of -35 degrees and lower, trapping sable and ermine.

The film takes place over the course of one year - at the start we see him prepare for the journey ahead - he makes his own skis, and there is one craftsman left who knows the traditional method of boat-building: alcohol has had a huge impact here, and many of the inhabitants aren't as happy as the film would suggest. Tellingly, the hunter was given the tools of his trade and moved there by Soviet Russians - the Asian-looking locals look kind of dispossessed.

One niggle is the slightly cheesy Russian-accented translator on the voice-over, but on the whole this humbling film is a record of a lifestyle that has remained the same - with the addition of petrol vehicles - for god know how long; it was a surprise to me that it was filmed recently, as I thought it was from the 1970s when I saw it. It avoids romanticising their tough existence, but keeps an awareness of the love that the hunter has for his life, his family and his most important companion, his dog.

I was amazed to see that the dog runs by the side of the hunter's snowbike for the whole 150 kilometer journey back home without a rest - the film is magical.

I LOVED this DVD Documentary which takes the viewer to spend a year in a remote Siberian Taiga community of 300 hardy souls and where many of the menfolk from the village featured exist by hunting and trapping. Something about this film, apart from the remoteness of location, reminded me of Kurosawa's DERSU UZALA, a favourite film of mine and one not easily forgotten. Whereas "Dersu" was a feature film based on the true story of a Russian Surveyor and his interaction with an old hunter, HAPPY PEOPLE relies on it's purely documentary style and as with many of his feature films and other documentary work Werner Herzog and his compatriots must have suffered for their art in this production.
We are indeed fortunate to have film makers of this calibre and talent and who can transport us to regions most of us neither have the skills to survive in or would otherwise never visit being too dangerous or uncomfortable. This is -50C territory where one false slip or misjudgement can mean a cold and solitary death.
At one stage the trapper arrives at his overnight cabin after a long day on the trap line to find a tree down across the roof. He has no other alternative than to clear the tree with his axe and then fix his woodstove chimney and light a fire. Without that, the prospect of a cold night with poor shelter looms. However, no drama is made of this and similar events, the practical self reliance of those villagers featured leaves you in awe of what they can achieve with little technology other than old tried and tested skills. Yet they are happy, amazingly so it seems, with so little and in such precarious circumstances. One of my favourite scenes is of the village against a backdrop of the river with "ice out" in progress....glitteringly brilliant!! The cover of the DVD says "Mesmerising" and while not disagreeing with that statement, I would say "Enthralling" better describes this film. It's a "must see" and will surely become a classic!