The Necessities of Life
The Necessities of Life is another riveting insight into the traditional Inuit lifestyle that stars Natar Ungalaaq, so memorable in 2001’s award winning Atanarjuat. This time he plays a Baffin Islander named Tiivii. If the ‘50’s in Canada seems an archaic time imagine what that decade was like in the barren arctic. Tiivii lives a nomadic lifestyle on the tundra with his wife and two daughters living in a tent and hunting caribou with a rifle - his only modern convenience. When the medical ship that pulls in periodically finds that he has a respiratory problem that requires him to be institutionalized he’s ferried to a sanatorium in Quebec City. At first he’s despondent because of the isolation brought on by such a totally foreign environment but when kindly nurse Carole (Éveline Gélinas) has a sick and orphaned French speaking Inuit boy named Kaki (Paul-André Brasseur) transferred to Tiivii’s ward for treatment he finally has a Rosetta stone to unlock the mysteries of his new surroundings. Through kindness on both sides of the language barrier differences become understood and lifelong friends are made. Some of those lives are longer than others. Maybe not so much a necessity of life but this movie certainly adds a few pleasant moments to life.