Where Mountains Float (1955)

The thing that is initially most striking about this documentary is the pristine nature of the Greenland scenery. Largely untouched by human hand or industry, we follow the summer of a family who live in a peat clad stone construction whilst feeding from the bounty of the sea. The narration is provided by the young grandchildren we see playing and enjoying their traditional lifestyle with the ocean yards from their front door. Grandfather is an Inuit of an old school, versatile in the skills of hunting, fishing and carving - either toys for the youngsters or sharp points for their spears. Their kayaks are hand made from pelts - there don’t appear to be any trees to hew out! The light is brilliant, the water peaceful and their lives untroubled by modern day worries. It’s all rather poetic, yet it is also progressive. The children go to school, there is an hospital - and the children have quite good fun with this curious apparatus that is the telephone. Their season there is short, though, and as the ice begins to reform they and their father board a small boat and head south leaving the old man and his huskies to brave the sub-zero temperatures and blizzards of the winter (which sadly, but not unreasonably, we don’t see here!). It’s a cheerfully produced and scored observational documentary on a society that wants for nothing and seems content to live as they have always lived. No mod-cons, there is no need for them; no electricity or running water - there’s no real need for those either. With the remoteness comes a sense of tranquility and contentedness that the photography captures engagingly. For how much longer can or will this way of life thrive, though?