Reviews:
Linda Barnard, Toronto Star: “In examining what constitutes as the necessities of life, Pilon presents a variety of options: communication, belonging, acceptance and family. But chief among them is dignity.”
Liam Lacey, Globe & Mail: "Has a heart-tugging central premise and a gentle, reactive performance from Inuit actor Natar Ungalaaq"
Liz Braun, Jam! Movies: “The performances in the film, especially from Natar Ungalaaq -- who was the lead in ‘Atanarjuat’ (The Fast Runner) -- are understated and elegant.”
Official Site: http://www.thenecessitiesoflife-themovie.com/
IMbD: www.imdb.com/title/tt1280501/
The Necessities of Life
Year: 2009
Country: Canada
Director: Benoit Pilon
Leads: Natar Ungalaaq, Éveline Gélinas,
Paul-André Brasseur, Vincent-Guillaume Otis
Genre: Drama
Runtime: 102 minutes
Rating: PG
Language: French / Inuktitut
Bernard Pilon’s The Necessities of Life (Ce qu’il faut pour vivre) -- Canada’s official submission at the Oscars for Best Foreign Language Film and a nominee for eight Genie Awards -- begin as the 20th Century intrudes in the far North in the 1950’s. Tivii (Natar Ungalaaq, the fast runner in Atanajurat) is found to have tuberculosis, and is sent to Quebec City immediately. Three months of sea travel later, Tivii finds himself in a sanatorium where he is regarded as a savage. Everything is strange: the bathtub, the toilet, the language, the trees. At a point when Tivii is about to give in to death, a kind nurse (‘Carole’, played by Eveline Gelinas) arranges for an Inuit orphan (‘Kaki’, Paul-Andre Brasseur) to be transferred into the sanatorium as a translator for Tivii. Kaki also becomes a kind of surrogate son, a vessel through which the hunter can pass on his stories and skills with pride, as a celebration of culture.
