Man of Aran (1934)
- Directed by
- Robert J. Flaherty
- Genre
- documentary film
- Country
- United Kingdom
- Runtime
- 1h 17m
- Rated
- NR
- Rating
- 7.3 of 10 from 55 voters
- Elsewhere
- IMDb
The catalogue in 3D
The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this film is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.
How it feels
This black-and-white documentary shows a family's daily struggle to survive on a barren Irish island. They fish from cliffs, hunt sharks, and farm in rocky soil, though some scenes were staged for the camera.
visually starkrawawe-inspiringslow-pacedharshearthyprimalcontemplative
What happens
Man of Aran is a 1934 Irish fictional documentary (ethnofiction) film shot, written and directed by Robert J. Flaherty about life on the Aran Islands off the western coast of Ireland. It portrays characters living in premodern conditions, documenting their daily routines such as fishing off high cliffs, farming potatoes where there is little soil, and hunting for huge basking sharks to get liver oil for lamps. Some situations are fabricated, such as one scene in which the shark fishermen are almost lost at sea in a sudden gale. Additionally, the family members shown are not actually related, having been chosen from among the islanders for their photogenic qualities. George C. Stoney's 1978 documentary How the Myth was Made, which is included in the special features of the DVD, relates that the Aran Islanders had not hunted sharks in this way for over fifty years at the time the film was made. Man of Aran is Flaherty's recreation of culture on the edges of modern society, even though much of the primitive life depicted had been left behind by the 1930s. It is impressive, however, for its drama, for its spectacular cinematography of landscape and seascape, and for its concise editing. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)
More like this
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The Song of Ceylon (1934)
The Private Life of the Gannets (1934)
Forgotten Men: The War as It Was (1934)
Op Hoop van Zegen (1934)
Riders to the Sea (1936)
Reflections: Ireland (1978)
Stolen by Hitler (2004)- More like this film, on a shelf you can walk up to.It's the lit case on the top shelf.