'The Journals of Knud Rasmussen' should stay on the page
By Jen Pontzer, Staff Writer
May 2, 2007 | 10:36 p.m.
Learning about other cultures is a good thing, except when you learn about them in a slow film that lacks a cohesive plot. While "The Journals of Knud Rasmussen" might be interesting to read, they make for boring movie.
The film is based on real events in 1922. It follows Rasmussen, a Danish explorer, as he learns about the Inuit culture from the shaman named Avva and Avva's family. The film's pace is unfortunately too slow, and the story jumps around too much. It isn’t even made clear which actor is Rasmussen or Avva until too far into the story. The jarring camera was all over the place. The zoom was either too close on the actors or too far away.
The tagline for “Journals” is “Once a shaman abandons his faith, there is no turning back.” This could have been a beautiful and moving film if it had focused on the Inuit faith and the introduction of Christianity into their culture, but this isn’t the case. While there is some explanation of the Inuit faith, the filmmakers could have explored this theme more fully. Instead, they simply let Avva talk about his spirit helpers -- what they are and how they’re called -- and the different taboos or superstitions held by their people.
It was also explained that his daughter, Apak, has the power to call spirits, but instead of using her power for good she uses it to have sex with her dead husband. These were some of the most disturbing scenes. The white light was blown out to the point that you could only make out Apak’s head, as animal noises such as barking were heard in the background. The first time it happened, no exposition had been given and the scene only left people confused.
Christianity wasn’t even mentioned until about an hour into the film, when Avva’s family was traveling with Rasmussen to another Inuit village. There was bad weather and a food shortage when they came across Christian Inuits. Avva’s family could only have their food after going to church and singing about Jesus. It seemed that Avva and his family were denouncing their beliefs only in order to eat, not that any fundamental change had taken place as the tagline and advertising purports.
“The Journals of Knud Rasmussen” would be better if there were more focus on the Inuit faith, or any one subject instead of several thrown together. It also may be better with a background on the Inuit culture, instead of being left with the feeling that you’ve missed a joke or are out of the loop.
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Check out the other movies at the Athens Film Fest.
Speakeasy rating: C-
Running time: 112 minutes
MPAA rating: Not Rated
Genre: Drama