"Happy People" (movie)

[Tim Horton]

Happy People.. A year in the Taiga...

I don't remember where I heard about this movie.. It took a long time to get to the local library.. It is a recent documentary (2010) about people in the very remote area of central Russia..

The Taiga region being the mountain, river, tundra area on the west side of what is considered Siberia, east of the Ural mountains that somewhat defines the eastern boundary of Russia proper.. Essentially very central of what is considered the whole of Russia..

The film shows the life of people near the Arctic circle, both Caucasian and native peoples as they live a subsistence life style as trappers, hunters, and woodsmen.. Much the same lifestyle as many live in remote areas of northern Alaska and I suspect the far north of central and western Canada..

Some of the tools are different.. Much older Russian and European snowmobiles, outboards, and the older big Russian heavy hauling helicopters..

The customs of the people are somewhat similar, but different in some ways.. The costumes, dances, skits the school children did at there Christmas show were interesting.. But just like kids everywhere it was fun to watch..

The language, some tools, practices, beliefs may be a little different, but we are all the same in a lot of ways..

I liked it, but then I'm always interested in other cultures.. Especially of the far north regions of most anywhere..

It is worth the effort to order and watch..
My 2 cents..

[coaltrain]

Here is a YouTube trailer -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1pOjj49d9Y

[Doninalaska]

I reckon life is pretty tough in the taiga. We call the taiga the area with those kinda stubby trees, all spruce. Caribou is the main subsistence food in the taiga areas in Alaska. I don't know if I would be happy living with no agriculture. There is another film that I saw at one time when I was in Barrow called "The People of the North" that was a documentary made by the Canadian government about the Inuit Eskimos in Canada's arctic. They documented the lifestyle before they destroyed it and moved the natives into government housing and put them all on welfare.