Happy People: A Year in the Taiga
In the center of the story is the life of the indigenous people of the village Bakhtia at the river Yenisei in the Siberian Taiga. The camera follows the protagonists in the village over a period of a year. The natives, whose daily routines have barely changed over the last centuries, keep living their lives according to their own cultural traditions.
-
- Cast：
- Werner Herzog
Similar titles
Reviews
Good movie but grossly overrated
The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.
It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.
I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.
Hardy people working from spring to fall with one goal to survive the winter.
This is billed as a year in the life of a small village in the Taiga, where the indigenous people live happily (and sustainably) as they have for 100s if not 1000s of years. I call BS. This is not the life of a village. This is the life of a handful of men who work for the cash (outside) economy by trapping fur meant for export to big cities. They are, apparently, men who were sent there by the Communist government 40 years ago who have managed to survive by subjugating the local indigenous and by treating their dogs like crap. There are few women or children shown and no other townspeople. This is Werner Herzog's romantic paean to the Paleo white male hunter-trapper culture. They are not indigenous, they are not representative of the village, they are not even, as far as I could tell, happy (unless morose philosophizing in Russian can be considered happiness). WTF??? I knew Werner was a romantic, but I didn't know he was so trapped in his imagination. This movie is ridiculous.
Happy People: A Year in the Taiga (2010) *** 1/2 (out of 4)This documentary was co-directed and narrated by Werner Herzog but it didn't gather as much attention as some of the filmmaker's previous films, which is a shame because this here is another winner. The film covers a full year with several trappers as we see what they seasonal lives are all about. This includes various traps that they must make, issues they face in the wilderness and some of the most fascinating stuff dealing with them living in the bitter cold winters where temperatures reach fifty-below zero. HAPPY PEOPLE: A YEAR IN THE TAIGA is a really good film and nothing short of what you've come to expect from Herzog. From what I've read, co-director Dmitry Vasyukov actually spent the time in Bakhtia, Russia and the footage was then turned over to Herzog. Even though the famed Germany director wasn't actually on the ground, this here still comes across as his film and it contains that certain love and joy that some of his best work has. This film is yet another in a long line of films that take a look at people living in horrid condition yet being completely happy in their environment. Herzog has always been able to take "off" characters and make them seem normal. That's what happens here as we track these trappers as they go from one hunt to another while having to deal with nature and come up with creative ways to trap and live. Herzog offers up his typical great narration but the real people are certainly the stars here as we get to really know them and understand why they love doing what they do.
The documentary is following people living in the wilderness of Russia, not Soviet Union as someone had commented. Soviet Union is long gone.It is a reminder to all of us how little people need to live life in joy. I did not get an impression that people are struggling, it might seem they struggle to those who are used to the modern conveniences, which do make our lives easier, but not happier. I would not compare it to the Man vs.Wild documentary. The theme of the documentary: the purpose is life is joy, the basis of life is freedom. People are simply living in this remote part of a vast Russia and are content with their lives. This documentary is must see, a refreshing sight on the purpose of life. I would compare it to another documentary "Agafia's Taiga Life"that brings so many questions and answers about life to those who are seeking it. Sometime we just need to get away from the craziness of modern life with such documentaries to get a fresher perspective on life. It is also educational for many Americans who know very little about Russia.
