Happy People; A Year in the Taiga (2010) — Russia

By Dan Clendenin

           The documentarian Werner Herzog turns his unending ethnographic curiosity to an isolated village of three hundred people on the Yenisei River in Siberia. There are no roads, so the village is accessible only by boat or helicopter. These sturdy people give new meaning to resilience and self-reliance. In particular, the film follows Gennady and Anatoly, who trap, fish, and hunt. They make everything by hand, using traditional tools and techniques — their huts, traps, dugout canoes, and even their hand-carved skis. This is a life of hard work, severe conditions, and enormous solitude. Herzog's film follows the four seasons, beginning with spring, then the summer with twenty hours of light, fall, and then the frigid winters. This film would make for excellent family viewing. In Russian and English. I watched this film on Netflix Streaming.