|
''Eskimo'' (also known as ''Mala the Magnificent'' and ''Eskimo Wife-Traders'') is a 1933 American Pre-Code drama film directed by W. S. Van Dyke and released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). It is based on the books ''Der Eskimo'' and ''Die Flucht ins weisse Land'' by Danish explorer and author Peter Freuchen. The film stars Ray Mala as Mala, Lulu Wong Wing as Mala's first wife Aba, Lotus Long as Mala's second wife Iva, Peter Freuchen as the Ship Captain, W. S. Van Dyke as Inspector White, and Joseph Sauers as Sergeant Hunt. ''Eskimo'' was the first feature film to be shot in a Native American language (Inupiat), and the first feature film shot in Alaska. The film also incidentally documented many of the hunting and cultural practices of Native Alaskans. The production for the film was based at Teller, Alaska, where housing, storage facilities, a film laboratory, and other structures were built to house the cast, crew, and equipment. It was nicknamed "Camp Hollywood". The crew included 42 cameramen and technicians, six airplane pilots, and Emil Ottinger — a chef from the Roosevelt Hotel. Numerous locations were used for filming, including Cape Lisburne in March 1933, Point Hope and Cape Serdtse-Kamen in April to July, and Herald Island in the Chukchi Sea in July. The film crew encountered difficulties recording native speech due to the "kh" sound of the native language. Altogether, pre-production, principal photography, and post-production took 17 months. The motion picture was well received by critics upon release on 14 November 1933, and received the first ever Academy Award for Best Film Editing, although it didn't fare well at the box office. Scholar Peter Geller has more recently criticized the film as depicting the Eskimo as childlike, simple, and mythic "noble savages" rather than as human beings. ==Plot== Mala is a member of an unspecified Eskimo tribe living in Alaska. He has a wife, Aba, and an infant son. He and the villagers are shown welcoming a newcomer to their village, hunting walrus, and celebrating the hunt. Mala learns of white traders at nearby Tjaranak Inlet from another Eskimo. Mala learns about rifles and desperately wants one, and Aba longs for needles and other white men's goods. Mala gratefully offers Aba's sexual favors to the man for telling him about the trading ship's presence. Mala and Aba travel to the trading ship with their children, where the white ship captain takes all of Mala's tanned animal skins in exchange for a single rifle. The captain demands that Aba spend the night with him. He gets her drunk and gives her worthless gifts, and has sexual intercourse with her. Mala is upset, but is told by the English-speaking Eskimo Akat that "the white man is always right". Mala and the Eskimos go bowhead whale hunting in wooden boats and with harpoons provided by the white men, and an actual whale hunt and carcass slaughtering is depicted on film. After the successful hunt, two drunken white men kidnap Aba (and prevent Mala from rescuing her) and force her to get drunk. The ship captain rapes Aba, who escapes at dawn. The Captain's Mate, hunting seals with a rifle, mistakes Aba (passed out on the ice) for an animal and kills her. Mala kills the ship captain with a harpoon (mistakenly believing the captain shot his wife). He flees back to his village with his children. Lonely and needing someone to care for his children and help with the sewing and other chores, Mala takes the young girl Iva as his new wife. But Mala still longs for Aba, and their relationship is a cold one. The Eskimos go hunting caribou by stampeding the animals into a lake and then hunting them with bow and arrow and spears from boats. Mala is haunted by Aba's death, and after pouring out his grief through dance and prayer he changes his name to Kripik. Kripik's attitude toward Iva softens dramatically, and they make love. The hunter whom Mala welcomed to the village the previous year returns to his village, and gives Kripik his wife in gratitude. The woman is more than happy to live with Mala, and Mala makes love to her as well. Some years pass. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police establish a post at Tjaranak, bringing law to the area for the first time. Several white men accuse the Eskimos of being savage and without morals, and charge Mala with the murder of the ship captain. Sergeant Hunt and Constable Balk try to find Mala and arrest him, but get lost in a blizzard and nearly freeze to death. Kripik finds them, and saves their lives. Kripik is angry with the men until Hunt explains that they do not want Kripik's wives. When Hunt asks if Kripik knows Mala, Kripik says "Mala is no more". The Mounties believe Mala is dead, but their misunderstanding is corrected by Akat, who arrives in the village and innocently exposes Kripik. The Mounties convince Kripik to come to the post to answer questions, and Kripik agrees. Several months pass. Hunt and Balk give Kripik the freedom of the post, and Hunt learns about the horrors the white traders visited on the Eskimo. When the Eskimo village moves on to new hunting rounds, Kripik's family stays behind to wait for him. They begin to starve, and Kripik learns of their plight. However, the rigid and rule-bound Inspector White has arrived at the RCMP outpost, and he demands that Kripik not only no longer be allowed to hunt during the day but also be chained down in his bed at night. Hunt tries to dissuade White, but White insists — and Hunt is forced to break his word that Kripik will not be chained. During the night, Kripik pulls his hand free of the single manacle used to chain him down, but mangles his hand while doing so. Kripik flees the post with his team of sled dogs, heading for his family's old village. Hunt and Balk pursue him. The rifle Kripik steals proves useless when the bullets are not the right gauge. Kripik is forced to kill his sled dogs one by one for food. In a driving blizzard, Kripik falls short of reaching his family, and is attacked and injured by a wolf (which he manages to kill). Kripik is found by his eldest son Orsodikok (now a teenager), rescued, and fed by his family. The Mounties arrive the next morning, in hot pursuit. Kripik prevents his eldest son from killing the Mounties, and says he will leave and never come back. Kripik departs on foot, but Iva professes her love and goes with him. The Mounties pursue them on foot across the ice, which is breaking up. Sergeant Hunt takes aim at Kripik with his rifle, but cannot shoot him because Kripik has saved their lives and exhibited more honor and decency than white men have. Kripik and Iva escape on an ice floe, Hunt calling out goodbye and good luck to them. Hunt tells Balk that the ice will take Kripik and Iva across the inlet, and that the adults will be able to return to Orsodikok and the other children next spring. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Eskimo (film)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|