☆ ☆ ☆ ½
The
Savage Innocents (1960) – N. Ray
It is impossible not to cringe when you
see Anthony Quinn playing an Eskimo (now referred to as Inuit or with specific
tribal affiliations) and the assorted supporting actors come from a range of
Asian cultures (with Yoko Tani excellent as Quinn/Inuk’s wife). Setting this aside – and also setting aside
the condescending view of indigenous people as less civilized – is difficult,
but persisting with the movie does allow for some rewards. In fact, contact with the white men reveals them
to be decadent, foul, and unwilling to understand the (stereotypically noble)
“savages” who eat raw meat, wife-swap, and only occasionally kill each
other. Director Nick Ray heightens the
emotional interpersonal drama between the two main characters and their
surrounding sparse social network and uses (probably stock footage of) arctic
animals along with trained seals and a polar bear for counterpoint. The whole thing is so strange – and the
characters speak in a kind of pidgin English that heightens this strangeness –
that the viewer is quickly absorbed into an entirely different world. It is just too unfortunate that the rampant
stereotyping of the time infects everything.
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