Main Cast: Colman "Tiger" King, Michael Dillane, Pat Mullin
Release Year: 1934
Country: UK
Run Time: 132 minutes
Plot
Nonfiction filmmaking pioneer Robert Flaherty's first sound feature elaborates on themes presented in his two previous major works, Nanook of the North and Moana. In all four of his major features, including Louisiana Story, Flaherty explored the relationship of man to his natural environment. This film was shot between 1931 and 1933 on the Aran Islands, west of Ireland's Galway Bay. Flaherty's screen "family" was actually composed of three unrelated islanders chosen for their photogenic appeal: Colman "Tiger" King is the title character, a no-nonsense fisherman, Maggie Dirrane plays his wife, and Michael Dillane his young son. Flaherty is more interested in recording the natural beauty of the islands, which are largely rock, and the surrounding sea than in presenting any formal information on the lives of the islanders. Life here is as elemental as it was for the Eskimos in Nanook and the South Seas islanders in Moana. Though the film came under fire from some critics at the time of its release for not presenting the social conditions that hampered the lives of the islanders -- many of them renting from absentee landlords indifferent to their economic well-being -- it has come to be accepted as work of film poetry rather than a social document. ~ Tom Wiener, All Movie Guide
Review
Robert Flaherty spent three years on the Aran Islands shooting footage for a nonfiction film that didn't break 80 minutes, but the director didn't spend his time waiting for something dramatic to occur. In fact, several of Man of Aran's most memorable scenes were created for the cameras. A venture into stormy seas would not normally be attempted by experienced fishermen who respect the power of the ocean to overwhelm their modest boats, and hunting for gigantic basking sharks was something the islanders hadn't tried in years. Flaherty was more interested in capturing the physical details of a place than systematically recording the daily routines and concerns of his human subjects. That he was criticized during the depths of the Depression for not revealing the economic hardships of the Aran islanders wasn't surprising, but it misses the point of Flaherty's real interest: the eternal dialogue between man and nature. The film's collection of startling yet totally unforced imagery is testimony to the filmmaker's eye and passion, which are in turn the basis of his lofty reputation. ~ Tom Wiener, All Movie Guide
This article is about the documentary. For the British Sea Power album, see Man Of Aran (album).
Man of Aran (1934) is a documentary film by Robert J. Flaherty, a fictional documentary on life on the Aran Islands off the western coast of Ireland. It portrays characters who live in premodern conditions and their hardships, documenting their daily routines such as fishing off high cliffs, farming potatoes where there is little soil, and hunting for huge basking sharks to win their liver oil for lamps. Some situations are fabricated, such as one scene in which the shark fishermen are almost lost at sea in a sudden gale. Additionally, the family members shown are not actually related, having been chosen from among the islanders for their photogenic qualities.
A documentary (1977) about the making of the documentary, which is included in the special features of the DVD, relates that the Aran Islanders had not hunted sharks in this way for over fifty years at the time the film was made. Man of Aran shows us Flaherty's re-creation of culture on the edges of modern society, even though much of the primitive life depicted had been left behind by the 1930s. It is impressive, however, for its drama, for its spectacular cinematography of landscape and seascape, and for its concise editing.
The UK rock band British Sea Power was asked to record a new soundtrack for the film's 2009 DVD release, performing the score at a series of live events in the UK including one accompanying the film itself at the British Film Institute.[1]
