‘Angry Inuk’ sparks emotions about seal hunt
The St. John’s International Women’s Film Festival is underway in St. John’s, with a stacked roster of events happening around the city throughout the week, capping off on Sunday evening.
Film fanatics piled into The Rooms’ theatre on Thursday to check out a mid-afternoon viewing of writer/director Alethea Arnaquq-Baril’s featurelength documentary, “Angry Inuk.”
While introducing the film, festival board member Barbara Janes noted that out of the 200plus documentaries she viewed at North America’s largest documentary film festival, Hot Docs, “Angry Inuk” was her personal favourite.
An eye-opening film about the Inuit seal hunt, “Angry Inuk” explores the economics relating to the seal hunt and how the European Union (EU) ban on sealskin products negatively affects the lives of the Inuit.
The film begins by following Arnaquq-Baril on a family seal-hunting trip in 2008. She reflects on her childhood memories of the seal hunt.
“At some point in my childhood, I realized that there were people who didn’t like seal hunting,” she said, recalling sealers being called horrible names by activists on the news, and the seal hunt being portrayed as “an evil and greedy thing.”
Sealskin is not a luxury, however. It is necessary for survival in the cold North, keeping hunters warm as they work to feed their family.
Cut to a busy room, filled with people joyously indulging in the fresh, raw meat, inviting family and friends to share in the feast — a happy image never shown by activists. In fact, animalrights and anti-sealing activists rarely mention the Inuit when campaigning against the ancient, traditional livelihood.
Flashback to 1983. The EU has just banned the hunt of whitecoat harp seal pups. The reputation of the sealskin industry took a devastating hit.
“It was our great depression,” Arnaquq-Baril explained.
She spoke with life-long hunter Lasaloosie about that time period and the hardships endured by the community.
Lasaloosie was forced to move from his traditional grounds and into the town, attempting to make a living by selling carvings.
The 1983 EU ban, coupled with residential school abuse, relocation and new government laws, caused the suicide rate among the Inuit to skyrocket, and it remains one of the highest suicide rates in the world to this day.
“This is our food, this is our community,” Lasaloosie said of the hunt, noting he would love to meet an anti-sealer face to face, to start a dialogue.
Much of the film is about this struggle — attempting to converse with activists who knowingly spread propaganda that denounces the seal hunt without any scientific or environmental reasoning. The activists refuse to engage the Inuit people, choosing to cancel protests rather than start a conversation. It’s a struggle that continues today.
While the intense tundra landscapes and beautiful ocean views are captivating, the subject matter is simply riveting, leaving those in the theatre empathizing with Arnaquq-Baril when she says the frustrating conflict makes her “want to scream.”
It’s time for a new pact on animal welfare, she says as the film ends, “and the Inuit should be part of it.”