Man of Aran

Pioneer documentary maker Robert Flaherty's naturalistic look at the struggle of Irish islanders against the sea is considered a classic--and for its time, it undoubtedly was. Would people watch it today? I sincerely doubt it. Title cards are used to introduce the protagonists and their plight, and we see a boy and his mother rush down to the sea to help the men drag onto shore a large fishing net. During this intense struggle, we suddenly hear voices. Apparently, the dialogue, which is almost always a) drowned out by the sea, or b) incomprehensible due to the thick Irish brogue, was added later. It is, by turns, frustrating and unintentionally comic, as the lips and the sound never come close to matching. For the rest of the film the people harvest seaweed and go fishing; during the finale, a crew wrestles at sea with a shark (the most interesting scene in the film--mainly because of what Steven Spielberg learned from it for Jaws). While the unchecked fury of the pounding ocean is visually interesting, Man of Aran simply doesn't tell much of a story, as modern audiences understand that term. Libraries with strong cinema history collections might want to add this, but for most libraries this critically acclaimed masterpiece is not a necessary purchase. (R. Pitman) [DVD Review--June 17, 2003--Home Vision, 77 min., not rated, $29.95--As someone a little older, and maybe a bit more patient, Man of Aran strikes me a little bit differently 12 years after my initial review. Although the story is still negligible and the sound is awkward, the images seem much more impressive today, perhaps on account of Home Vision's beautiful DVD transfer and an excellent set of extras, including the hour-long 1978 documentary How the Myth Was Made (in which a BBC filmmaker returns to Aran to interview residents and principals in the film), the 30-minute documentary excerpt "Hidden and Seeking" with Flaherty's wife Frances, a 16-minute interview with Frances Flaherty on Man of Aran, and a five-minute clip of Flaherty reminiscing on the film. Bottom line: a classic of early documentary filmmaking (though technically the action is staged), Man of Aran--backed with a strong extras package--is well worth considering on DVD, as is Flaherty's other new-to-DVD 1948 film Louisiana Story.]