In response to the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the American and Canadian governments joined forces to create what was initially intended to be a military highway, and eventually became the vast commercial roadway known today as the "Alcan" or Alaska-Canada highway. The focus of this documentary by producer Barbara Barde is on the effects that the coming of the highway had on the lifestyle of the Alaskan Native Americans. Drawn by the promise of jobs, and supplemented by governmental housing and food grants, the indigenous population left the hunting and fishing nomadic life to settle down in villages near the highway. While the program is generally interesting, the highway as culprit theory is a bit overstated. When women in their 80s talk about how their teenage granddaughters today are so different in their interests, dress, and dating habits, it's difficult to see the highway as the primary factor. We're talking about life in the 20s-40s compared to life in the 1980s. The highway was surely a contributing factor, but hardly the be-all and end-all that produced these modern Alaskan teenagers. But the film's major drawback is in its extensive reliance on interviews. Granted, interviews lend credibility, but the elderly people interviewed are often extremely difficult to understand. They speak in a slow, occasionally broken, and heavily accented English. Viewers will eventually grow weary of rewinding in order to try yet again to piece together something that was said. Colleges featuring Native American studies programs would find this useful, but for others it is not a necessary purchase. (See THE BIRTHDAY MOVIE for availability.)
The Alaska Highway: The Gravel Magnet
(1989) 58 m. $95. Chip Taylor Communications. Public performance rights included. Vol. 4, Issue 7
The Alaska Highway: The Gravel Magnet
Star Ratings
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