The Prize of the Pole

The focus of Staffan Julén's documentary is Hivshu, a Greenland Inuit who is the descendant of an adulterous relation between an Inuit woman and American polar explorer Robert E. Peary. Taking the name of Robert E. Peary II, Hivshu travels through Greenland and across the American Northeast to piece together the story of six Inuit who accompanied Peary to New York in the late 19th century. All of the Greenlanders died from pneumonia except for a boy named Minik, who was adopted by the anthropologist William Wallace, but what became of the bodies remains unclear (a controversy erupted when Wallace leaked to the press that the American Museum of Natural History did not bury the bodies, as they claimed, but dissected them for medical studies). Julén is never able to determine the fate of the bodies, although he does locate Minik's grave in New Hampshire. However, the film's genuine enigma is Hivshu (the viewer never learns just what he does for a living or who is financing his travels), who strolls about New York wearing a flashy cowboy outfit, designer eyeglasses, and a Rolex wristwatch, pausing to speak in flawless English to the locals (it's obvious he is not your average arctic resident). Still, even if Hivshu remains a mystery, the story he presents about his doomed countrymen is a genuine tragedy, characterized by racism in the name of science. A well-made and often poignant documentary, The Prize of the Pole is highly recommended. Aud: C, P. (P. Hall)