Life in the Extreme North

Fri, 06/02/2017 - 3:15pm by Lucy S

Warner Herzog’s 2013 Happy people: a year in the Taiga is “a stunning documentary about the life of indigenous people living in the heart of the Siberian Taiga. Deep in the wilderness, far away from civilization, 300 people inhabit the small village of Bakhtia at the river Yenisei. There are only two ways to reach this outpost: by helicopter or boat. There's no telephone, running water or medical aid. The locals, whose daily routines have barely changed over the last centuries, live according to their own values and cultural traditions.” (from Music Box Films)

For the people inhabiting the village of Bakhtia in the boreal forest, The Taiga, life has been much the same for centuries. The customs, rituals, and rules followed today have scarcely changed. Industry is the driving force here in this vast expanse of Siberia, where most of the men are trappers. This documentary follows one of these trappers, Gennady, through an entire year to show us how each moment of his hours and days is filled with tasks that build upon each other to create a very simple, but very busy life. Herzog narrates this journey, but the footage used is from a series created for Russian television by Dmitry Vasyukov. It is Herzog, through his narration, who ascribes to the trappers the title of “happy people,” as he reflects on their time spent in almost complete solitude during the trapping season in the Siberian winter. But in hearing Gennady, who says, “You enjoy the beauty of nature, and you do your job at the same time. That’s why they all end up being hunters because hunting brings you closer to the taiga than anything else,” we realize that for these men, a life hewing this close to the natural order of the world does indeed bring happiness.

We hear frequently from Gennady throughout this film as he imparts much wisdom on the life of a trapper in the Taiga, detailing the solitude, the importance of a good hunting dog, interspersed with grim stories of survival. We are taught how integral to the seasons this way of life is, and how methods for trapping have not changed because they don’t have to. The best traps are the same primitive, yet sophisticated traps that have been used for generations, and will likely be used for generations to come. Herzog and Vasyukov have created something modest yet beautiful with this collaboration, a reflection of people of the Taiga, and well worth watching.