A documentary depicting the life and work of the trappers of Bakhtia, a village in the heart of the Siberian Taiga, where daily life has changed little in over a century.A documentary depicting the life and work of the trappers of Bakhtia, a village in the heart of the Siberian Taiga, where daily life has changed little in over a century.A documentary depicting the life and work of the trappers of Bakhtia, a village in the heart of the Siberian Taiga, where daily life has changed little in over a century.
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- TriviaHonest and pure, facts, reality, no fluff. Real people surviving with generational skills. Riveting !
- Quotes
[first lines]
Himself - Narrator: This is the village of Bakhtia In Siberia. Although it looks like winter to us, it's already spring here. The village is located In the heart of Siberia, and we should keep in mind that this colossal landmass is one and a half times the size of the United States. The endless wilderness that surrounds this place is known as the taiga. No roads or train lines traverse it. There are only two ways to reach this outpost - one is by helicopter, the other by boat. The expanse in the foreground is not solid ground but the frozen-over Yenisey River, one of the largest waterways in Siberia. It's only during the few Ice-free months of summer that boats can also reach Bakhtia.
Himself - Narrator: Of the 300 or so inhabitants of this village, a handful of them make their livelihood as professional trappers. One of these men is Gennady Solovyev. Here he makes his way into the wilderness across an enormous frozen river. He wants to show us an essential tool of his profession.
Gennady Soloviev: [demonstrating] An animal would approach and begin twisting the bait. The pressure is very light, I'll keep my hand in it. Let me show you. See how light it is.
[the top collapses]
Gennady Soloviev: There you go. The animal is trapped. This is how I disarm the trap.
[lifting the top back up]
Gennady Soloviev: I take away the bait. I remove the wooden linchpin so squirrels or mice don't steal them. I put everything under the roof, and that's it.
- ConnectionsEdited from Happy People (2007)
The film primarily focuses on village's main breadwinners: 'trappers' who quarry in the thick of below -50 degree winter in the wilderness stretching thousands of square kilometers, across the Yenisei River flowing alongside the village. The village is almost untouched by modernity and highly independent--snow-mobile and chainsaw few of the exceptions. Inaccessible most of the year, village can only be reached by a plane, or a boat in the short-lived, appropriate spring-summer season.
Herzog/Vasyukov esthetically showcase the authentic 'happiness' a human-being relishes even in absence of technology and materialistic advancements. All you need is a sense of freedom and accomplishment that folks in Taiga mostly come upon by the constantly keeping themselves constructively engaged. Instead of harming/modifying the nature, they have learned to live in harmony with it--assimilating their lifestyles around four different seasons: Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter.
The related blog-post has some delightful screen captures from the film covering the 4-season cycle and the specific chores set around them. Wish I could post them here, somehow! Posting sans the pictures, anyhow.
Spring:
-Passing on the conventional wisdom (Ski-making) -Setting up the base structure of quarry-traps -Smoking the Ski for shape and sturdiness -Canoe for fishing made of local wood -Widening of canoe using fire -Testing the new canoe and green huskies in first waters
Summer: -Constructing huts for deep winter in the wilderness -Thawing of the river, Yenisei -Inherent tendencies of the Orion kicking in!
Fall:
-Nut gathering squirrel connotes: "Winter is coming" -Night-fisherman: fish is attracted to the fire-light -Storing supplies nearby winter hut, away from Bear's reach -Bear hibernating but rats still a threat -Wading upstream: Transporting essentials to the hut
Winter:
-Checking the traps for quarry Earning his keep, smells prey! -After a hard day's work returning back to a roof that might cave-in under snow -Meanwhile, in the village: Fishing Holes Returning home for New Year/Christmas
Trappers visit family during festivities, notice the husky running behind the snowmobile--he runs all the 150 frozen kilometers of the river! After a short stay with family (till Jan 6, Christmas) a trapper gets back to his wilderness for a couple more months--to his hut (that is naturally insulation using earth and dry moss) with his best friend.
Thanks to Herzog, this documentary is a chance to live a dream lifestyle lot of us crave for.
- YasheshJ
- Jul 9, 2013
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Details
Box office
- Gross US & Canada
- $338,987
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $10,481
- Jan 27, 2013
- Gross worldwide
- $338,987
- Runtime1 hour 30 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1