Man of Aran

Starring:Colman 'Tiger' King, Maggie Dirrane, Michael Dirrane, Pat Mullin, Patch 'Red Beard' Ruadh, Patcheen Faherty, Tommy O'Rourke, 'Big Patcheen' Conneely of the West, Stephen Dirrane, Pat McDonough
Director: Robert J. Flaherty
Studio: Homevision
Product Type: DVD

Editorial Review:
Amazon.com
While it stretches the definition of documentary, Robert Flaherty's Man of Aran remains a triumph of poetic imagery, and one of the greatest nonfiction films ever made. Critic Pauline Kael hailed it as "the greatest film tribute to man's struggle against hostile nature," referring to conditions faced by bold residents of the Aran Islands, 30 miles offshore from Galway, Ireland, amidst the harshest seas of the Atlantic. Flaherty and his tiny crew spent over two years on the islands, chronicling the rugged lives of the Araners on a landscape so rocky that seaweed is used as improvised soil. Flaherty cast the film with assorted locals and recreated anachronistic events (such as the harpooning of a basking shark) from Aran's past, inviting controversy over the film's authenticity. That debate continues on this DVD's exceptional bonus features (for retrospective insight, "How the Myth Was Made" is every bit as good as Flaherty's film), but Man of Aran is, and always will be, a timeless record of extraordinary people, miraculously surviving in a most extraordinary place. --Jeff Shannon
Description
Robert J. Flaherty's award-winning Man of Aran uses stunning location photography and brilliant montage editing to build a forceful drama of life on the Aran Islands. Situated among the frequent and violent storms that slam into its barren landscape, the islands are "three wastes of rock" off the western coast of Ireland. With a small crew, Flaherty spent nearly two years shooting, developing, and assembling footage of the islanders' Herculean efforts to survive in unbearably harsh conditions. Home Vision Entertainment is proud to present this historic masterpiece in a new digital transfer.

Average customer rating:

Irish Movie

And I thought we were poor when I was a kid...

a film course on one DVD

Man of Aran

A window into the past of Ireland

Man of Aran
Starring: Colman 'Tiger' King , Maggie Dirrane , Michael Dirrane , Pat Mullin , and Patch 'Red Beard' Ruadh
Director: Robert J. Flaherty
Manufacturer: Homevision
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B00008UALI
Release Date: 2003-05-20

Amazon.com

While it stretches the definition of documentary, Robert Flaherty's Man of Aran remains a triumph of poetic imagery, and one of the greatest nonfiction films ever made. Critic Pauline Kael hailed it as "the greatest film tribute to man's struggle against hostile nature," referring to conditions faced by bold residents of the Aran Islands, 30 miles offshore from Galway, Ireland, amidst the harshest seas of the Atlantic. Flaherty and his tiny crew spent over two years on the islands, chronicling the rugged lives of the Araners on a landscape so rocky that seaweed is used as improvised soil. Flaherty cast the film with assorted locals and recreated anachronistic events (such as the harpooning of a basking shark) from Aran's past, inviting controversy over the film's authenticity. That debate continues on this DVD's exceptional bonus features (for retrospective insight, "How the Myth Was Made" is every bit as good as Flaherty's film), but Man of Aran is, and always will be, a timeless record of extraordinary people, miraculously surviving in a most extraordinary place. --Jeff Shannon

Description

Robert J. Flaherty's award-winning Man of Aran uses stunning location photography and brilliant montage editing to build a forceful drama of life on the Aran Islands. Situated among the frequent and violent storms that slam into its barren landscape, the islands are "three wastes of rock" off the western coast of Ireland. With a small crew, Flaherty spent nearly two years shooting, developing, and assembling footage of the islanders' Herculean efforts to survive in unbearably harsh conditions. Home Vision Entertainment is proud to present this historic masterpiece in a new digital transfer.

Customer Reviews:

Irish Movie.......2007-07-04

Had to buy this movie as I was going to this island of Aran. Stayed in the B&B that was built for the director.

And I thought we were poor when I was a kid..........2007-05-12

Black and white docudrama of what it was like to scrape a living off the barren coastal islands of Ireland. Story is scarce, sound is almost indecipherable, but if you watch the actors, (locals hired for the film,) they wade waist deep into the icy Atlantic breakers without even flinching, it's an every day thing for them to risk their lives to gather a torn net or pull a boat through the huge waves, just to glean enough to keep their stomach full. I was on Aran, recognized some of the settings, life is tremendously better, now, but you see why they still consider someone not of the island families an outsider, no matter how long they've lived there.

a film course on one DVD.......2006-07-17

Man of Aran (the extra features aside) stands as a landmark film, a beautifully-shot evocation of the desolate west Ireland coast, part documentary, part fiction. These are actors, but the man, woman and boy are placed in timeless places and activities -- the physical labor and danger very real -- whether it's trying to spear a shark the size of their boat, or trying to extract themselves and that boat from an angry sea, or scratching a potato bed from rocky soil and making the soil in the process. Flaherty is as painstaking as these people, showing a very real process of creating a potato bed out of nothing but rock.

It's worth noting that film was still just emerging from the silent era then, and Robert Flaherty apparently filmed a silent film and then masterfully added sound -- there's very little dialogue (other than incidental). The repeated footage of the sea breaking on that cliff-lined coast conveys all of the power and danger of that surf. (The print seems of good quality.) The documentaries on the DVD show just how primitive the cameras and other equipment were -- indeed, the four documentary featurettes tell much about the difficulties and limitations of film production of the day.

The documentaries also put the film in perspective, returning to a much-tamed Aran of a later day. The interviews with former cast members and other islanders can be touching and genuine.

Possibly Robert Flaherty's best film, and the DVD is a worthy vehicle for it.

Man of Aran.......2005-09-07

No movie better illustrates the tenuous, symbiotic relationship between brute nature and human endurance than Robert Flaherty's hauntingly gorgeous "Man of Aran." Flaherty, director of the classic "Nanook of the North" and father of the documentary form, shot "Aran," his first sound feature, over the course of two and a half years, casting heroic locals in key roles and training his camera on the rugged, magnificent environment in which they eke out their survival. "Man of Aran" is pure visual poetry, astounding and unforgettable.

A window into the past of Ireland.......2005-04-02

"Man of Aran" may strictly be no documentary, but it is very real. The hard life of the people of the Isle of Aran is portrayed in its full harshness and splendor. Of a sort.

Robert Flaherty, director of acclaimed documentary "Nanook of the North," brings his same authentic eye to this struggle of man against nature, and how people can claw out an existence in even the harshest of climates. His camera makes you believe his story, as does the unaffected dialog and ability of his subjects.

Unfortunately for Flaherty, the daily life struggle of the Aran inhabitants was not raw enough, so he brought their lives about 90 years into the past, into the realm of harpoon shark fishing and suicidal egg hunting near towering cliffs. In order to resurrect this past, he located islanders who remembered the old ways, and knew the skills necessary to achieve his vision. In this way, Flaherty is authentic, using the elder residents to bring their childhood to life again. But it was not modern Aran.

This DVD is fantastic, bringing not only the original docu-drama, as well as several supporting documentaries regarding the making of "Man of Aran," about Flaherty himself, and several interesting dialogs about the film. One could not wish for a more complete package.

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