International Review of Educational Cinematography (Jan-Dec 1931)

Documentary films CARIBOO One of the latest Paramount productions gives a vivid picture of the struggle and privations of the Ojibways, a nomad Red Indian tribe wandering amid the snowy deserts of Northern Canada, the last survivors of the peoples who once dominated North America. This filming of a whole race doomed to extinction is the work of two enthusiastic operators, whose devotion to science and strong determination enabled them to pass month after month in these inhospitable parts, where a life of toil and sacrifice is further haunted for the natives by the constant spectre of starvation. This is a genuine documentary film, for to-morrow the Ojibways will belong to the past and in a few decades, maybe, nobody will emember their name. But the film will survive as an imperishable record of a vanished existence. In this way collections of historical and documentary films serve, like gramophone records and libraries, to transmit to future generations the speech, writings and forms of a bygone age. Northern Canada is the home of the Cariboo rangifer, belonging to the reindeer family, but larger, darker and with shorter horns. Its habitat is the forest, but it is continually migrating towards the cold regions, for as soon as ever the temperature begins to rise, the cariboo is plagued with insects and disease. For the Canadian Indians the cariboo is the sole means of subsistence. It yields them in addition to food and clothing, their instruments of work and weapons for the chase, and the whole life of the tribe is directed towards the hunting of the cariboo. The means are primitive and savage and depend upon the courage, perseverance and skill of the hunter, who, in order to procure food and raiment for himself and his family, fears neither difficulties nor dangers. Search for the cariboo urges them ever northwards and often death overtakes them in the form of fierce attacks by bears, wolves and other famished beasts. The plot, as in all clocumentarv films, is simple. Chatoga, the chief of the Ojibways tribe and the last of an intrepid race of hunters, has led his people year after year across the immense stretches of the North and brought them peace and well-being. Grown old, he hands over his rule to two of the youngest and most vigorous of the tribe, Baluk, the bravest among the hunters, and Dagman, the subtle medicine man. Dagman's heart is full of hate and cupidity; his ambition is to be sole chief of the Ojibways and he wants little Niva, Chatoga's daughter, for his wife. Niva loves Baluk and the old chief will not force her into an unwilling marriage. Fearing Dagman's magic powers, Chatoga plays fcr time. At the approach of winter the tribe begins to feel the scarcity of food and the old man summons his chiefs to decide when they shall start outto hunt the cariboo. Balukadviscs a move to the south, where they will meet the flocks in the course of migration. Dagman disagrees and declares that, if they can find no cariboo near camp, it is due to the incapacity of the chief hunter. But Chatoga falls in with Baluk's proposal and the hunters set out accompanied by the prayers and hopes of those left behind. The absence of the hunters makes life for i he tribe even more difficult. Food grows scarcer, winter is at hand and there is no sign of the party's return. One day, however, they are greeted by glad shouts of « Baluk is back." But their joy is shortlived: the hunters have found no trace of the cariboo.