Rating: 
Summary: You have never seen anything like it
Review: Watching this movie is a bit like, if you can imagine this, watching a TV movie made by an ancient bronze-age television network. In other words, it's TV, and the plot is pretty straightforward ... but it's prehistoric TV! The actors are eskimos plucked right off the ice. We've never lived this way, and we're thrown into a television that's impossibly foreign. The texture of their lives comes through in this movie like a shockwave. Well-filmed and acted, but not in the normal sense. It's strikingly real, in a way I feel is barely understood any more.The crazy thing is -- why aren't there more movies from the bronze age? A thousand aboriginal stories disappear everyday -- and we have -one- movie like this? All the other movies are about white people meeting aboriginal culture, and the disappearance of their way of life, etc. But Atanarjuat comes straight from the beating heart of a lifestyle that goes back to our origins. That's why it gets 5 stars from me ... This isn't a movie. It's a piece of who we are.
Rating: 
Summary: Good movie, but some of the music is a joke!
Review: This is an interesting film about a nomadic group of Inuit (eskimos) who have a curse on their community after a shaman visited them. Later, Atanarjut, comes into the spotlight and falls in love with a young woman who is betrothed to someone else. The two men fight over the woman as a result. While it is a good movie, some of the music has didgeridoos in it. Although I like that kind of music, it is wholly innappropriate to have Australian Aboriginal music in a movie about Eskimos. What was Chris Crilly thinking?!
It is compenstaed with traditional Inuit chanting though. Also if you have a lot more interest in the film, there is a special edition available on DVD in Canada with scenes cut form the US release
Rating: 
Summary: Spend just a little more and buy the CANADIAN version!
Review: All of the terrific reviews below underscored here, BUT:
if you're going to drop $25 for this DVD, spend about $5 USDollars more and buy the CANADIAN "deluxe" version --
it includes a second "making of" disc that adds the trailer, an account of the legend behind the story,
and several other goodies. There are several vendors in Canada (including www.Amazon.ca)
that carry the two-disc set, and it's a region-1-DVD, so it will play on your US DVD player. Highly recommended ... gorgeous film --
Rating: 
Summary: PC Elitism at its worst
Review: This is one of those movies where reviews really annoy me. People are willing to overlook how slow and boring the film is & how it is WAY TOO LONG simply becasue it's about Eskimos. (See my review of Jumpha's Interpreter of Maladies for the same likenesses). Could this have been a good solid movie? Sure, if about 70 minutes were trimmed from it. I don't think the director edited ANYTHING out at all, so what we are left with is abunch of danching, singing Eskimos who like to hunt for rabbits & belch around the campfire (to show that even Eskimos belch) but because these are Eskimos and not fat white guys, that is supposed to make this a good movie.
The movie doesn't really begin until the hero sets off running in the cold, naked, to escape Oki, the guy he beat in a fight. This is when the film starts to get good, but by now we've already seen an hour and a half of chanting Eskimos, so even if someone DID start to find it interesting, he or she would probably be asleep by now. This is not a poetic movie & the interactions, while sweet in the pat on the head sort of way are not really interesting. The film is shot with poor camera angles, meant to appear like we are voyers on these people & the quality of the film is that of a PBS special. But that is not the main problem- still its because the film is WAY TOO LONG. I would be interested in seeing an actual film about how these people live, one that was better written and had a better story. Again, I think people are willing to overlook this because in a PC world, if you dis the film, you dis the Eskimos.
Rating:
Summary: Fast Runner
Review: I don't think I'm as art appreciative as most that reviewed this movie. Yes it was very interesting to see how they lived, and it sure made me appreciate where and when I live now. But I was pretty disturbed by it. Glad I did not live then and there. I suppose some things don't change though, such as "coveting thy neighbors wife" and murders, even within families. It was very hard to follow the characters and the time spans were tricky. I was glad to see it had a happy ending of sorts. We also did not know how long it was but once we were into it we just had to see how it ended, it had to have a happy ending.
Rating:
Summary: This is a great movie!!!
Review: This movie is very good and very very realistic. You won`t even remember that there were subtitles. The people in it are Eskimos this is not a karate film. The wife is very beautiful and it is very interesting to see a different life stlye and not see any movie stars.
Rating:
Summary: Slow but Beautiful Epic of the Legendary "Fast Runner"
Review: "The Fast Runner" has many unique qualities. Its story about the titular character Atanarjuat comes from the legend assorted from eight elder members of the Inuit people; its characters are played by mainly Inuit non-prodessionals; and their native language is spoken in the film, respecting the oral tradition of their literature. As the facts above suggest, the film makes you feel like watching an epic-scale tale that happened one thousand years ago, a kind of experience reading Homer. The story is about Atanarjuat and his clan, who live in Igloolik, Nunavut (northern part of today's Canada). After several generations stories (which include murders done off-screen), we meet young Atanarjuat and his elder brother Aamarjuaq. Atanarjuat falls in love with a girl named Atuat, but it was decided that she should be the bride of Uqi, vulger and rude son of the chief. They nevertheless marry, after Uqi's humiliating experience, and when Atanarjuat takes another wife Puja, who is frivolous, troubles ensue, which eventually bring misery, pain, and even death. Though I admire the film's beauty and narrative strength, I should say the opening part is too confusing, filled with too many people's names. It sounds like Homer. If you have read "Illiad," you feel dismayed seeing too many characters names. "The Fast Runner" at first gives you similar feelings, but be patient. Everything gradually starts to be interesting, if you just follow the main four characters. In the middle of the film, where you see most realistic violence done, you will never stop watching the story of the Fast Runner, who in fact must run fast for his life, on the thin icefield, completely naked. This is one of the most impressive chase scenes done on screen in the movie history. You never forget it. The clothes and customes of the characters of the Inuits long time ago are re-produced, and the film, I am afraid, shows too much of them, but maybe I just didn't understand some part of the customs they follow. They are all interesting, but of course you know that the today's Inuits are not living the way the film depicts (their modern life can be inferred from the end credits, where you can see how they shot the film, using snow-mobiles). The film is sometimes hard to follow -- for example, Atanarjuat taking two wives, the custom that is no longer among the Inuits. The film is certainly too long (nearly 3 hours), but the beauty of the film is undeniable, and the natural presence of the characters is always fresh and engaging to see. They are no actors, but that doesn't matter. The film goes slowly, so you watch and enjoy it slowly too.
Rating:
Summary: WORDS CAN'T DESCRIBE IT !!!
Review: Like no other movie I have ever seen, whatsoever. The way the people lived, the scenery, the story, the cold. Every bit of it was mind blowing and fabulously mesmerizing. What a work of art !!
Rating:
Summary: Zacharias Kunuk & co. Had to REALLY Want to Make This Movie!
Review: Watching Fast Runner, I felt like a quiet member of the Inuit family sitting around a fire hearing this story and my imagination saw this film. This is masterful storytelling. The end credits document how much the filmmakers (actors and production people) wanted to bring this story to us in a medium we could understand. I was very cynical about my ability to like a movie this long in such a language. After 3 hours, I felt at home, covered in seal skins and my belly full of seal meat. My curiosity about what I didnÕt grasp has me researching this film and story. It is not for everybody, but, for the movie viewer who loves to seek truth from every culture and find another link in that human experience, 3 hours will almost seem too short. I donÕt know how well I would survive that north in Canada, but I have a vague idea how to survive because of this film. I will never complain about rolling blackouts again. What a hard life even if it has access to more modern amenities! To everyone involved in Fast Runner, THANK YOU!!!
Rating:
Summary: Chill....
Review: In order to enjoy this movie, you need to put your Hollywood sensibilities on hold and allow the director, editor and cast to set the pace for you. The rhythm of the storytelling is more leisurely than most North American viewers are used to, but it has its own rewards. This is not "Terminator Three"...it is more like a myth, told slowly and lovingly. Relax and enjoy the style.
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