Theresia Kappianaq as Kajuk, left, and Lea Panimera as her mother Nujatut in Uiksaringitara (Wrong Husband).Supplied
Uiksaringitara (Wrong Husband)
Directed by Zacharias Kunuk
Written by Zacharias Kunuk and Samuel Cohn-Cousineau
Starring Theresia Kappianaq and Haiden Angutimarik
Classification N/A; 100 minutes
Opens Nov. 28 at the TIFF Lightbox in Toronto; expands to other Canadian cities throughout the winter
Critic’s Pick
Four thousand years ago, one of the greatest love stories ever told played out in the ice and snow of Nunavut. Or maybe it was an epic tragedy. A heart-quickening thriller. A fable. A ghost story. Stitching together genres and surpassing expectations, Inuk filmmaker Zacharias Kunuk delivers an epic approaching the ambitions and scale of his 2001 breakthrough, Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner, with his new drama, Uiksaringitara (Wrong Husband).
In Kunuk’s vision of the distant (but maybe not so far removed as we think) past, forces are at work beyond our understanding or control. Gigantic trolls snatch children off the frozen Arctic tundra, evil shamans manipulate the fates of innocent families, and passions run deep as the 24-hour daylight burns bright.
The central story here is simple but powerful, tracing the arranged marriage of “future wife” Kaujak (Theresia Kappianaq) and “future husband” Sapa (Haiden Angutimark), a relationship that has the tinge of doom from the outset. Soon enough, the pair are separated, and so unfurls a personal drama that feels pulled from a half-remembered dream.
Kingulliit Productions
As ever, Kunuk delivers an engrossing photographic portrait of his homeland that is equally beautiful and intimidating. To capture a landscape so timeless and seemingly endless, the filmmaker embraces a vision of expansiveness. It is not hard to believe that the entire world starts and stops on the fields that Kaujak and Sapa tread upon. The work demands the canvas of a true big screen – and there’s no doubt that top-tier presentation led to the title winning this year’s big Canadian film prize at the Toronto International Film Festival.
While the slow-burn narrative requires more than a little bit of patience, the film gains its own sense of momentum thanks to its largely amateur cast – Kunuk’s real-life neighbours, who are at once listening to the story and being active participants in its telling. It is a tale to get lost in.