Happy People: A Year in the Taiga

If you love nature and animals, and want to know how people live in the most extreme and desolate corners of the earth, particularly trappers, who make their dog run after their motor-sleigh in the snow for 130km in temperatures under -40°c, you must watch this film. If any of the above does not apply to you, I honestly don't understand you. Unavoidably reminiscent of Robert Flaherty's works.

I watched this with my dog, and I could feel his judgement all over me... Where's my sleigh??? A patch of grass on the sidewalk is NOT nature! Why don't you ever cross the street into the next block?? Fatass... These are some of the more PG-13 things he told me through his sharp, piercing glare.

Throwback to when being a patriarch wasnt just a 4 letter word that meant you were an oppressive male. You know, how things were for millions of years back when the world was a hellish nightmare of hard labor and endurance just to have the privilege to wake up and do it all over again. Its comforting to see these societies still exist, scraping the walls with their fingernails in order to carry on the overrated tradition of existing. And of course, Herzog completely immerses you in it.

IAmA worthless sack of a human being. Looking at these guys, I am convinced that I am nothing but an animated pile of estrogen.

Since it is a collaboration between Herzog and Vasyukov, with Vasyukov taking the lead, this feels un-Herzogian. A beautiful film, though. There are better Herzog documentaries, but none as unabashedly romantic as this one.

Very good documentary that records a form of life and forms of knowledge that have managed to persist for a very long time, and which must surely have a finite future, sad as that may be. One wonders a little about Herzog's discourse of the free life, which seems open to the interpretation that it is really about getting away from the women, who are indeed nearly absent from the film.

Herzog's over-expressive English brings an absurd comic twist to this beautiful story of an ancient tradition and the people whose entire lives depend upon it.

One thing that struck me was the way the trappers rely on their dogs. They're not pets, they're partners. Herzog posits that these men's reliance on themselves, their solitude, and their refuge from the turmoil of modern society makes them happy. Could be. But we never really get that outlook from the subjects themselves, only the narration. But I can't really call that a flaw, because Herzog has always been about matching images with a theme. Great movie.

A documentary that became a Herzog project after the fact, as he simply narrates over footage he was not involved in making. It just goes to show how far he can elevate material, as a pedestrian slice-of-indigenous life feature gains gravitas and psychological depth. I feel that it lacks the conceptual breadth of his best stuff, but it's still highly compelling.

Another Herzogalanche!

To be honest difficult to watch the murder of non-human animals even though it's obviously necessary for human existence.

It's not an amazing documentary, but it is engaging and shot beautifully.

Some pretty stunning footage and interesting subject matter. Not much deep insight on the environment or way of life it depicts but the material is strong enough on its own. Herzog is just the best narrator. I would listen to him read the yellow pages.

Great doc!

Covers the natural, survivalist and prehistoric existence a Siberian trapper inhabits year in and year out. Explores the real, simple and free lives these men (and dogs) partake in. Together reaching a relationship as close to symbiotic a human can develop with today's version of nature. The cameo by a trumped up local politician shows how divorced this township is of modern concerns, or we are of them.

The hardcore old-world survivalism is impressive, but I have to wonder how much the happy part of this life comes from being entirely sauced on vodka.

Herzog chronicles the routine of trappers in Siberia. Mostly carried by Gennady and his unique insights.

The life of the villagers is definitely interesting, but the documentary suffers from lacking coherence. The usual profundity of Herzog projects is missing and you can tell its just a kind of a halfhearted attempt at a re-edit.

Yes, Herzog's narration adds a bit of comedy to a story otherwise filled with the beauty of nature, an almost purely subsistence-only life, and a way of living marked heavily by solitude. Not earth-shattering in its revelations, but eye-opening and very well done nonetheless.

The subject matter wasn't really my cup of tea unfortunately. Also the narrating, other than Herzog, was very unpleasant to me.

Herzog's Survivalism 101

A riveting look at the human relationship with the space and nonhumans that surround us. Much is left unspoken.

Russian version of Alonso's La Libertad!

In the depths of Siberia live those who have what one might call "true grit". Living mostly off the land by dint of their carefully honed skills, they persevere through Iong, punishing winters and mosquito-plagued summers, accompanied by dogs as tough as they are. A fascinating look at fascinating people; Werner Herzog re-edited and narrated it, with his customary idiosyncratic wit, though even he could not improve on a visit from a singing politician and his chorus--who is met with a shrug.

It's incredible that a man can survive with basically an axe and his dog.

A nightmare.

Good, but not anywhere in the neighborhood of being one of Herzog's documentary masterpieces.

Vasyukov's work was already more than descent film making, capturing the hardness and alien nature of the little community. With the help of Herzog it becomes quality. He brings that extra human touch to it, both with the structure of the film, and with his powerful narration. I only wish he had been involved with the project from the start, then it could have been great.