In The Reign Of Twilight tells
the ironic story of a cultural exchange that typifies the 20th
century. For thousands of years, the Inuit lived a contented existence
in the fragile and brutal Arctic. When the Cold War swept in during
the 1950’s, it blew them from the Stone Age into the Space
Age. The United States bombarded the Arctic with military technology.
Canada, fearing for its sovereignty, responded by establishing
a welfare society. Together they created a high-tech outpost where
Inuit are trapped between the ancient and the post-modern. With
their old economy destroyed, Inuit turned to a new one: exporting
traditional sculpture. The barter gave the world mystical icons
portraying a primitive people, even as those people were being
launched into the Global Village.
Television critic John Haslett Cuff, of The Globe and Mail, said In
The Reign Of Twilight is “visually stunning
and brilliantly conceived... The most informed and thoughtful
film about the Arctic that I have ever seen” |