MAN OF ARAN

In this blend of documentary and fictional narrative from pioneering filmmaker Robert Flaherty, the everyday trials of life on Ireland's unforgiving Aran Islands are captured with attention to naturalistic beauty and historical detail. MAN OF ARAN’s characters live in pre-modern conditions, and it documents their daily routines such as fishing off high cliffs, farming potatoes where there is almost no soil and hunting for sharks to win their liver oil for lamps. Some scenes are fabricated, such as one scene in which shark fishermen are almost lost at sea in a sudden gale. Additionally, the family members shown are not actually related, having been chosen from among the islanders for their photogenic qualities.