In Caribou Country: The Adventures of William Brooks Cabot, Parts 1 & 2 1999
Distributed by Chip Taylor Communications, 2 East View Drive, Derry, NH 03038-4812; 800-876-CHIP (2447)
Produced by Lazybank Productions, Ltd.
Director n/a
VHS, color and b&, 30 min.
Adult
History
Date Entered: 11/09/2018
Reviewed by Selina Wang, Earl K. Long Library, University of New OrleansThis is a short film about the travels of William Cabot, a wealthy industrialist who had a fascination with the Naskapi Indians. He made annual pilgrimages to the Naskapi's territory, in Labrador, Canada, from the years 1903 to 1910. During these trips he documented their lives in his diaries and in snapshots he made of the people and the region.
The Naskapi, now called the Innu, depended heavily on the caribou for their existence. The caribou were dwindling in number, bringing the way of life of the Naskapi to an end. The diaries and photos brought back by Cabot documented the final years of the Naskapi's way of life.
Cabot records his impressions of the Indians and their lives in his diary, which serves as the narration of most of the film. His words are brought to life by the photographs he took at the time. Cabot's diary tells of his meetings with the Indians in Labrador, as they traveled from the Northwest in order to trade. During these times Cabot took many snapshots of these meetings with his Kodak camera.
These pictures of the people and the harsh landscape comprise the major part of the film, and they are strikingly detailed. The faces and expressions are vivid and clear. The film occasionally fades from one of these old pictures to a modern view of the same landscape, a technique that has the effect of connecting these moments in history with modern times. In one case Cabot's shot of a Naskapi hunting camp, filled with people, tents, and caribou skins being prepared and dried, fades to a bleak, modern scene of the same area, in which remnants of the tent poles litter the ground.
The film is not a comprehensive history of the Naskapi Indians or their lifestyle. It is a brief impression of a people, told by one man who took an interest in their lives. It is very well produced, with clear video and sound. Considering that the film consists mostly of pans of still photos, it is consistently interesting. There is drama in the ambivalent, sometimes slightly hostile relationship between Cabot and the Naskapi.
Audiences of almost any level could appreciate this film, and it would be recommended viewing for high school or college classes that are studying this period of history, the geography, or the peoples of the Labrador area.