Benoît Pilon brought the Inuit world to Quebec City in The Necessities of Life | Ce qu'il faut pour vivre (2008). Pilon brought a bit of Montréal to the Inuit world in Iqaluit (2016).
Marie-Josée Croze plays Carmen, a woman whose husband Gilles was working in Iqaluit, the capital of Nunavut. Carmen gets a call where she finds out that her husband is badly injured.
Carmen discovers that her husband was deeply intertwined in the local Inuit community. Natar Ungalaaq plays Noah, Gilles' good friend. Ungalaaq was the lead in Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner and The Necessities of Life and also was in The Grizzlies.
Gilles passes away. Carmen decides to stay in Iqaluit to learn more about how Gilles died and how he lived in the north.
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The local carvings point Carmen in a direction where she gathers information about Gilles that she did not know. Noah acts as a go-between for Carmen and his community. Ungalaaq, who plays Noah, had the young boy Kaki as the go-between for him and the French speaking community in The Necessities of Life.
The comparisons are there, but Iqaluit is a very different film. Iqaluit's population is under 8,000 (2016 census). There is a slower pace to life in this area of the world. The film's pace is slower to reflect the realities of Iqaluit.
Croze and Ungalaaq bring a proper level of subtlety to their roles. The emotions are simmering below the surface. Carmen realises the world she is in and copes as best she can.
If you have to see one Benoît Pilon film, see The Necessities of Life, a really great film. You should also see Iqaluit. You will learn a bit about life in a seemingly far away land.
Iqaluit is available in the United States via Amazon Prime
video credit: YouTube/LesFilmsSeville
photo credit: Iqaluit film
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