Happy People: A Year in the Taiga

Happy People: A Year in the Taiga

By Werner Herzog & Dmitry Vasyukov

  • Genre: Documentary
  • Release Date: 2013-01-25
  • Advisory Rating: NR
  • Runtime: 1h 34min
  • Director: Werner Herzog & Dmitry Vasyukov
  • Production Company: Studio Babelsberg
  • Production Country: Germany
  • iTunes Price: USD 9.99
  • iTunes Rent Price: USD 3.99
7.3/10
7.3
From 117 Ratings
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Description

With Happy People: A Year in the Taiga, iconic filmmaker Werner Herzog embarks on another unforgettable journey into the heart of a remote natural environment. Deep in the Siberian wilderness, leagues away from civilization, a mere 300 people inhabit the village of Bakhta on the Yenisei river. This outpost can only be reached in two ways: boat and helicopter. There is no running water, no medical aid or even a single telephone. The locals, whose daily routines have hardly changed over the centuries, live self-reliantly according to their cultural traditions. Through insightful narration by Herzog, Happy People follows a few veteran Siberian trappers through the Taiga's four seasons to tell the incredible story of a society untouched by modernity.

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Reviews

  • Truly inspiring documentary

    5
    By Studly Field Mouse
    This film succeeds in many ways. The cinematography is great. The portraits of self-sufficiency were very humbling to me—These people are TOUGH! And I especially liked hearing a former soviet talk about how great it was to be a trapper because no one was telling him was to do, that he was truly his own person. GREAT DOC!

  • Educational

    5
    By spicwithapic
    Great insight to a simple people living a simple but hard life in a harsh environment. Living off the land with a simple code. Funny how they seem to know right from wrong without laws, or the government breathing down their backs. Will recommend it to friends.

  • Excellent in all respects

    5
    By Montissi
    Incredibly well done and insightful. Fascinating, excellent production value.

  • great documentary

    5
    By michaos11
    This masterpiece is refreshing as a splash of ice water to the face. Characters in the movie are way tougher than Bear Grylls and its their true life, not a TV show. Nature is fascinating and people praise it as everybody did in the past.

  • Not good movie

    1
    By Soret333
    Rambled and was not well edited. Could have been good but delivery was bad

  • Would have been better with more points of view.

    2
    By Shakira without the Sha
    I appreciate the story and the idea that there are actually people who are totally self reliant but as a woman watching this movie with my daughter I thought there would be some other points of view other than that of the hunter. Would have been nice to get some other villager's stories in there. I saw some children laughing and playing and would love to hear more about how this life affects everyone - not just the hunters. I have to admit we were both bored to tears before the movie was even half way over. If you like hunting then you'll love this (I guess).

  • Yawn

    2
    By Wandering Paul
    Ok...I suppose this documentary is a bit more interesting than watching paint dry on the wall...but not by much. I was having flashbacks of "The Mutual of Omaha Wild Kingdom" whilst suffering through this piece. My advise is instead of wasting one hour and forty minutes of your life on this go outside and enjoy a nice brisk walk...you will be much better off for it. I usually love a good documentary but this one left me totally uninspired.

  • Whats with the accent

    1
    By lizorak
    5 minutes in and I'm completely annoyed with the arbitrary accent of the narrator its so distracting

  • It's okay….

    3
    By SushiRobot
    …the quality of movies has really deteriorated. This narrator is a knucklehead. There's really nothing of depth covered. How about their diet how about their alcoholism how about go into some detail on *something*! Just so bland. Lots of corner cutting in movie making these days. Perhaps we have piracy/internet to thank for that.

  • Forgot I was watching a movie

    5
    By Dmolloy777
    I don't think I'm smart enough to put into words how flat-out brilliant this movie is. So I will not even try. Just watch it. If they allowed more than 5 stars, I'd rate it higher.

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Movies by Werner Herzog & Dmitry Vasyukov

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