(Image taken from http://villageattheendoftheworld.com/about.php)
Every winter, this film festival showcase over a hundred films from all around the world. The first one I watched this year is Village at the End of the World.
The documentary is about this village called Niaqornat in North West Greenland has a population of only 59. People who lived there carry on their way of life for generations. Due to lack of jobs, the population is declining rapidly. The residents need to gather funds to co-operate the fishing factory to secure jobs and attract people to move back to the village.
It sounds like a very simple plot and the only special thing about this place is probably the remote location, their tradition of hunting and close relationship with nature. many scenes from the film revoke the memories of my departure from my hometown. When the young teenager in the village looking for an escape from the boredom of village life, I was cheering for him . But when his grandma said life could be happier for him outside the village, I really had my doubts about that.
I moved from a place which is the furthest from any sea in the world to an island country at the bottom of the earth. The outside world has its thrills and excitements, but it definitely does not guarantee you happiness. On the one hand I deeply feel the need for the younger generation to stay on and learn about their roots from the older generations and carry on the way of life. On the other hand, the world is constantly changing, if they want to have a better life they need to adapt to changes and sometime it means to leave the familiar behind.
The similar struggle is happening throughout the world and human history. We encourage innovation and welcome changes, but the same time we feel sad about losing our tradition and become someone we are not. My question is, what make us who we are? How does one experience different things in life but yet maintain the core of one’s being?
The perfect ending of this scenario would be this little village does not get affected by the greed and pollution of the outside world, the young people in the village get the freedom to travel to the outside world, but one day they all come back home carry on the culture of the village and bring new knowledge and skills to make their hometown a better place.
Relate to my own situation, many times I think about going back home, to contribute the things I learnt to my birth place, also continue learning about my roots and find the core values and the culture that shaped who I am. But with whats happening in my hometown, I fear that when I return, the most valuable things are no longer there. The way of life, the best part of our tradition and culture are GONE, or RUINED,. Then is it still worth to go back?
The ending of the movie is a pleasant one, people in the village find a way to continue make a living. One scene from the movie stuck with me for a long time, its when the old ladies in the village talk about their childhood. With no electricity, during the dark and long winter time the Shaman will come to the village tell stories. The whole village will gather together around the fire place and listen to the stories . Stories about the spirits, ancestors, nature and the sea. Don’t we all miss those days when we were close to one another, having that strong sense of belonging . I am lucky to be able to relate myself to those experiences, will the future generation still have the chance to experience that?
Modern technology changed so much of our lives, we don’t need story-man visiting us anymore, tv, films and internet take care of the storytelling. We sit in cars drive to shopping malls instead of walk miles together to a market. We don’t even need to talk to anyone to buy our grocery, automatic checkout takes care of that. We can move from one place to another faster than ever, but does that mean we are closer to each other?
Here is hoping, with more and more people become conscious of supporting local produce and smaller food growers, we return to the market, we eat food locally made by people we know. There will be a global movement to encourage us to reach out to people around us, make an little extra effort get out of cars and walk to places, meet people face to face and have a conversation.
If we don’t change the way we live now, I seriously doubt how many of us can live with joy in a cold technology driven society for generations to come.
More on this movie: http://villageattheendoftheworld.com/filmmakers.php
LIYANG'S THOUGHTS 