Necessities of Life

Our audience of 468 members were treated to a beautiful and poignant film depicting a difficult chapter in Canadian History. Documentarian Benoit Pilon has meticulously crafted a film with a very realistic tone and setting. The amazing Inuit actor, Natar Ungalaaq, was phenomenal as Tivii, a displaced Inuit suffering from tuberculosis. Alone and dying in a Quebec sanatorium, he is saved only by the love and caring of a white Sister Nurse and a young boy caught between the world of the Inuit and that of the dominant European based millieu.

The audience was nearly unanimous in its positive reaction to The Necessities of Life. As one of out members said "And they say Canadians can't make great films!"

Necessities of Life was Canada's contender for Foreign Language Oscar and was nominated for 8 Genie Awards winning 4 prestigious ones: Best Director (Benoit Pilon), Best Actor (Natar Ungalaaq), Best Screenplay (Bernard Émond), Best Editing (Richard Comeau). It also won Jutra awards for Best Film, Best Director and Best Screenplay. It was filmed in Quebec City and Iqaluit Nunavut.

Click here for an interview with the director.

Julian D.