a quick look at Greenland’s first Oscar submission : Bech & Rosing’s NUUMMIOQ [6/10]

During a recent visit to Reykjavik it was heartening to see what was billed as the first ever ‘Greenlandic’ movie, namely the Greenland/Denmark co-production Nuummioq – written and directed by Greenland-born, Copenhagen-based duo Torben Bech and Otto Rosing, and starring the latter’s brother Lars.
   Greenland is still, strictly speaking, part of Denmark, and the movie goes to considerable pains to present its Inuit and Danish inhabitants as part of one big happy family – quite literally so, in the case of Danish-looking Malik (Rosing) and his Inuit-featured cousin Michael (Angunnguaq Larsen). The drama, such as it is, concerns Malik being diagnosed with cancer, and going on a journey with Michael to a remote area where he uncovers long-hidden secrets from his family’s past.
   Making excellent use of the breathtaking Greenland scenery via Bo Bilstrup’s cinematography, Nuumioq (which apparenly means “a person from Nuuk” – the Greenland capital also known as Godthab) is transcendent in its many external scenes – especially a tender little vignette involving a middle-aged female ‘tourist’ – but relatively pedestrian when it ventures indoors. A heartfelt, slightly sentimental reflection on vita brevis and memento mori, the film is Greenland’s first-ever submission for the Foreign Language Oscar, and if nothing else shows that cinema can flower in the most unlikely of wildly remote locations.

Neil Young
14th October 2010

NUUMMIOQ : [6/10] : Greenland/Denmark 2009 : Torben Bech & Otto Rosing : 95m approx
seen 30th September at Paradis cinema, Reykjavik : {17/28}
complimentary press ticket;  Reykjavik International Film Festival, Iceland