Nahanni

The legend of a lost gold mine and a river in the Northwest Territories that lures men to their doom. Albert Faille, an aging prospector, has set out time and again to find hidden gold. His route takes him through a wild and awesome land particularly suited to the mood of this Canadian odyssey.

You know when you see parts of the world where mankind was just never meant to venture? Well this single-camera feature shows us one such area as we follow prospector Albert on his way up river in search of his own Canadian version of the Sierra Madre. The river itself seems benign enough until he arrives at a waterfall that's twice the height of Niagara. Now he must disembark and lug his supplies and several planks of wood up the cliff, before he begins to build another boat to enable him to continue his journey. The river is now definitely not playing ball, and with the pace of the water increasing and the depth shallowing, is there any chance this man can fight the relentless flow of the waters and find his elusive goldmine? Aside from some gorgeously photographed scenery, this also serves as a testament to the determination of a man who has tried this exercise on seven previous occasions - all to no avail. Will the Nahanni ever give up it's secrets - or are claims of this new Klondike just old wives tales? You get the feeling as you watch this that Albert isn't really looking for the gold any more; it's now more that he wants to defeat nature itself and it's not beyond the realms of possibility that he might just not come back one day - and that might well be what he intends to be his epitaph. One thing that did puzzle me was his boat building. Surely on his earlier trips he had built boats that he could have lain up safely over winter and then collected again next spring? With a sparing narration, there is something splendidly isolatory about his travels and his self-reliance, and as it loses it's motivating venality and becomes more of a battle of wills, this becomes quite a compelling short film to watch.