CE QU’IL FAUT POUR VIVRE, The Necessities of Life

CE QU’IL FAUT POUR VIVRE, The Necessities of Life, Benoît Pilon

Canada, 2008, 102’, v/o with English subtitles

Screening: Thursday, August 26, 7:30PM

Sottile Theater, 44 George Street

Awards: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1280501/awards

Finely wrought drama “The Necessities of Life” was inspired by a tuberculosis epidemic that broke out in the Inuit population of Canada’s Far North in the 1940s and ’50s. Natar Ungalaaq of “The Fast Runner” stars as a stricken man yanked from his isolated home terrain to a Quebec City hospital, where he experiences both profound culture shock and some barrier-transcending human connections. A model of delicate emotional restraint, the handsome pic earns its many lump-in-throat moments. Likely fest kudos should spur offshore tube sales and hopefully some arthouse placements. Dennis Harvey, Variety