Often perceived as entertainment, an escape, isn’t cinema also a philosophical space that invites us to reinvent the city? Throughout the summer, The duty gives the floor to philosophers to comment on a Quebec film of their choice. This week, Tuktuq (2016), by Robin Aubert.
“I arrive where I am a stranger”, wrote the poet Louis Aragon. Martin Brodeur (Robin Aubert) could say the same thing as soon as this white man from the South sets foot in Nunavik, a vast expanse located more than 1,300 kilometers from Montreal. Alone with his camera, the one who usually works in the comfort of a television studio for the production of a cooking show is in charge of a mission with vague outlines: to document the life of a village in the Far North… while keeping a safe distance from those who live there.
Brodeur receives his directives from a deputy minister (embodied by the voice of the filmmaker Robert Morin) well installed behind his telephone and in the offices of power; his contempt for the local population becomes less and less discreet. Because under the feet of the villagers lie important mineral deposits that the government would like to make accessible. Little by little, this mercenary of the image, impregnated by the calm, the immensity of the places and the customs of their inhabitants, ends up understanding the real reasons for his presence, more threatening than he imagined at the start.
In the filmmaker’s filmography (Saints-Martyrs-of-the-Damned, Origin of a cry, The hungry), Tuktuq might look like an anomaly. However, it is part of a desire to practice a cinema without great means, but in complete freedom. Because before going to meet the Inuit, he had voluntarily wandered off to India to shoot What time is the train to nowhere (2009), another dive into a universe where the protagonist (Luis Bertrand) loses all his bearings. These two films are part of a still unfinished project, a “pentalogy of the five continents”, five moments when a Quebecer arrives in a universe of which he is unaware of all the codes.
Tuktuq (a word that means “caribou” in Inuktitut) seems to be advocating this need to extract oneself from the known in order to get to know oneself better, but above all it depicts the shock of a man whose little certainties will be greatly shaken up. To the point where we could witness a real political awakening on his part? THE Duty discussed it with Marianne Di Croce, professor of philosophy at Cégep de Saint-Jérôme.
What are your memories related to the first viewing of Tuktuq ?
An impression of beauty, although some might argue that these landscapes are not so beautiful. Yet there is something special in this expanse, and of course in Robin Aubert’s gaze going to meet the other.
I have to say that I loved it Race destination worldparticularly the year in which he took part [en 1997-1998] : it was my favorite competitor! When I saw Tuktuq the first time, I had the impression of finding his style of that time. He also said in an interview that it was the film that came closest to what he had done at the Race : a fairly artisanal process and a statement that presents another reality.
What did a new viewing allow you to discover?
The scenario writer describes well the feeling of indignation vis-a-vis the political decisions; this awareness is inconvenient, and it must be channeled into action. We cannot do without understanding each other, even if it is difficult. It is also very relevant not to have subtitles when we hear the inhabitants of the village talking to each other; we don’t understand their words, and it’s the same thing when we land in a country where we don’t speak the language. As good Westerners and North Americans able to express themselves in English, we make things come to us, on our terms. In Tuktuq, Robin Aubert has no choice but to operate according to the cultural habits of the other; he somehow becomes the stranger.
His discomfort is also linked to the less and less subtle remarks of its “boss”, who seems to be guided more by the interests of private companies than by those of civil society.
This character is crude, but it’s not really a caricature — that’s what’s sad! The film perfectly illustrates the distance between the people who make the decisions and the populations who will suffer the consequences. Just think of the words of the Quebec Minister of Housing [France-Élaine Duranceau] on tenants who should invest in real estate. Examples of this disconnection of politicians are found every day. In Tuktuqthis reflection on capitalism and the exploitation of nature is striking from the first images, with a demonstration filmed during the Maple Spring of 2012. How not to think of the famous Plan Nord of the former Premier of Quebec Jean Charest, unveiled at the same time?
Do you have to be immersed in situations of injustice to develop your empathy or your political awareness?
I hope not ! Unfortunately, we are in a very atomized society: family, work, home, personal ambitions, and taking care of ourselves. This last point is important, but this fashion for “self-care” has become obsessive, a real injunction; everything is turned towards oneself, and not towards the other. However, as we are all withdrawn into our families and rarely leave our immediate networks, we are never confronted as Robin Aubert’s character in the film can be. I see it when I arrive in my classes: the students don’t talk to each other, they chat… In this context, it’s difficult to develop empathy.
Faced with this sad observation, we could say without embarrassment that they do not know what they are missing!
That’s what Hannah Arendt thinks [philosophe allemande, 1906-1975] by affirming that acting together in the public space enables us to discover the happiness of political action. Unfortunately, this commitment is not always encouraged. In CEGEPs, a few years ago, we supported entrepreneurship clubs, and sports teams, it is highly valued. Groups promoting political causes? Society perceives activists as a bunch of pissed off people, and that’s what the character of the deputy minister conveys in terms of prejudices.
Yes, if everyone got involved, society would only be better off. But the citizens feel pressured, do not have the impression of being really listened to. As many of them have never done common actions, they find it difficult to see what it can bring them. However, in political processes, sometimes things are staged, such as consultations with the population: the “Consultation” box is checked, but in the end, the decision has already been made, and opposing opinions are never taken into account.
Is cinema or can it be a philosophical space?
To philosophize is to think reality. So anything can be a subject of philosophical reflection. Obviously, one can wonder if a work proposes a conscious philosophical reflection or not. A superhero movie can be philosophical. At one time, I gave my students examples taken from TV series and I even dreamed of designing a complementary course entitled “Philosophy and TV series”. Take for example Lost [créée par J. J. Abrams et diffusée de 2004-2010] : characters bore the names of philosophers, like John Locke, and we could decode winks to his thought, to that of Jean-Jacques Rousseau or to that of David Hume. Unfortunately, over the years, this beautiful idea has been “lost”, and let’s refrain from commenting on the final! [rires]
Tuktuqby Robin Aubert, is available on Telus TV+ and Vimeo.