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Happy People: A Year in the Taiga (2013)

tomatometer

87

Average Rating: 7/10
Reviews Counted: 45
Fresh: 39 | Rotten: 6

Filled with breathtaking images of the foreboding Siberian countryside, Happy People: A Year in the Taiga is a fascinating look at an isolated society.

85

Average Rating: 7/10
Critic Reviews: 20
Fresh: 17 | Rotten: 3

Filled with breathtaking images of the foreboding Siberian countryside, Happy People: A Year in the Taiga is a fascinating look at an isolated society.

audience

74

liked it
Average Rating: 3.8/5
User Ratings: 933

My Rating

Movie Info

With HAPPY PEOPLE: A YEAR IN THE TAIGA, Werner Herzog and Russian co-director Dmitry Vasyukov takes viewers on yet another unforgettable journey into remote and extreme natural landscapes. The acclaimed filmmaker presents this visually stunning documentary about indigenous people living in the heart of the Siberian Taiga. Deep in the wilderness, far away from civilization, 300 people inhabit the small village of Bakhtia at the river Yenisei. There are only two ways to reach this outpost: by

Apr 23, 2013

$0.3M

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All Critics (45) | Top Critics (20) | Fresh (39) | Rotten (6)

"Happy People" seems to strain toward the notion that harsh nature makes for a pure heart. And perhaps it does for some. But all?

March 15, 2013 Full Review Source: Detroit News
Detroit News
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Herzog's longing for the ideological purity in which these lives are lived, free of paperwork and bureaucracy, taxes and technology, drives the film, which lacks an overall story arc.

February 28, 2013 Full Review Source: Arizona Republic
Arizona Republic
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It's a do-it-yourself world that Herzog clearly admires - much of what we see is the men performing the tasks that enable them to survive.

February 22, 2013 Full Review Source: San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco Chronicle
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They decidedly don't seem happy. And "Happy People's" decision to skate down the frozen Yenisei without examining their unhappiness more closely leaves a slight chill.

February 22, 2013 Full Review Source: Washington Post
Washington Post
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If you want a taste of life as it must have been for the Voyageurs of old, this documentary is a good place to start.

February 15, 2013 Full Review Source: Minneapolis Star Tribune
Minneapolis Star Tribune
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Albeit a found film of sorts, Happy People is very much of a piece with Herzog's other work, examining man's place in the natural world, looking at man's history and man's ability to survive, to endure.

February 15, 2013 Full Review Source: Philadelphia Inquirer
Philadelphia Inquirer
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Cut down from a four-hour documentary by Vasyukov, the result is a film lacking in catastrophic tragedies of any sort that holds you nonetheless with its raw view of lives spurning quotidian modern comforts with a vengeance.

March 23, 2013 Full Review Source: CultureCatch
CultureCatch

In a very real sense, we are watching Herzog watch this film, his rapturous reaction illuminating as much about himself as his subjects.

March 7, 2013 Full Review Source: Capital Times (Madison, WI)
Capital Times (Madison, WI)

Titling a documentary about snowbound Siberian fur trappers "Happy People" is not as ironic as it seems.

March 7, 2013 Full Review Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch
St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Quirky and a little scary and rapturous all at the same time.

March 5, 2013 Full Review Source: East Bay Express
East Bay Express

It's not that Happy People is uninteresting... It's just that the one sensibility of which we were previously aware -- that of Herzog's -- is indiscernible, as if frozen beneath all this movie's ice.

February 28, 2013 Full Review Source: Austin Chronicle
Austin Chronicle

A stirring meditation on the human spirit in extreme conditions, Happy People also reflects Herzog's passion and fascination for the often unforgiving nature of the wild.

February 23, 2013 Full Review Source: Shared Darkness
Shared Darkness

From Siberia, with Happiness

February 22, 2013 Full Review Source: Movie Habit
Movie Habit

It's a minor film from a major director but it's still a strong one for those interested in its subject matter - how people can still co-exist with and live off the land instead of ignoring or abusing it.

February 22, 2013 Full Review Source: HollywoodChicago.com
HollywoodChicago.com

Herzog ... continues his streak of well-crafted documentaries with surprising subjects.

February 21, 2013 Full Review Source: St. Paul Pioneer Press
St. Paul Pioneer Press

Primarily following one veteran sable trapper through his primitive but fascinating annual routine, the movie also features clouds of mosquitoes thick enough to inspire phantom itching in viewers.

February 14, 2013 Full Review Source: Oregonian
Oregonian

The quality of the video, solid behind the camera work and the dedication of all involved (and the wonderful subjects) make this an uplifting happy story about "Happy People."

February 14, 2013 Full Review Source: Reeling Reviews
Reeling Reviews

Audience Reviews for Happy People: A Year in the Taiga

Simple, informative, fascinating and quite wonderful. Watching the 'Happy people' of Taiga training their dogs, building their boats and setting their traps is both hypnotic and humbling. For people who appreciate the simple things in life and seek a little more warmth than you get with your typical National Geographic produced program - this is the feel good documentary for you. For Werner Herzog fans it's also a must.
December 2, 2011
SirPant

Super Reviewer

"Happy People: A Year in the Taiga" is a fairly routine ethnographic documentary about fur trappers living in a remote part of Siberia that is improved by Werner Herzog's spirited narration.(Seriously, could he just narrate every documentary, plus become the official voice of Roger Ebert and do Monday Night Football?) He even sounds a little envious of their lives while the rest of us get to complain when the temperatures fall into the teens. The trappers do get their say as they perform tasks that have been handed down from generation to generation with occasional technological improvements like snowmobiles and chainsaws. (Sadly, the indigenous population do not have the same option as their traditions are dying off with their elders.) Basically, if you want to learn to how to make an efficient, if not stylish, pair of skis, you've come to the right place. And man is that a big hammer! So while the trappers depend on the outside world for supplies to arrive via helicopter and boat, weather permitting, and to sell their furs, they pay little attention to what goes on elsewhere, especially the singing politician, and just go about their lives.
January 27, 2013
Harlequin68
Walter M.

Super Reviewer

    1. Narrator: This colossal land mass is one and a half times the size of the United States.
    – Submitted by Chris P (4 months ago)

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