MAN OF ARAN

Year: 1934
UK: Park Circus
Cast: Colman 'Tiger' King, Maggie Dirrane, Michael Dirrane, Pat Mullin, Patch 'Red Beard' Ruadh, Patcheen Faherty, Tommy O'Rourke, Stephen Dirrane
Director: Robert Flaherty
Country: UK
UK: 77 mins
UK Certificate: U
UK Release Date: 11 March 2011 (Limited Release)


Synopsis

Influential US documentary filmmaker, Robert Flaherty, spent three years making this celebrated film shot in black and white. In the 1930s life on the Aran Islands was hard.

Families were forced to fight against the elements for their livelihoods. It was the custom of the men to await the annual migration of basking sharks. If caught, they would provide a family with enough oil for a year, but to catch them meant setting sail in a flimsy boat. Could it protect the fishermen against the pounding force of the ocean?