HAPPY PEOPLE is another sterling documentary from Werner Herzog, this time exploring rural life in Siberia. Herzog is my favourite documentary filmmaker so it's a natural that I'd enjoy this movie and it's just as good as the rest of his work. For much of the running time this film follows around trappers as they strive to survive in an inhospital landscape. There are stunning landscape shots and nature photography as well as animals, dogs, and handicrafts. We watch the trappers set their traps and build canoes and cabins while lengthy interviews with the wilderness people really get to the heart of the subject at hand. As is usual for Herzog, he takes a little-known subject and explores it in depth in a fascinating way.
