Natar Ungalaaq, a well-known Inuit sculptor and actor, is impishly appealing as Atanarjuat, a hunter perhaps too besotted with his own talents. In his first acting role, Peter-Henry Arnatsiaq is menacing as Oki.

Not only one of the most intriguing feature-film projects in decades and enough plain-spoken anthropology for three credits at Harvard, but one of the most flat-out entertaining movies of the year.

If anything, it should accomplish its mission of making people curious about this rarely filmed culture.

While the film's scenery may seem uninhabitably otherworldly, the central narrative of revenge and forgiveness has an elemental, human appeal.