Another tremendous fable from legendary Inuk filmmaker Zacharias Kunuk, Uiksaringitara (Wrong Husband) pulls from legend and oral tradition to look at the darker, more complicated side of keeping a promise. Set far North in 2000 B.C.E., Uiksaringitara blends dark comedy, horror, and a mythic quest to create a timeless story of love, looming evil, searching, and spiritual togetherness.
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Sapa (Haiden Angutimarik) and Kaujak (Theresia Kappianaq) have been promised to each other as husband and wife from birth. They have a strong bond, loving kinship, and are valuable members of their tribe, with Sapa being groomed to become a great hunter, and Kaujak possessing the ability to have vivid, sometimes troubling visions. But their lives together are torn apart after Kaujak’s mother (Leah Panimera) becomes a widow and is courted by a mysterious male stranger (Mark Taqqaugaq) from a far away tribe. The fisherman takes Kaujak and her mother away from their tribe to live with him, where the young woman will be forced into a different marriage with his son. With time of the essence and looming danger on the horizon, Sapa sets off on a quest to get his love back.
As with many films by Kunuk (Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner, Maliglutit (Searchers)), the filmmaker takes a wide variety of genre influences into his approach to Inuit culture, storytelling, and tradition. Uiksaringitara might be the closest thing Kunuk has made to an outright horror film – including visual effects, layered and creepy soundscapes, and even some nifty creature design in the form of a looming troll-like goblin – but it’s also a race against time thriller and moral parable with a good deal of humour (bumbling fishermen, ill timed sneezes, being able to tell someone’s lot in life from the state of their pants).
Once again working predominantly with non-professional actors, Kunuk allows the oral traditions and natural storytelling chops of the Inuit take hold of the steering, offering a captivating, fantastical mystery. A cautionary tale about how keeping promises can be both affirming and damaging, Uiksaringitara is another unique effort from one of Canada’s most unique talents.
