bigverybadtom Presumably the title is meant to be somewhat ironic; the people depicted certainly aren't happy all the time, but have a rugged life.The box is not entirely accurate; it says that it describes a way of life little changed for centuries. However, while the movie does describe a group of natives whose way of life is dying out, the film concentrates mainly on people sent in by the Soviet government decades ago to do hunting and trapping.Unlike other Herzog movies I've seen, the people depicted are far from quirky or weird. They are normal and rational people living the only way to live in their locale, trapping furs to sell, buying few outside supplies (such as tools and snowmobiles) as needed, but otherwise building their own cabins, trapping and hunting their own food, depending on their dogs but treating them without sentiment. The film concentrates mostly on the trappers and their routines; you see little of their wives and families.The people are happy in the sense that they have the freedom to act on their own instead of having to follow orders, I assume.

ira_lio It appears that is can! However great this film is it has no comparison with the original movie - "BEST DOCUMENTARY" winner "Happy Peolpe" ("Schastlivie liudi") filmed and for the whole year lived by it's director - Dmitriy Vasyukov (Russia). Having been filmed in a distant Bakhta village in Siberia, Russia it portrays the lives of the real heros of our time. Real - in the purest sense of the word, as an an opposite to the fictional and dreamy sex simbols - the only male role-models we have had for centuries) - the REAL fearless man standing one to one to the REAL challenges of true, raw, REAL live. All of this framed by the absolutely mind blowingly gorgeous vastness of the Siberian nature. It is viewable on youtube in original language with English subtitles.

dickmacgurn Werner Herzog brings us to the Taiga, a frosty paradise in which modern day fur trappers use both old and new technology to thrive in an expansive wilderness much larger than the U.S., often at temperatures below minus forty degrees. These trappers are expert outdoors-men / survivalists / hunters that have perfected the art of trapping sable with the help of their dogs.I learned how to make and set various types of traps, build a canoe from hand, catch pike fish from a frozen river, make homemade insect repellent, protect my food rations from bears and mice, and much, much more.I have few if any legitimate complaints about this excellent film. Herzog doesn't fail to mention the cruelty that the animals suffer, including the poor hunting dogs which often don't live long in the harsh conditions. One of the hunters admits to feeling pity for his prey, but that he prefers slaughtering sable rather than farm animals, a job he had decades before.My favorite part of the film is when one of the hunters is making his way back to base camp through dense forest on his snowmobile, a breathtakingly beautiful commute to say the least. Another was when the camera goes underneath the frozen river to show the nets catching the pike fish. On New Year's Eve the hunters return to the village via snowmobile over the frozen river, and Herzog points out that some hunters make their dogs run the entire distance in a day, an astonishing 150 kilometers, (93 miles). No wonder the dogs often live short lives, especially if the hunters push them so hard. I did also wonder how long the hunters are expected to live.As a vegan, I feel especially sad that animals suffer to bring their furs to the market, but I didn't deduct any points for it. It's an excellent look at a culture that is as unlike my own as any I could imagine. 8 stars, definitely worth a second or even 3rd viewing!

tieman64 Werner Herzog's "Happy People: A Year in the Taiga" is comprised of footage shot for another documentary by Russian director Dmitry Vasykov. Vasykov's film, roughly four hours long, detailed the lives of trappers living in the Siberian wilderness. Impressed with Vasykov's material, Herzog reassembled the footage, added his own structure and voice over narration. "We are all killers and accomplices," one trapper says, "even those who are kind hearted." The rest of the film crawls its way through material familiar to Herzog fans. We watch as tiny men struggle to survive in the wild and struggle to stay sane amidst a Nature which threatens to suffocate. Herzog's trappers spend much of their time alone, at war and stuck in an ongoing cycle in which they fight the elements. Each potion of the year seems spent preparing for the next.There are some moments of humour, like one scene in which a ridiculous politician visits the Taiga, but for the most part Herzog's customary absurdity is absent. Likewise, though there are some sublime sequences (night time shots of a snow-capped village, for example), the majority of the film lacks Herzog's unique eye. This is understandable, as Herzog shot no footage himself. Some have found Herzog's portrayal of the Siberian wilderness to be cosy and romantic, but this is to misread the film. The "Happy People" of Herzog's title is partially ironic, his film focusing on a kind of tired drudgery. Locals are alcoholics, there is no paid work, men are separated from their families and the trappers live solitary lives seemingly torn from the Myth of Sisyphus. Perhaps only Western eyes can romanticise what Herzog shows here; his characters show no signs of pursing material possessions, are far removed from all pop culture trappings and are busy clinging to skills and traditions which seem on the verge of being lost to time. To some, this conveys a very specific form of nostalgia. On another level, though, the film's title is very sincere. These trappers are men locked in a kind of Herzogian "natural state", free from modern neuroses, modern wants, manufactured desires and content with the fruits of their labour, their living conditions and their lots in life. They don't moan, but knuckle down and get on with things. Herzog challenges our notions of contentment and happiness on one hand, whilst also deglamorising a kind of fashionable survivalism on the other.7.9/10 – One of Herzog's more conventional documentaries. Incidentally, the film features a relative of famed Russian director, Andrei Tarkovsky. Worth one viewing.