“We live in a modern world, in a remote area.”
This quote from the film drives the overall message of One with the Whale. This documentary, directed by Peter Chelkowski and Jim Wickens, follows the life of a family in Gambell, Alaska, as they survive day-by-day despite the pressures and damages done by the world around them. The film is a gripping examination of the effects of climate change and uneducated mass media on a remote village without traditional methods of living or survival. It opens with a group of hunters getting excited—they have spotted a whale. The extent of their excitement is not immediately clear to the audience, but will become apparent once the full sequence plays out toward the end of the film. Chelkowski and Wickens are very deliberate in the way they pace information throughout the story, opting for an objective observance of the way the tribe lives before introducing environmental and societal context to justify this way of living. The landscape itself is a sheet of white, and the camera pans slowly across the space to allow the viewer to take in the beauty of the place. Also present, however, are shots of melting ice caps, signifiers of climate change that threaten this land. Because of the amount of ice that has already melted, the land has diminished, and the Yupik tribe has no choice but to hunt for its food in the sea. Their biggest prize? A whale, large enough to feed the entire village.
Chris Apassingok and his sister Nalu are the two focal points of the documentary, each on separate journeys. Chris has successfully hunted and killed a whale for his tribe, meaning the whole village can be fed for a while. He has effectively saved them. However, Chris’s hunt makes international news and he is verbally denounced by American animal activists, and endlessly harassed online. Nalu, meanwhile, moves to Anchorage and attempts to integrate herself into traditional “American” life. The film follows her as she makes several small observations about the differences between life here and there. She grows into eating fast food, but still craves walrus like she used to eat in her village from time to time.
Chris’s story reveals a way of life the Yupik tribe must live in order to survive. A way of life inflicted on them by the rest of the world. Because of the changing of the climate, the tribe is forced to hunt the scarce life in the ocean. Because of past years of colonization, they wait for most supplies to arrive from the mainland, and have American brands adorning all of their clothes and accessories. The film makes it abundantly clear how the actions of the world have forced Gambell, Alaska, to adjust to survive—and then the world attacks them for those very actions of survival. The film makes no overt statement about the attacks. The camera is simply present as Chris scrolls through death threats sent to him by random users on social media. A hero to the village, he has been deemed a monster to the world. He loves to hunt and is encouraged to do so by his village, but is vilified for it by everyone else. The audience is allowed to form their own judgements about the situation and are not guided any which way. Additionally, the film doesn’t even provide a “happy ending,” per se, for this storyline. It doesn’t perform or incite action. It just shows the viewer the other side of the story—the side they have likely not seen. It provides context for the other side. Rather than express an opinion, it opts to inform your opinion.
The controversial act of whale hunting is justified through necessity in this documentary. Graphic images of Chris and the other hunters spearing animals are unapologetically shown, justified through the explanation that this is a main food source for the Yupik tribe. An uncensored, unapologetic journey into this day-to-day life shows great appreciation for the Yupik tribe and its traditions and lifestyle. The film refuses to conform to a product that becomes visually appealing to an American audience. Instead, it includes the graphic, uncomfortable visuals that result from this inflicted-upon lifestyle and pairs them with the scenes of the tribe celebrating their food and blessing the whale for providing them with it. The climax of the film returns to the opening scene. They’ve spotted the whale, and now the audience knows the context much better. They know Chris, the mental struggle he’s gone through the past few weeks; they know what this means to him. They know his father, experienced in the hunt and this lifestyle, and his desire for his son to be a great hunter. They know these characters so well that, at this point, the graphic shots are justified through necessity. The audience may look away and feel uncomfortable (the film doesn’t claim the subject matter to be enjoyable or comfortable), but they understand the reasoning.
Nalu visits home just in time for the whale, and the camera watches her pack some leftover whale meat in a Ziploc bag for her trip back to Anchorage. This is a convenient indicator of her successful integration. Though she loves her home and its customs, she was able to find a life in Anchorage. Though her storyline operated separately from Chris’s, Nalu succeeds in further humanizing him, herself, and the entire Yupik tribe by proving that she can adjust to different ways of life. The Yupik tribe ARE humans, and they are just trying to survive, like the rest of us.
One with the Whale is a gripping, unapologetic observation of the way the Yupik tribe survives despite several harmful influences, past and present, from the world around them. The film itself takes no obvious stance on any presented issues. Rather, it acts as a record, a visualization of the unknown story, and offers information only to form our own personal judgements.
Author Biography
Dason Fuller is a graduate student pursuing his MA in Film Studies at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. He received his BA in Film Studies in the summer of 2023, and has two upcoming published pieces appearing in Film Matters Magazine in the spring of 2024. After achieving his MA, Dason is interested in pursuing academic writing and teaching.
