Purely Joyful Movie!

It's a mild crowd pleaser for people who are exhausted by blockbusters.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Robert Flaherty, known as the Father of the Documentary, made his directorial debut with this look at life on the island of Aran, off the coast of Ireland. The people on the island spend their days digging through the rocks to get soil to grow crops, and also hunting basking sharks. Every step of the way it looks like a tough existence, but the inhabitants do what they can to survive.It's an impressive documentary in every sense. A number of the scenes look as if they must have been hard to film, especially when the boy climbs down the cliff. But they accomplished it. I definitely recommend "Man of Aran".The DVD includes an interview with Flaherty's widow Frances years after they made "Man of Aran". She comments on the construction of a nuclear plant not far from her house in Vermont, and worries about how safe nuclear plants are (in fact, this was a few years before Three Mile Island; since then of course, we've had Chernobyl and Fukushima).

As a child, I saw Man of Aran in my grandfather's living room. I didn;t understand why he seemed so moved by the Man of Aran. I recently learned that Colman King (the star) was my grandfather's first cousin. Delia King Donahue was my great grandmother, and her nephew was Colman King. As far as the film goes, it is what it is, the life and times of those trying to eek out a living under very adverse circumstances.Does anyone know where I might obtain a poster(reproduction) of the movie? Yah, nostalgia)Thanks, Sue

A magic film that you can watch again and again for its majesty and drama. I cannot recall another black and white movie that so well captured the terrifying grandeur of the sea. If you saw and enjoyed "Ryan's Daughter", do see this classic of cinema and compare it's storm sequence. What magic Flaherty captured in astonishing cinematography and editing! The setting is wonderful, so do see this film, and hope you too get the opportunity to see the West coast of Ireland when the sea is up and the wind is shrieking. Times may have changed even these more remote parts of Ireland, but nothing will ever overcome the stark and rugged beauty of this glorious landscape so ably captured in "Man of Aran".

This review is being written by a man who absolutely despises everything about realist style films. However, Flaherty's depiction of life on the Isle of Aran captivated me from start to finish. Filled with inaccuracies and misrepresentations, Flaherty would have been lying through his teeth to have called this a documentary (the man of Aran wasn't even from Aran). Man of Aran remains realist however in that, I believe, in that it only speaks to you if you hold a connection to the sort of life it depicts. Flaherty brings forth the essence of that life but will only hold your interest if you actually care how someone might farm in a soilless field of broken rock.If that isn't your bag, you can still at least enjoy Flaherty's visuals. Waves pound against rocky cliffs sending spray a hundred feet high. It is quite a spectacle.