The Inuit, as they call themselves, are polar Eskimos who live in the world's northernmost community at Thule. With the sophistication of thousands of years of culture, the Inuit live ecology: an intense regard for life informs every aspect of their culture, and they never tire of worshipping the enormous, silent expanse of land and sea that surrounds them, nor the extreme alternations of light and dark that bring the seasons. Whale and seal hunting are still the Inuit's chief occupations, although their lives obviously incorporate elements of modernity that have come their way. Unlike its predecessors-Nanook of the North and Eskimo-whose purpose it was to mourn the passing of a traditional culture, this documentary by Staffan and Ylva Julén takes pleasure in change along with the Inuit, whose children play with frisbees and wind-up E.T.s and whose men let Dirty Harry make their day. But there are some changes the Inuit cannot digest-those that effect the land they love and depend on-and some guests, such as Canadian oil companies and the American military, who cannot be welcomed. With Western conservationists failing to take up their cause, the peaceful Inuit have been forced to become activists. Inughuit treats its subject with dignity and paints a breathtaking portrait of the landscape the Inuit must, at all costs, protect.