Not many films have been made about Eskimo culture, but all of them have been remarkable: Robert Flaherty's Nanook of the North (1922), W.S. Van Dyke's Eskimo (1933), Nicholas Ray's The Savage Innocents (1961). Philip Kaufman's The White Dawn deserves a place in the above-mentioned group. Shot on location at Baffin Island, 1800 miles north of Montreal, utilizing Eskimos speaking their own language, The White Dawn is as authentic as Nanook and Eskimo. And its story is as good as Ray's screenplay in dramatizing the destructive impact of white “civilization” on Eskimo society. Three whale hunters are stranded in the 1890s in the Canadian Arctic: the film follows their interaction with the Eskimo band that saves their lives, documenting a number of Eskimo customs (involving magic, dance, marital rites, etc.) and the hunting culture that is the basis of Eskimo life.