Happy People: A Year in the Taiga

"The director of Cave of Forgotten Dreams and Grizzly Man takes you on an epic journey into the heart of the Siberian wilderness"

2010 1h 34m EN

👍

7.3

SOLID

🍅

88%

FRESH

👌

METACRITIC

⭐

7.7

IMDB

★7.3TMDB · 142🍅88%Rotten Tomatoes●74Metacritic★7.7IMDB · 9,058

Documentary

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

In the center of the story is the life of the indigenous people of the village Bakhtia at the river Yenisei in the Siberian Taiga. The camera follows the protagonists in the village over a period of a year. The natives, whose daily routines have barely changed over the last centuries, keep living their lives according to their own cultural traditions.

“The director of Cave of Forgotten Dreams and Grizzly Man takes you on an epic journey into the heart of the Siberian wilderness”

WhatsApp X Facebook Telegram

Cast

Werner Herzog
Narrator (voice)
Gennady Soloviev
Self - Trapper #1
Anatoly Blumei
Self - Trapper #2
Gennady Tiganov
Self - Native Boat Builder
Mikhail Tarkovsky
Self - Trapper #3

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Werner Herzog
Writers: Dmitry Vasyukov, Rudolph Herzog, Werner Herzog
Languages: Russian, English
Countries: Germany

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released 16 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 2 languages: Russian, English.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

RUNTIME

Did you know

Lean credit list — fewer than 30 people officially credited.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Werner Herzog, shot by Gleb Stepanov. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Klaus Badelt. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Maxim Perepelkin shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Werner Herzog and Gennady Soloviev and Anatoly Blumei carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "The director of Cave of Forgotten Dreams and Grizzly Man takes you on an epic journey into the heart of the Siberian wilderness".

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Werner Herzog directs. Gleb Stepanov behind the camera. Klaus Badelt scores. Maxim Perepelkin cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Produced in Germany. Dialogue in Russian, English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Released 16 years ago.
2Dialogue crosses 2 languages: Russian, English.
3Lean credit list — fewer than 30 people officially credited.
4Directed by Werner Herzog, shot by Gleb Stepanov. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
5Original score by Klaus Badelt. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
6Editor Maxim Perepelkin shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
7Werner Herzog and Gennady Soloviev and Anatoly Blumei carry the top of the cast.
8Marketing tagline: "The director of Cave of Forgotten Dreams and Grizzly Man takes you on an epic journey into the heart of the Siberian wilderness".
9IMDB entry: tt1683876 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.