Happy People: A Year in the Taiga (Siberia) Documentary Film by Werner Herzog

Happy People : The Year in the Taiga (2010 - 2013) by Dmitry Vasyukov, produced and narrated by Werner Herzog

Anthropology, Ancestral Skills, Hunting, Fishing & Trapping, Dogs, Survival Skills, Roundwood and Natural Building, Wild Harvest, Living in Harsh Environments, are just some of the topics featured in this beautiful, fascinating and IMHO humbling documentary.

Truly, a must-see for the permaculture, Homestead and Survival community.

The title "Happy People" refers to the concern of the protagonist and villagers that the film, when shown worldwide would portray their lifestyle in a way that people would pity them. When in fact they are happy and proud with their cultural heritage and lifestyle.

I've posted a link to the trailer that in my opinion doesn't come close in portraying the essence of the actual film.

Happy People Trailer -

Happy People Official Trailer -

Synopsis from IMDb - 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 expressive pictures are accompanied by original sound bites quoting the villagers. Written by Eike Wolf / Head of Corporate Communications, Studio Babelsberg

In vast pristine parts of Siberia's taiga (forest), life changed little over centuries, essentially remaining dependent on nature and the rhythm of the seasons. Some indigenous people of the village Bakhtia at the river Yenisei show how most aspects of daily/annual life are still passed on from father(-figure) to knave, such as logging and hunting, often using the same natural materials, with an occasional technological innovation, such as the chainsaw. Written by KGF Vissers

I found this on Netflix and thought this has got to go on the forums! Well turns out it was already on here. Looks like you can watch the whole thing on Dailymotion: full movie

After watching it in its entirety, I was left feeling like it ended too abruptly. Guess I wanted to see more. These people are going "Dick Proenneke" all day every day 'til the day they die.

Hi Jess. I agree, wish it was longer. From a filmmakers point of view. A film shot over 2 years in such conditions is an amazing feat. Herzog "found" this unfinished film and did the best edit possible.

One of the things that caught my attention was when he went home for the holidays.
An all day snowmobile trip at full speed atop the well frozen river.
His dog kept up with him for the entire journey !
Talk about a rugged, outdoors animal, that dog is a 'keeper'.

The part where they made a wooden canoe from scratch was, by far, my favorite part of the movie.

Even though we can have what seems like a large mosquito population during the summer months, watching this movie made me very thankful we don't have to deal with the kind of mosquito population explosion they have in Siberia and other similar parts of the world. Those guys were completely covered from head to toe in mosquitoes :S

Those people are hard. I like the part where then communist regime dropped him off in the wilderness his first year, said they'd be back with provisions, and never did return!