A still from One With the Whale.
'One With the Whale,' which will screen April 5 at UW Music Hall, explores how a small Native community is grappling with forces beyond its control.
There’s a scene early on in One With the Whale that provides a lot of context for what Native communities in the far reaches of Alaska are grappling with. A woman walks through a sparsely stocked grocery store, explaining to the film crew that there’s usually a shortage of fresh produce. She holds up one item from the shelf and says, “This box of rice is $11.29.”
That’s the inflationary reality of life in the town of Gambell on Alaska’s St. Lawrence Island, which is located in the Bering Sea and closer to Russia than it is to mainland Alaska.
People have lived here for thousands of years, but to survive they must hunt and fish. As the school principal explains in the film, “If you don’t do subsistence activities, you die.”
One With the Whale, which will screen April 5 at UW Music Hall, explores how this small Native community is grappling with forces beyond its control. Climate change is melting the ice that they rely on to hunt seals and walruses. And the connectivity of social media has been a mixed blessing, offering both a connection and a menace.
The film focuses on the family of Chris Agra Apassingok, who made headlines in 2017 when he was just 16 for harpooning a bowhead whale. The kill helped feed the community and he was widely celebrated there as a hero. But on social media, Chris was denounced as a monster and strangers wished him death. For others in the village, social media is a lifeline. Chris’ sister Nalu is able to connect with the LGBTQ community in Anchorage, where she eventually moves.
Pete Chelkowski, co-director of the film, tells Isthmus that he and his filmmaking partner, Jim Wickens, wanted to document the racism that often exists in environmental spaces. And they hoped to show how communities try to endure in a changing world. (Justine Nagan, a co-producer on the film, is a 2000 graduate of UW-Madison and the film’s Wisconsin connection.)
Some of the most stunning scenes are on the small hunting boats, as Chris, his father and others from the village venture miles into the frigid cold in search of food.
Aside from the powerboats and the rifles, the hunting ritual has likely changed little in thousands of years. When the whale is dragged to land, the whole community comes out to partake in the ritual butchering.
The hunting scenes might be difficult for animal lovers to watch. Chelkowski says that although he felt “empathy for this wonderful creature,” overall, these hunting trips had an atmosphere of joy and community.
“The hunt never felt vulgar,” he says. “Without that whale, they don’t survive. If you want to put it in Christian terms, this is the body of Christ.”
See more of our 2024 Wisconsin Film Fest coverage here.
