Robert J. Flahertyâs follow-up to Nanook of the North shifts from the Arctic to the South Seas, portraying Samoan village life with a painterly eye. Blending ethnographic detail with a romanticized âGauguin idyll,â the film celebrates daily rituals, communal traditions, and the passage into adulthood, suffused with what Flaherty called âpride of beauty, pride of strength.â