The White Dawn is a Canadian

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 film, released in 1974, and directed by Philip Kaufman

Philip Kaufman

Philip Kaufman is an American film director and screenwriter. His movies have adapted novels of widely different types – from Milan Kundera’s The Unbearable Lightness of Being to Michael Crichton’s Rising Sun; from Tom Wolfe’s heroic epic The Right Stuff to the erotic writings of Anaïs Nin’s...

 and stars Warren Oates

Warren Oates

Warren Mercer Oates was an American actor best known for his performances in several films directed by Sam Peckinpah including The Wild Bunch and Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia...

, Timothy Bottoms

Timothy Bottoms

-Early life:Bottoms was born in Santa Barbara, California, the eldest son of Betty and James "Bud" Bottoms, who is a sculptor and art teacher. He is the brother of actors Joseph Bottoms , Sam Bottoms and Ben Bottoms . In 1967, Bottoms toured Europe as part of the Santa Barbara Madrigal...

, and Louis Gossett, Jr.

Louis Gossett, Jr.

Louis Cameron Gossett, Jr. is an American actor best known for his role as Gunnery Sergeant Emil Foley in the 1982 film An Officer and a Gentleman and Fiddler in the 1970s television miniseries Roots...

 It portrays the conflict between aboriginal peoples' traditional way of life and Europeans' eagerness to take advantage of them. The film employs authentic Inuit

Inuit language

The Inuit language is traditionally spoken across the North American Arctic and to some extent in the subarctic in Labrador. The related Yupik languages are spoken in western and southern Alaska and Russian Far East, particularly the Diomede Islands, but is severely endangered in Russia today and...

 dialect, which adds to the overall realism of the film. It is based on the 1971 novel, The White Dawn: An Eskimo Saga, by James Archibald Houston, who co-wrote the screenplay

Screenplay

A screenplay or script is a written work that is made especially for a film or television program. Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of writing. In them, the movement, actions, expression, and dialogues of the characters are also narrated...

.

Plot

When three whalers become stranded in Northern Canada’s Arctic in 1896, they are rescued by Eskimos. In the beginning, the Eskimos accept the strangers' European ways, but as this increasingly influences and affects their customs, things slowly fall apart and cultural tension grows until the climax.

Cast

• Warren Oates
  Warren Oates
  Warren Mercer Oates was an American actor best known for his performances in several films directed by Sam Peckinpah including The Wild Bunch and Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia...
  
    - Billy
• Timothy Bottoms
  Timothy Bottoms
  -Early life:Bottoms was born in Santa Barbara, California, the eldest son of Betty and James "Bud" Bottoms, who is a sculptor and art teacher. He is the brother of actors Joseph Bottoms , Sam Bottoms and Ben Bottoms . In 1967, Bottoms toured Europe as part of the Santa Barbara Madrigal...
  
    - Daggett
• Louis Gossett, Jr.
  Louis Gossett, Jr.
  Louis Cameron Gossett, Jr. is an American actor best known for his role as Gunnery Sergeant Emil Foley in the 1982 film An Officer and a Gentleman and Fiddler in the 1970s television miniseries Roots...
  
  - Portagee
• Joanasie Salomonie - Kangiak
• Pilitak - Neevee
• Simonie Kopapik - Sarkak / Sark
• Akshooyooliak - Old Mother
• Namonai Ashoona - Nowya
• Atcheelak - Hunters
• Higa Ipeelie - Evaloo
• Oolipika Joamie - Mia
• Meetook Mallee - Ikuma
• Neelak - Panee
• Seemee Nookiguak - Avinga
• Jacob Partridge - Archer
• Sagiaktok - Shaman