Editing Man of Aran (section)

{{About|the documentary|the British Sea Power album|Man of Aran (album)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2023}}
{{Use British English|date=June 2013}}
{{Infobox film
| name           = Man of Aran
| image          = Man of Aran (film).jpg
| caption        = US DVD cover
| director       = [[Robert J. Flaherty]]
| producer       = [[Michael Balcon]]
| writer         = Robert J. Flaherty
| starring       = Colman 'Tiger' King<br />Maggie Dirrane<br />Michael Dirrane
| music          = [[John D. H. Greenwood]]
| cinematography = Robert J. Flaherty
| editing        = [[John Goldman (film editor)|John Goldman]]
| studio         = [[Gainsborough Pictures]]
| distributor    = [[Gaumont-British|Gaumont British Distributors]]
| released       = {{Film date|1934|04|25|UK|1934|10|18|US|df=y}}
| runtime        = 76 minutes
| country        = United Kingdom
| language       =  Irish<br />English
}}

'''''Man of Aran''''' is a 1934 Irish [[docufiction|fictional documentary]] ([[ethnofiction]]) film shot, written and directed by [[Robert J. Flaherty]] about life on the [[Aran Islands]] off the western coast of Ireland. It portrays characters living in premodern conditions, documenting their daily routines such as fishing off high cliffs, farming potatoes where there is little soil, and hunting for huge basking sharks to get liver oil for lamps. Some situations are fabricated, such as one scene in which the shark fishermen are almost lost at sea in a sudden gale. Additionally, the family members shown are not actually related, having been chosen from among the islanders for their photogenic qualities.

[[George C. Stoney]]'s 1978 documentary ''How the Myth was Made'', which is included in the special features of the DVD, relates that the Aran Islanders had not hunted sharks in this way for over fifty years at the time the film was made. ''Man of Aran'' is Flaherty's recreation of culture on the edges of modern society, even though much of the primitive life depicted had been left behind by the 1930s. It is impressive, however, for its drama, for its spectacular cinematography of landscape and seascape, and for its concise editing.