Man of Aran exemplifies Flaherty’s career-long efforts to develop a highly personal approach to the documentary, establishing dramatic structure based on a selected “family.” Working with nonprofessionals, Flaherty had them act out scenes over and over, to enable the film to build then release the emotional tension of the audience. His goal was to portray a passionate and recognizable truth about the human spirit, derived from his observations living on location, becoming close to the people, and exploring with his camera. Flaherty spent one and a half winters on Aran, off the west coast of Ireland, to realize his premise, simply put, that the “Aran Islander in order to survive has to fight the sea.”