Kirsten in Winter’s Yearning (PBS)

The frozen, wintry beauty of Maniitsoq, Greenland, conceals an undercurrent of deeply felt emotions among its population. This is apparent from the start as this intimate documentary, which is entirely in Greenlandic, recaps the 2006 announcement by an American industrial corporation, Alcoa, that it would construct an aluminum-smelting plant in the small town. The news causes widespread jubilation. From public streets to nursing homes, townsfolk cheer the impending arrival of hundreds of jobs, not to mention thousands of foreign workers who would boost a dwindling populace. (Maniitsoq’s population never topped 3,000 during the 2000s and saw a steady decline across most of the decade.)

Directors Sidse Torstholm Larsen and Sturla Pilskog pick up the story roughly seven years later when the plant has not yet been built and the mood in Maniitsoq is quite different. They follow three subjects, all Inuit and two of whom are older men, including Peter, the town’s aluminum coordinator, which becomes a largely meaningless role, and therapist Gideon, who by contrast has a strong sense of purpose given the local rise in alcoholism and drug addiction of late. Kirsten, a young woman who drinks too much, like too many others of her age, has no idea what she wants in life.

Larsen and Pilskog cut back and forth between the main protagonists as they come to terms with the state of limbo they’re in. The three never cross paths. Each interacts with a different demographic of the town, though everyone seems to be suffering from a similar sense of bitterness, despair, and possibly anger that is simmering just beneath the surface. At one point, Peter and a male companion are drinking at a bar, sitting in stoic silence except for the latter’s occasional clipped remark denigrating Americans.

Gideon, who counsels family members of addicts via group therapy sessions, offers valuable insights into Greenlanders’ self-identity, which has in no small way been influenced by Greenland’s status as an autonomous territory of Denmark that is highly dependent on the Danish government for economic aid. Greenlanders are champing at the bit to take the next step: complete self-reliance. That has made waiting for the Alcoa project to come to fruition so damaging. Both Gideon and Peter, however, have relatively healthy ways of venting their anger and impatience, including exercising, practicing a musical instrument, or just talking about their feelings. What makes Kirsten so compelling, but also anxiety-inducing at times, is that she doesn’t have any such positive habits yet, and thus self-destructs spectacularly (albeit off camera).

A truncated version of Winter’s Yearning, which kicked off PBS’s documentary series POV in July, is available to view online through August 25. Despite being shortened to roughly an hour, it’s still a potent and incisive snapshot of a place and a people who, up until now, haven’t necessarily had much of a chance to tell their own stories on film.