The current reputation of "Man of Aran" rests as much on controversies over truth and accuracy as on its aesthetic achievement. Some contend that "Man of Aran" is more valuable as a documentary of Robert Flaherty’s vision of life than it is of life itself. Others see it as a betrayal of documentary’s mission, “to tell it like it is”. And yet, according to Richard Barsam, Flaherty is one of the great innovators of the documentary form…creating a nonfiction genre all of his own.