BIBLIOGRAPHIC DATA:
Title: Bridewealth for A Goddess Director: Chris Owen Release Date: 2000 Country of Production: Papua New Guinea Language of Edition: English Duration: 72 minutes Copyright: Documentary Educational Resources.
GENRE:
Documentary
SYNOPSIS:
The film documents the last performance of the ritual for the fertility goddess Amb Kor, in the Western Highlands Province of Papua New Guinea. Shot over a period of approximately 15 years, the anthropologists and filmmakers have been participant-observers during a time of pivotal change for the clans of the Kavelka tribal group. The film is narrated by the headman, Ru, who speaks directly to us about the clans recent problems, infant mortality, and decision to return to previously abandoned tribal territories. Source: https://video.alexanderstreet.com/watch/bridewealth-for-a-goddess
BACKGROUND/CONTEXT:
Set in the Western Highlands Province of Papua New Guinea the film is made by the anthropologist Andrew Strathern and key interlocutor Ru Kundil who is also the protagonist. One night Ru has a dream of a beautiful woman in traditional dress that he interprets as a visitation by the Goddess Amb Kor. The film showcases Ru’s ‘heroic journey’ (West 2002: 131) to marry Amb Kor into his clan by staging a dramatic ritual feast. For this laborious ritual an enclosure must be constructed with a high wall, and many pigs must be slaughtered. Towards the end of the film the meat is distributed to the community. The film alternates between shots of the observer and the observed to show anthropology as a form of co-production where the roles/identities of observed/observer are integrated, blurred and mixed.
KEYWORDS:
Dream, ritual, ancestral spirits, pigs.
ACADEMIC COMMENTARY:
In terms of the CAS-E working definition the Bridewealth for A Goddess: (1) documents the esoteric practice of a dream used to ‘influence present and future life events’ and mobilize the community at large for a nine-month ritual. Documenting what was then regarded as the last ritual performance of its kind to be performed, the film announces a ritual closure in the shift towards a Christianized modernity; (2) The film documents ‘special[ized] knowledge, prolonged education, and/or special abilities, features that typically lead to the formation of specialization and expertism, which includes strategies of secrecy and concealment’ in the construction of the sacred fort, especially in the selection and movement of the sacred stones; (3) the ‘ritual efficacy’ of the event attests to activities of the Goddess “which are generally concealed (‘causally opaque’), and so cannot – or only partially – be apprehended by the senses; and for that reason (4) are contested and precarious, to different degrees in different culturally- and milieu-specific circumstances, since there is – especially in the twenty-first century – no unquestioned or generally accepted explanatory model for the effects ascribed to such practices.”
Where and how does the film address esoteric practices?
While the script for Bridewealth for A Goddess does not directly employ the term ‘esoteric practices’ the idea may be seen in action in the articulation of the dream at the beginning, the ritual action throughout, and the celebratory feast at the conclusion.
What is it that makes the film relevant for esoteric studies?
The film is relevant for esoteric studies because it documents community action arising from Ru Kundil’s dream of the Goddess Amb Kor in the pre-Christian ritual context of Papua New Guinea. The film compares the Lutheran and Catholic missionaries’ different responses: the Lutherans “wished to purge all ritual beliefs and practices from Kawelka life” as related to devil worship, however, the Catholics were more tolerant and supportive for the good of the community (West 2002: 131). The film is part of the collection of films available through Documentary Educational Resources https://www.der.org, an organization promoting cinema verité and observational films made by anthropologists. Originally established in 1950s by John Marshall (The Hunters) and subsequently joined by Timothy Asch (1932–1994) (Ju/’hoansi, !Kung films) DER provides a wealth of the best ethnographic films in visual anthropology. The film shows the making of observational cinema as a shared enterprise using techniques to materialize the ethical protocols of the discipline.
References:
Bridewealth for a Goddess, dir. Chris Owen and the Institute of Papua New Guinea Studies. 72 mins. Documentary Educational Resources.
West, Paige. 2002. “Bridewealth for a Goddess” film review. Visual Anthropology Review, 18 (1-2): 131-132.
