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FILM REVIEW
By Dr. Ray
Waddington
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Anger of
the Spirits
reviewed by Dr. Ray Waddington,
President, The Peoples of The World
Foundation
Anger of the Spirits is Danish film maker Thomas Weber Carlsen's first
documentary film. Not that
you'd know it when you watch his fascinating, contemporary account of a
people who are remote from the mainstream world both
geographically and
culturally.
Weber Carlsen spent a year filming in
various communities of the Tampuan - an indigenous tribe in
northeastern Cambodia.
As the year unfolds we see through the
eyes and experiences of five main characters how
the traditions and livelihood of these
remarkable people are being threatened by the invasion of outside
influences.
Whether the topic concerns villagers selling their ancestral land, the
younger generation abandoning the "old ways" and
wanting to better their lives or their
conversion to Christianity, the audience senses that the
spirits are indeed angry.
Among the most comprehensive contributions to the currently small body of
anthropological knowledge on the Tampuan, Weber
Carlsen's film is exotic, intriguing and
challenging. In one scene we see a group of
Tampuan in traditional costume performing a dance that their ancestors
have performed for countless generations. We
feel privileged to catch a rare
outsider's glimpse into such a private affair - that is until our narrator
explains that the dance is staged for a television
production crew who have realized that there is
profit to be made.
In other scenes we are introduced
to Lon Dom, an elderly spirit medium who knows the "old
ways" perhaps better than any living Tampuan. It
is especially through her eyes that we
experience a people who, like so many others in the modern world, are at
the precipice of
irreversible changes to the very traditions that make them so distinct
among the human race.
Our main guides and interpreters throughout are two young Tampuan men who,
it can be said, represent the aspirations of the next
generation.
Pon Duin and
Leang Venai are perhaps a new spirit among the Tampuan - that of
pioneer. Both understand the value of education and,
against all odds,
struggle to pursue it. The audience will probably be surprised when they
learn that such single-minded pursuit of
education is ultimately not for their
own gain but to benefit others in their village.
A word of warning should be given before watching Anger of the Spirits.
Weber Carlsen's desire to be as faithful as possible to
the contemporary lives of his subjects extends
to including scenes of animal sacrifice. Most
Western viewers may find these scenes disturbing knowing that they are not
done using special effects. We would be challenged to
describe these ritual acts as anything except
animal cruelty.
Whether you close your eyes or
fast-forward those particular scenes, or if you want
the full picture to
include that which you may find distasteful, Anger of the Spirits will be
a fascinating educational and spiritual journey.
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