Noura Badr EL Din
Anth 202
Dr. John Schaefer
900061495
15 March 2012
Film Review

Letter to the Dead

Eytan Kapon and Andre Iteanu are ethnologists who have always been interested in the exceptional people of Papua New Guinea. They shed light on the people of Jajau in their movie "Letter to the Dead" which was filmed in December 1999 and January 2000. This was due to the rumors that were widespread at the time that included the return of the dead and of Christ on the eve of the new millennium. The film aims to encourage reflection on the relationship between the West and the third world countries and how the people of Jajau view Whitemen. Moreover, the movie discusses the beliefs, customs, traditions, rituals and values of the inhabitants of Papua New Guinea and draws attention to new ideas and a unique mentality that may seem bizarre and new to modernized people. In Jajau, most citizens believe that their parents will return from the dead and they always preach their resurrection in churches and perform rituals to honor them and communicate with them. They call these rituals “pondos“. Pondos are taken very seriously in the orokaivan culture. It involves dancing, praying for the dead, exchanging gifts and the person who hosts the pondo has to feed everyone who is invited. During the ritual pigs are usually carved on the platform. Food and clothing are also a huge issue in Papua new Guinea; they have a lot of food such as taros, bananas, coconuts and pigs but the have no money to afford soap. They believe Whitemen are the wealthy people. Another important belief that used to be greatly valued in Papua new Guinea is that on new years eve of the new millennium the law will be suspended and people can commit crime and go unpunished. Furthermore, it is said that there are two ways of earning money in their country. Either they work and get very little money or become rascals and kill and steal for money.

Summary:

There seems to be three main characters in the movie; David, Justin and Norman. They all have differences and similarities and each has gone through a different phase in their lives. Andre and Eytan were the guests of David. David is a man who kept himself out of the religious debates, he didn’t go to church and he built his own platform. He thinks that the reason behind the peoples beliefs about the returning of the dead is directly related to the multiplication of churches. David states that Whiteman have threatened his parents in the past to get rid of their customs or they’ll be killed. He believed pondos was a very important ritual that gave a sense of union which doesn’t exist anymore. People thought Andre was David’s ancestor who came back from the dead and they thought that the rest of their ancestors will follow him. They thought so because Andre was white, also because he gives David money and he disappears for long periods of time. The people wrote letters to their parents and handed them to Andre believing he will deliver them to the dead when he returns. They thought that their ancestors should share Paradise’s wealth with them. David, unlike the rest of the village, wanted to keep his dark skin and not be white by the arrival of 2000. Justin and his wife Nelly are citizens of Papua New Guinea who belonged to the Anglican church. Later they left the Angelica and joined the Apostolic church for three months, then Justin only rejoined the Angelica. He stated that he left the Apostolic church because they prayed for their chief “Mr. Ward” and not God which he thought was disturbing. On the other hand, Nelly thought that staying in the Apostolic church will help her gain money and move to Canada where there is a lot of food and clothing. She stated that the Angelicas had to work hard for no money in return and they end up hurting their backs. Norman is the only man in Papua New Guinea who graduated college and became a lawyer. He came back to Papua New Guinea to celebrate his graduation and honor his village. He was grateful to his whole village and to his dead mother, who helped to pay his tuition fees, for his accomplishment. He stated that he will organize a festival on new years eve to help people find solutions to their problems. He encouraged people to write their sins and burn them to achieve a clean slate by the beginning of the new millennium. At the end of the movie David makes a speech indicating that he doesn’t want to be westernized or become white like the rest of the village. He said that he didn’t believe that the year 2000 will bring back the dead, which turned out to be true. The movie then ends with a statement by Andre saying that these people need to forget their dead in order to become modern.