Mother Dao, the Turtle-like

Filmmaker Vincent Monnikendam in a surrealistic style uses propaganda film shot by colonial companies to indict them of the atrocities they committed. The images osculate between images of the indigenous people and the colonial machine. . They were originally filmed to portray the people as primitive, needy and sickly but Monnikendam turns our view, showing us early images of beauty and then gradually introducing the viewer to the toll of colonial oppression, until the end when the land and people are left raped, diminished and used up. In the Quick and the Dead, Rony repeatedly explains surrealism as the blurring of “the logical distinction between what is imaginary and what is real” and the “hallucination that is a face,” and the juxtapositions of logical dreams and the shock of nightmares. It is these mixings and blurrings that give so much power to the message of Mother Dao. It is these juxtapositions that heightens the impact of the images of the native peoples and their land
At minute 2:07 of the movie continuing to 3:01 are three images that make for a beautiful sequence of the indigenous people leading a simple lifestyle, completely comfortable in their homeland. It begins in a village with a campfire. An older gentleman is in the center with children laughing and moving around him. There is a fence against what appears to be vegetation they are growing for harvest. What was shot to show primitiveness reveals such beauty and freedom.
Next is a group of men. These men have little clothing but lack self-consciousness. They are relaxed, smiling, strong and healthy. Last we get to go to the beach where we see kids playing in the surf, a water buffalo with her two calves taking a swim and the silhouette of a young boy spear-fishing in the surf.
In the Quick and the Dead article, Hal Foster is quoted speaking of surrealism as the return of repressed material “in ways that disrupt unitary identity, aesthetic norms and social order.” This is exactly what Monikendam does with his use of these images of the native people. The article continues, “Beauty is therefore not only convulsive, but compulsive – that is, linked to the return of the repressed.” The images have returned to us. The beauty is pure. They lack fear. They lack the hurry and stress of the modernity that the colonialists were attempting to propagate. They are at one with their environment. That final shot of the boy in the surf is breathtaking.
The final several minutes of the movie appear to show the exit of the colonialists and ends with 42 seconds containing four images of native peoples. These images are haunting and leave the viewer with questions. What has happened, what is left and how can they return?
First is a young woman. Behind her is a barren hillside that looks like an abandoned mine. Her eyes dart around, she seems quite uncomfortable. Is it just the camera or is it the toll of her experiences? Has she been stripped just as the land behind her?
Next we see an old man. He is wearing a heavily worn hat and the remaining threads of what was once a shirt. He is too thin. His neck is hollow with his collarbone protruding. His cheeks are sunken and he is missing teeth. Behind him is scaffolding and tubes, maybe one of the factories we saw earlier in the film. The impression is that his life’s work was there and has been very difficult.
Third is another elderly man. He appears a bit more “tribal” with his headband, beads and ear piercing. The background is blurry but looks like a dirt road. His skin looks like old leather, worn and wrinkled. He looks malnourished, with veins popping out of his gaunt face. His eyes full of sadness. His hard life is written on his face.
Finally the last image of the movie is a very cute, little boy. The background is too blurry to make out so we only see him. He wears a proper white shirt. Loopy dark curls stick out from under a large white hat. He glances around self-consciously and in the final seconds he smirks, adorably. He is hope.
Fatimah Tobing Rony says, “He (Moniktendam) transcends all of the collage aspects of found footage film by bringing the punctum, the prick, the private moment, the wound back into the film.” The people were wounded and the viewer feels their wounds. This is why the ending is so powerful. Simple images that speak volumes and make us feel emotion, just as Monikendam designed. Just as we talked about in class, Rony concludes by pointing out the ultimate reversal of this surrealist movie, “We are being watched with the eyes of those who are now dead.” We are left haunted.