BALI-CREMATION

30 minutes Colour 1982 
Film maker: Peter Ramsden
Anthropologist: Anthony Forge

This film describes the sequence of events of a cremation in Bali, as well as exploring the ritual itself and the implications of the cremation for those involved.

The film gives a clear picture of the main stages of the rite of cremation, although the complete sequence of stages from death to ancestorhood is too long and intricate to be included in its entirety. The death in question is of an unmarried Brahman youth. In such cases the caste position of the deceased is too high to allow burial if it can be avoided, since the act of placing a body underground is considered profoundly humiliating for the dead person. The film shows the main sections of the ritual itself, but skims over the complex subject of offerings, which are so intricate that only the wives of high priests know their entire range and composition. The purpose is, first, to show something of the complexity of Balinese ritual and second, to point less directly to the implications for those involved. The film was made as part of the BBC series, Other People's Lives. A study guide for the series is available from the RAI, price £3.50. Catalogue number (16mm): 3RA112 £9.

J.A. Boon, 1975. `The Progress of the Ancestors in a Balinese Temple Group'. Journal of Asian Studies, Vol. 35, pp. 7-25.

A. Forge, 1978. `A Village in Bali'. In A. Sutherland (ed.) Face Values. BBC Publications, London.

C. Geertz, 1959. `Form and Variation in Balinese Village Structure'. American Anthropologist, Vol. 61, pp. 991-1012.

C. Geertz, 1980. Negara: The Theater State in Nineteenth  Century Bali. Princeton University Press.

J. Hooykaas, 1961. Ritual Purification in a Balinese Temple, Verhandelingen der Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen, Afd. Letterkunde NS Vol. 68, No. 4, Noord Hollandische Uitgevers Maatschappij, Amsterdam.