THE RED BOWMAN

... a remarkable amount of information is conveyed, thanks to crisp narration and superb editing ... the film admirably `brings to life' a ceremony, the analysis of which would be appropriate in courses on symbolic anthropology or religion. T. Hays

50 minutes Colour 1981
Film-maker: Chris Owen
Anthropologist: Alfred Gell

The Red Bowman records the Ida ceremony performed in Punda village in the West Sepik province of Papua New Guinea. Through narration and careful photography, the film tries to explain the complex symbolism of this ceremony. Because so much information is packed into the narration of the film, we suggest that viewers watch the film at least twice, once to concentrate on the detailed photography, and once to focus on the explanation of the symbolism. A reading of Alfred Gell's monograph (1975) would also add considerably to an understanding of the film.

The opening sequences of the film establish the location and environment of the Punda people who live at very low population densities in rugged country adjoining the international border area between Papua New Guinea and West Irian. The country is infertile, malarial, and the people have little political power. The dominant interest of the villagers is securing their demographic survival in the face of a difficult environment, yet much of their daily life is also oriented towards preparation of the Ida ritual.

The villagers have an ambivalent attitude towards the bush: it is lifegiving, providing them with the all-important sago, yet it is also full of danger and sorcery. The Ida ritual is overtly concerned with securing the fertility of sago, but it incorporates the villagers' underlying concern with human fertility and reproduction. The Ida ceremony, which is performed only in prosperous, peaceful years, forms the climax of the annual cycle of economic production. For over two nights and two days a sequence of masked and painted dancers portrays the transition from nature to culture and the incorporation of the fertile powers associated with nature into the fabric of society. A cassowary dance, at the beginning of the ritual, is of the dark and of nature, then a sago dance at dawn, the transition of night and day, expresses how cultural substances are made from nature. The masks and paint of the dancers change as people become fish, marsupials (symbolizing reproduction), and termites (symbolizing domesticity). The ritual culminates in the appearance of the red bowmen who are now `new men', men who control nature and who have been produced in the course of the ritual itself. The appearance of two bowmen confirms the ability of Punda society to regenerate itself socially and biologically.

In the course of the ritual shown in the film, the local style of art which takes the form of body painting and mask construction and also the local form of music, which is produced by a seven piece orchestra playing wooden trumpets, can be extensively studied. The film is essentially about interpretation and it incorporates in the commentary an analysis of the ritual as it proceeds. Catalogue number (16mm): 5RA130 £15.

R. Brunton, 1980. `Misconstructed Order in Melanesian Religion.' Man N.S. Vol. 15, pp. 112-128.

A. Gell, 1975. Metamorphosis of the Cassowaries: Umeda Society, Language and Ritual. L.S.E Monograph on Social Anthropology No. 51, Athlone Press, London.

A. Gell, 1978. `The Umeda Language Poem'. Canberra Anthropology, Vol. 2, pp. 44-62.

T. Hays, 1983. Review of the film. American Anthropologist, Vol. 85, pp. 498-99.

B. Juillerat, R. Brunton and A. Gell, 1980. `Order or Disorder in Melanesian Religions'. Correspondence in Man N.S., Vol. 15, pp. 732-37.