Summary: The film documents a cruise ship tour down the Sepik River in Papua New Guinea as wealthy European and American tourists go in search of “primitive” cultures.  The film captures cross-cultural miscommunication as tourists and hosts misunderstand one another, usually comically, often disturbingly.

Background notes:
**You will hear some New Guineans speaking a language called Tok Pisin, a language originally developed as pidgin language, but now a fully developed creole language.
**According to http://www.oanda.com/convert/classic, in Jan. 1996 (the oldest date I could find information for), 1 kina was equivalent to $0.755 U.S. dollars.  So, when you hear kina prices in the film, divide that by 3/4 to get the value in U.S. dollars.
**According to http://www.encyclopedia.com/html/section/papuanew_history.asp: "Papua, the southern section of the country, was annexed by Queensland [Australia] in 1883 and the following year became a British protectorate called British New Guinea. It passed to Australia in 1905 as the Territory of Papua. The northern section of the country formed part of German New Guinea from 1884 to 1914 and was called Kaiser-Wilhelmsland. Occupied by Australian forces during World War I, it was mandated to Australia by the League of Nations in 1920 and became known as the Territory of New Guinea. Australian rule was reconfirmed by the United Nations in 1947. In 1949 the territories of Papua and New Guinea were merged administratively, but they remained constitutionally distinct. They were combined in 1973 as the self-governing country of Papua New Guinea. Full independence was gained in 1975."

Questions to think about while watching the film:
**How is tourism a cultural product?  In other words, what beliefs provide motivation for tourism and for particular touristic experiences? 
**What English words can you hear in Tok Pisin?  What does that say about New Guinean contacts with outsiders, especially the Australians?
**What do the tourists think about their hosts?  What do they miss?
**What do the New Guineans think about the tourists?
**Consider this contradiction: The missionaries destroyed the sacred images in the spirit house, while the tourists want to enter and take photographs.
**Consider this contradiction: The missionaries encouraged the New Guineans to wear Western-style clothing, and now the tourists visit in bikinis.
**Can you perceive any cultural impacts of tourism?  What happens when: a) carvings previously made for religious purposes become commodities to be sold; b) religious dances become commodities; c) a spirit house becomes a tourist attraction; d) your style of dress becomes someone else's costume?

Notes on the film:
Opening quotation by Camus: "There is nothing so strange, in a strange land, as the stranger who comes to visit it."

Canoes on river, cameras poised.  First village: Kanganaman.

PNG was a German colony under Kaiser Wilhelm II.  The colonies were lost in WWI. Photos from the German colonial period lead up to an interaction between a New Guinean tourist guide and a German tourist, who is wearing khakis, pith helmet, expedition clothes.  He asks the guide, "Those were good times with the Germans, right? That what I have heard about Africa, too."  The guide appears not to understand his German.  The guide explains how in the past, warriors would capture people and cut off their heads.  The tourist is very curious about this and wants a photo with the guide at the stone where heads were cut off.

Shot of cruiseship juxtaposed with a canoe on the river.  Three men eating lots of food, talking about calories and cholesterol.

Three Italian tourists on the boat talk about “primitive people”: “really living with nature.”  “In a way, hey don’t really live.  It's more like vegetating in their environment.”  “But maybe their life is better than ours---truly living with nature.”  “They don’t seem sad.”  “No, they are satisfied....They are delighted.”  “They don’t have to worry about tomorrow.”

Woman in bikini on boat.

A New Guinean man explains that when their parents first saw Europeans (Germans), they thought they were returned ancestors.  They thought their ship was the crocodile spirit.  They now make a joke and say about tourists: “The dead have returned.”

German tourist goes through a long list of all the countries he has visited.

The locals put on a dance for the tourists.  Even though their everyday dress is Western, they don traditional clothes and body adornment for the occasion: body and face paint, headdresses, armbands, leg bands, grass skirts.  A few dancers hold an image of the crocodile spirit.  The tourists take photos and videos.

Tourists talking about art style, buying art.  One woman directs someone: "Now put this over there."

New Guinean man: “We say they must be wealthy people.  Their own ancestors made money.”  “We don’t have money, so we stay in the village.  If not I might go on the ship with them.”

New Guinean man: “Tourists read about us in books.  They come to find out if we live like our ancestors.”  He admits he doesn’t understand why they come.  “I’m confused.”

Woman in market, trying to sell shell jewelry: Tourists only look, they don’t buy.  “They don’t really help us.”  “We have nothing.  Only you white people have money.”  “You’ve got money—not us ‘backward’ people.”  

A tourist speaks to a local in English, even though he doesn’t understand.

Boy wearing a Pepsi T-shirt.

The German tourist tries to bargain a statue down from 4 to 3 kina.  He puts it back down, even after the price was lowered.

New Guinean man says that the Germans, English, and Americans took all the sacred things.  The missionaries destroyed all of the sacred symbols in the spirit house, saying that “It’s the Devil.”  He says, "Nothing sacred is left."

New Guinean boys sing a Christian hymn in English.  Black-and-white photo of a chaste-looking, modest missionary woman, dressed in a headscarf and in a long dress with long sleeves to her wrists.  Next shot: bikini-clad woman sunbathing on boat. 

An American woman says she is an “exponent of primitive art.”  "Everywhere around the world where man was in the primitive stages, their art is all related.”  She says she thinks she found what she was looking for [primitive art] here in PNG.  She says, "It would be bad if they deviated from that and worked for tourism as such.”  

American woman asks for the “first price” of a carving.  She remarks to a man that it’s really cheap, then, at his encouragement, she asks for “second price.”

New Guinean man: “People should pay the money that I ask for my carvings."  "When I go to the stores in town, I cannot ask for a second price."

Italian woman wants a photo with some local kids, so she tries to coax them over.  Her husband says they should get closer, but she says, "They're close enough."

German tourist demonstrates cologne to a New Guinean man.  He says, "It's for your wife."  He asks, "How many women you have?"

German tourist fiddles with his camera bag.  He dictates into his tape recorder: “Now we’re in front of a house where cannibalism was practiced.”

New Guinean man says that in the past, warriors would eat war captives and the Germans were treated no differently.  He says that the Germans killed many people and burnt their houses. 

Italian tourists on the boat discuss cannibalism.  Older man: “They were cannibals for survival.”  Woman: “It was symbolic.”  Younger man: “It was cultural.”  Woman says they didn’t kill and eat explorers “out of malice.  It was symbolic.”  Younger man: “It was a normal reaction.  It was their way of life.”

New Guinean explains that the way his father lived is not the way that people live now: “We live in a different world.  We follow the rules of church and government.”

Black-and-white photo of German colonists dressed up like locals: going shirtless, wearing necklaces, and skirts wrapped around the waist, posing with spears.

Tourist: says it’s “a way-of-life so opposite to that of Europe.”  Says “it’s a simple life, but they may be satisfied with that.”

Tourist in motor boat sipping beer, juxtaposed to locals in canoes.

Cameraman asks a New Guinean man: “Why do you allow tourists to come here?”  Answer: “Because we get money.”  Tourists are charged 2 kina per camera to take photos in spirit house.  They also earn money from the sale of crafts.  Why do they want money?  “To buy trousers, clothes and stuff.”

Tourists take photos of women and kids, without asking.  They stare.  A little girl, all dressed up, is posed and made to stand for a tourist photo.  Younger New Guinean man: “We are friendly towards them.  “We don’t understand why these foreigners take photographs.”  While he is talking to the cameraman, a woman sneaks up behind him and takes his photo.  He is handed a coin.  The cameraman says, "It's hard to make a dollar."  Answer: "Yes."

German tourist laments the fact that so many traditional cultures have lost their ways and identity because of European influences. He lists a few countries as the "best places to see traditional culture."  He says that "New Guinea is poor because the people live in such a primitive way.  For us, our job is to share out our wealth."

An American woman uses the offer of cigarettes to bargain for a "second price.”  

New Guinean man explains that their only source of money is carvings, and the money doesn’t last long.  He says about the tourists: “It’s obvious they have a lot of money.  What do they spend it on?  They only buy one or two carvings and then leave.  Does their government give them the money?”

New Guinean woman: "Tourists! I'm sick of them.  How is it that tourists have money and we don't."  She says that without money, her children won't be able to to go to school.

German tourist: “Sometimes I think they don’t understand money.  However the workmanship justifies the prices they ask.” "They will be satisfied with this way of life for a while." “It’s not good if they are pushed into the modern world too quickly.”

Italian tourist on boat: “I think for these people we can do very little.  But we must try to help them advance in the world, bringing to them some values and convictions.  Naturally this will involve going into their villages asthe missionaries do.  To educate them and stimulate them to behave differently.”  Younger man: “They need to be encouraged to do things for themselves.”  Older man: “We must try to stimulate certain desires, so that they see things from our point-of-view—and also our clothes, the way we dress as tourists....They need to be helped.” “The problem is apathy and indolence, living in a world completely overwhelmed by nature.”  “We have the good fortune to be born into a more evolved society.”

End of film: tourists with painted faces, wearing shell belts, dancing on the ship.  One man holds up clenched fists, as if ready to fight.  Playing "primitive"?