By Erin Free
Worth: $18.50
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
Cast:
Manu Peni & Friends
Intro:
A mesmeric tone poem of a film...
There’s a long and very rich history of documentary filmmaking alerting and opening the eyes of audiences to things they’d never seen or thought about before. In Australia, when we hear the words Papua New Guinea, we likely think of the heroism achieved by this tiny nation in WW2, and likely also by the heaving geo-politics of the Pacific region, and even more likely, by the current talk around PNG’s burgeoning position as a rugby league powerhouse. There is a lot more to PNG than that, however, and we thankfully get to see some of it in the new documentary Sukundimi Walks Before Me.
Sensitively and artfully directed by Matasila Freshwater and Lachlan Mcleod, Sukundimi Walks Before Me takes us away from the city and into the heartland and winding, remote river communities of Papua New Guinea. Evocative, poetic images show the people of the region working those rivers, swimming in them, and pretty much communing with them in a deeply spiritual and profound way. There’s something of the great Terrence Malick in these images, which show the deep bonds that can exist between humanity and nature.
And then, of course, along comes the big, ruthless, unfeeling corporation to rip it all apart. In this case, it’s a copper and goldmining company that wants to dam The Sepik River, and open up the rich veins that run around it. The Sepik River is widely seen as the “mother line” for Papua New Guinea communities, a vital artery that brings life and work to the whole nation. To a mining company, however, that is clearly irrelevant…there’s money to be made!
Thankfully, The Sepik River has an unlikely champion in the quiet, humble form of Manu Peni, a keenly intelligent, deeply passionate man who embarks on a quest to inform his countrymen of what is about to happen to their home, and then rouse them into action. Manu Peni is a profoundly likable figure, and he and his friends and colleagues make for wonderfully low-key heroes.
Directors Matasila Freshwater and Lachlan Mcleod capture the struggles of Manu and his comrades in an engagingly non-didactic manner, never shying from the political nature of their subject, but always positing it from a personal and spiritual stance. A mesmeric tone poem of a film, Sukundimi Walks Before Me gracefully captures nothing less than the battle for the heart of Papua New Guinea.
Sukundimi Walks Before Me screens at The Darwin International Film Festival. Click here for all venue, session and ticketing details.
