30 minutes Colour 1982
Film maker: Peter Ramsden
Anthropologist: Terence Turner
The Kayapo belong to a group of ancient tribal societies that have inhabited their present area in Central Brazil since well before the beginning of the Christian era. The first part of this film shows the building up of the extended family and age-set structures, with emphasis on the parallelism between the hierarchical patterns of deference, symbolic subordination and dominance at each level. This part culminates in a series of vignettes of the life of the senior men of the `fathers-of-many-children' age set, both in the extended family household setting and in the men's house. These scenes emphasize the stylistic range running from relaxed, spontaneous assertiveness to the flamboyant display of public oratory. The orator is Ukakoro, one of the traditional `chiefs' who are authorised to perform the ben chants, which, Rop-ni, a Kayapo political leader, despite his influence, cannot do. Ten years ago Ukakoro and another chief opposed Rop-ni in a major political crisis; they lost and the other leader, with about a third of the original population, left the village and settled elsewhere. Ukakoro stayed but has lost virtually all his effective political leadership to Rop-ni. The latter, however, cannot perform the ben chants, so either Ukakoro or Yobau, who delivers the chant which occurs later in the film, must perform them for him.
In the second part, the film shows the mobilisation of a ceremonial fishing expedition under Rop-ni's leadership. We see Rop-ni orating and leading the dancing in fine style, but we also see him carefully gauging the right moment to call for the dancing to begin. It is obvious that he is straining every nerve to make sure that he does not put himself in the embarrassing position of a leader without followers. He is, in a word, exercising `leadership'. When the men assemble at the fishing site, we see Yobau leap forward to deliver the short but indispensible ben chant which sets in motion the final move into the water, and follows a fine bit of oratory by a senior man. This is appropriate in the context of a collective activity by all the men of the village, and shows the way in which the values attached to the senior man's role and those attaching to the society as a political whole are closely identified. 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): 3RA117 £9.
[See The Kayapo-Out of the Forest for bibliography.]
If you are interested in hiring or purchasing this film please contact the Film Officer.
