The problem with ethnographic films lies in the pacing, which is usually slow. The problem with "institutional" churches, be they Jewish, Moslem, or Christian, is the spiritual impotence of their leaders and their congregations. Remember that old saying, "I like Christianity. It's just Christians I don't like"
Ethnographic films think The Weeping Camel (2003) (Byambasuren Davaa and Luigi Falorni). It was moving and memorable, but lacked the car chases, charismatic American stars and those endless fight sequences that seem to be a staple of films that make a lot of money at the box office and beyond.
Gulshat Omarova seems to have solved a lot of those problems in "Native Dancer".
The protagonists drive the narrative at a fast clip as they gun their stylish SUVs through the barren yet striking scenery of Kazakhstan.
Aidai the Baksy, the shaman like Muslim-lady-healer who is being evicted from the land she has been gifted by the hero provides the substance so necessary to make gangster films work. Those gangsters, their ever so slightly corrupt police quislings and the hero who endeavours to stand up to their nefarious deeds are instantly recognisable from so many American movies. The characterless taverns in which they transact their sleazy business seem strangely familiar. It all works to keep the viewers' attention from wandering away from what is going on up there on the screen and on to the undeniable truth that this is, in fact, an ethnographic film
Central to the success of the film is the unflinching, unsentimental, unquestioned efficacy of Aidai the Baksy, in healing the maladies, both physical and spiritual, of those who seek her aid. In the past fifty years, many anthropologists have been taken with the idea of the shaman- healer-spiritual intermediary. Joseph Cambell, whose "Hero With the Thousand Faces" provided the structure of the Star War series of George Lucas, was very taken with them.
What strikes the viewer is the strength of her character. Her mode of dealing with damaged human beings may be brusque and unyielding, but none of them doubt her righteousness. Many seemed to be healed by her old world ways.
And her resurrection from death. I recall a person who had travelled through Africa telling me how he once encountered an old man outside a village who seemed to be dead. Upon alerting one of the villagers he was berated for being silly. The man had merely placed himself into an inanimate state of rest. Some of the voodoo stories about the walking dead zombies have been explained by reference to the temporary effects of eating certain species of poisonous fish. The shaman's resurrection hangs together just like everything else in the film
Think about the American evangelical, so called "Christian" churches. They lack people such as Aidai the Baksy. Her righteousness. Her efficacy. The genuine respect she imbues in those with whom she has dealings. Paul in his letter to the Roman Catholic church (the sixth book of the Christian bible's New Testament) described her status. She is the righteous gentile who has never heard of Moses' Law, but who proves by her actions that what that law requires is written upon her heart (Romans 2:14). He may well have been talking about Abraham, whom he describes as the father of all those who exercise faith (Romans 4:11), but it might also apply to Baksy, the Native Dancer. Food for thought, hey?
"Native Dancer" is a film that makes you want to see more ethnographic films. That makes it special
Ethnographic films think The Weeping Camel (2003) (Byambasuren Davaa and Luigi Falorni). It was moving and memorable, but lacked the car chases, charismatic American stars and those endless fight sequences that seem to be a staple of films that make a lot of money at the box office and beyond.
Gulshat Omarova seems to have solved a lot of those problems in "Native Dancer".
The protagonists drive the narrative at a fast clip as they gun their stylish SUVs through the barren yet striking scenery of Kazakhstan.
Aidai the Baksy, the shaman like Muslim-lady-healer who is being evicted from the land she has been gifted by the hero provides the substance so necessary to make gangster films work. Those gangsters, their ever so slightly corrupt police quislings and the hero who endeavours to stand up to their nefarious deeds are instantly recognisable from so many American movies. The characterless taverns in which they transact their sleazy business seem strangely familiar. It all works to keep the viewers' attention from wandering away from what is going on up there on the screen and on to the undeniable truth that this is, in fact, an ethnographic film
Central to the success of the film is the unflinching, unsentimental, unquestioned efficacy of Aidai the Baksy, in healing the maladies, both physical and spiritual, of those who seek her aid. In the past fifty years, many anthropologists have been taken with the idea of the shaman- healer-spiritual intermediary. Joseph Cambell, whose "Hero With the Thousand Faces" provided the structure of the Star War series of George Lucas, was very taken with them.
What strikes the viewer is the strength of her character. Her mode of dealing with damaged human beings may be brusque and unyielding, but none of them doubt her righteousness. Many seemed to be healed by her old world ways.
And her resurrection from death. I recall a person who had travelled through Africa telling me how he once encountered an old man outside a village who seemed to be dead. Upon alerting one of the villagers he was berated for being silly. The man had merely placed himself into an inanimate state of rest. Some of the voodoo stories about the walking dead zombies have been explained by reference to the temporary effects of eating certain species of poisonous fish. The shaman's resurrection hangs together just like everything else in the film
Think about the American evangelical, so called "Christian" churches. They lack people such as Aidai the Baksy. Her righteousness. Her efficacy. The genuine respect she imbues in those with whom she has dealings. Paul in his letter to the Roman Catholic church (the sixth book of the Christian bible's New Testament) described her status. She is the righteous gentile who has never heard of Moses' Law, but who proves by her actions that what that law requires is written upon her heart (Romans 2:14). He may well have been talking about Abraham, whom he describes as the father of all those who exercise faith (Romans 4:11), but it might also apply to Baksy, the Native Dancer. Food for thought, hey?
"Native Dancer" is a film that makes you want to see more ethnographic films. That makes it special