Tanna

A traditional community lives on an island in Vanuatu. Wawa loves Dain, the chief's grandson. But a peace is being made between tribes and its condition is a marriage; Wawa is to be given to another tribe. The elders decide and nobody is asked. Wawa and Dain run. They hide in the forest. Both tribes look for them. If they do not come back there will be war. Wawa's small sister follows them. A decision is made at the foot of the volcano. Martin Butler directs with Bentley Dean. Mungau Dain, Marie Wawa and Marceline Rofit are in the cast; all are from the village of Yakel and had not made a film before. It is an Australian and Vanuatu co-production. Its ground is real; an event on the island in the eighties is the starting point, and the marriage custom changed after it. The film was developed with the villagers; the story was built in conversation with them and the dialogue is in the local language. It was nominated for the Oscar for best foreign language film and was among the first productions in an indigenous language submitted from Australia. It was shot on the island in natural light; an active volcano appears inside the narrative. The matter it treats is the conflict between individual choice and a community's decision; the film shows neither side as bad. The narrative does not use the tradition as exotic material and explains its reasons. The ending is the same as the real event and it is bitter. Its limit is the production; the acting is uneven, the narrative simple, and the pace slow. Who it is for: viewers who like indigenous narrative and drama set in nature. Who it is not for: it is slow, simple, and the ending bitter.