Trauma

The tone of the film was definitely up for debates in terms of morality, preserving the integrity of preciousness of the rituals, a “western,” white male going into an “exotic” community etc. Is this exploitation or art? I felt more neutral about the tone of the film. For me, I take the stance that it is impossible for a human to tell an “objective” account of other humans.

            What struck me the most, and led me to feel disrupted and sad throughout the day, was the about the content of the film –on the Hauka movement. The Hauka rituals seemed like the remains of trauma that was caused by the British Colonialism. It seemed like a way to deal with the immense “stripping” and forced authority of such history. The power of that void or hurt was so large that it drove people to what seemed to me like madness.

            Although some post-online research stated that the Hauka movement was not to emulate the Europeans but to mock them and extract the “entirely African” life force. Which doesn’t really make sense to me and conflicts with my response of the film. This leads to more curiosity and research. But it is no doubt the film was really triggering for me. Something about indigenous cultures and me being from an indigenous country connects deeply, and it saddens a deep part of me when I see that something indigenous is taken away.