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Joe Leahy’s Neighbours (1988)

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clip Soot-blackened arrows education content clip 1, 2, 3

Original classification rating: G. This clip chosen to be G

Clip description

At a village gathering, the father of a wounded Ganiga man, shot by a Gaimelka man, has a stand-off with a Lutheran pastor who had been trying to calm things down. Taking no notice of the pastor, the Ganiga men prepare and practise for war with the Gaimelka.

Curator’s notes

by Pat Fiske

Bob Connolly, in an interview on the DVD of Joe Leahy’s Neighbours, speaks about the highlander speechmaking being allegorical and full of metaphor. In this clip, the filmmakers did not have enough time in the subtitles to fully translate the father’s speech and keep the story flowing. One of the things not translated was the father saying, ‘You see, I stand before you with these soot-blackened arrows’. What he was saying was that he was a man of peace, that he didn’t use his weapons very often but he was coming now to do war. His weapons are blackened by soot because they are stored in the rafters of the hut and the smoke comes up from the cooking fire and blackens them.

Teacher’s notes

provided by The Le@rning FederationEducation Services Australia

The clip shows a village gathering of some of the Ganiga people in the Papua New Guinea (PNG) Highlands. The father of a wounded man who had been shot by a Gaimelka man explains publicly why and how he will avenge his son if his son dies, despite his Catholic and Lutheran beliefs. The Lutheran pastor stands silently while the man speaks. The Ganiga men then prepare and practise for war using spears, shields, bows and arrows. The clip is without commentary. Subtitles are used.

Educational value points

  • This clip reflects the tension in PNG Highland society between Christian values and traditional values, as the Ganiga father explains his decision to reject the pastor’s peacekeeping should his son die, and to do ‘Satan’s work’ by seeking to avenge his son in the traditional way. The contrasting images of some of the Ganiga men in traditional dress practising their fighting skills and the Lutheran pastor in Western clothes holding a book reinforces the contrast in values.
  • The potential conflict in this clip, in which the Ganiga clan is responding to the wounding of one of them, is an example of traditional ‘payback’ in PNG Highland society. Payback means that justice is not simply related to the individual who committed the offence but to the whole group, and so retribution may involve any member of the clan. Payback may be achieved through fighting, destruction of property and compensation agreements.
  • As shown in this clip warfare is a major part of a man’s role in traditional Highland society. Men engage in warfare to settle land disputes and to settle compensation claims arising from unresolved disputes, offences against people and crimes such as damage to property. Compensation arrangements after a war would involve resources from one clan passing to another so that balance between competing clans could be re-established and maintained.
  • In this clip Ganiga warriors are shown practising with spears and shields to improve their footwork and posture. There is seriousness in the advice not to ‘stick your bum out or you’ll get a spear in it’. When the clip was made in 1988 it had been ten years since the last war. Arrows and spears needed shaping and sharpening and younger men needed schooling. The wounded Ganiga man was in hospital, and the preparations for fighting were being made in case he died.
  • This clip highlights the use of traditional weapons and fighting methods by the Ganiga. They are shown practising using spears to attack, shields to defend, and using shouting and body decoration to impress and frighten. In traditional fighting there were not usually many deaths but after the 1980s when this footage was filmed guns became more common in Highland disputes and casualties more serious.
  • The filmmakers did not have enough time to fully translate the speech, and so not subtitled here is the father’s reference to his ‘soot-blackened arrows’. He meant that he was a peaceful man who had not used his weapons much, and so his arrows had been stored in the rafters of his hut, and were blackened from soot and smoke from the cooking fires below. This use of symbolic language and imagery is an example of the oratorical skills prized by Highland men.