294 the contemporary pacific • 19:1 (2007)

Five Takes on Climate and Cultural Films. Information on ordering and Change in Tuvalu price can be obtained from

The Disappearing of Tuvalu: Trouble Tuvalu has come to epitomize the in Paradise. 75 minutes, color, 2004. approaching environmental catastro- Director: Christopher Horner. Pro- phe of worldwide climate change ducer: Gilliane Le Gallic. A European and sea-level rise. This is a somewhat Television Center production, in asso- ironic fact, since its population of ciation with Planète & Planète Future. under twelve thousand is dwarfed by Distributor: Documentary Educational the millions of other people who also Resources stand to be displaced from their us$59.95 (individuals), $175.00 homelands in the next century. None- (institutions). theless, Tuvalu’s iconic role as “poster child” for encroaching global disaster Paradise Drowned: Tuvalu, The is well established by the five films Disappearing Nation. 47 minutes, reviewed here, all of which have been color, 2001. Writer and producer: produced in the last five years. A Wayne Tourell. Directors: Mike steady stream of newspaper stories O’Connor, Savana Jones-Middleton, and magazine articles has also and Wayne Tourell, for New Zealand depicted the “sinking,” “drowning,” Natural History, Ltd. Distributor: Off or “disappearing” of Tuvalu under The Fence. Information on ordering “rising waters.” (A slightly earlier and price can be obtained from film, Rising Waters: Global Warming and the Fate of the Pacific Islands [2000], focused particularly on Tuvalu: That Sinking Feeling. Sämoa 16 minutes, color, 2005. , Kiribati, and the Marshall Producer/Director: Elizabeth Pollock. Islands, and was reviewed by John The Contemporary Pacific Featured online on pbs Frontline/ Hay in World/Rough Cut. Available for 14:291–293.) viewing at: understandable. Composed of nine atolls and reef islands, Tuvalu has a Before the Flood. 59 minutes, color, land area of just twenty-six square 2005. Producer/Director: Paul Lind- kilometers (the fourth smallest coun- say. Associate Producer: Lucy Bow- try in the world, about half the size den. Distributor: Stampede Limited of Manhattan Island) and a resident population of some 11,600 people. It us$25.00 is isolated, photogenic, culturally dis- tinct, an independent nation since Time and Tide. 59 minutes, color, 1978, and a member of the United 2005. Directors: Julie Bayer and Nations since 2000. Tuvalu has also Josh Salzman. Executive Producer: taken a leadership role in discussions Peter Gilbert. Distributor: Wavecrest of global climate change, seeking to book and media reviews 295 raise public awareness through in Southern California effectively link speeches in the United Nations, lead- Tuvalu’s “trouble,” and its possible ership in regional organizations, and future disappearance, with lifestyles in high-profile participation in global larger industrialized countries. These policy conferences. Tuvaluan leaders connections are deepened when the are demanding that the wider world British-accented narrator expresses acknowledge the fact of global feelings that many viewers can easily climate change, accept responsibility share: modern life involves a furious for the rising sea levels and altered pace and an insatiable desire for more, weather patterns that Tuvalu is expe- as well as a disquieting sense that our riencing, and do something about consumption habits are unlikely to be them. sustainable in the long term. Accom- If climate change trends continue, panied by a montage of urban scenes, Tuvalu could become uninhabitable the narrator reveals that having just within the next half century, perhaps learned that Tuvalu obtains revenue the first nation of environmental from selling rights to its Internet refugees. These five films all document domain, dot.tv, he now realizes that that grim reality, providing compell- this place he had never heard of ing images of the local lifestyle, envi- before “is about to be wiped off ronmental changes, and individuals’ the map.” responses, while raising important With this lead-in, the viewer is ethical and practical questions for transported to Funafuti and given a viewers. They also all focus on urban brisk introduction to local life. Enele Funafuti, Tuvalu’s capital, where half Sopoaga, ambassador to the United the population now lives. This choice Nations, provides a fact-filled over- inevitably simplifies and masks some view. Engaging scenes document the aspects of Tuvalu life because outer “coexistence of modernity and tradi- island communities still remain the tion” and the distinctive atoll environ- real homeland for most Tuvaluans, ment: narrow ribbon of land, lagoon and the essence of what will be lost versus ocean sides, elevation of only a should Tuvalu succumb to “rising meter or two. We see the new paved waters.” Each film uses a distinctive road that has “changed the feel of the mix of techniques, sound, story line, capital” (and, the filmmakers note, and content to represent Tuvalu’s brought more vehicles and emissions). situation. They share significant The scenes selected are ethnographi- commonalities, yet ultimately tell cally coherent and illustrate core fea- very different stories. tures of local life. For example, the airfield’s open space is accurately The Disappearing of Tuvalu: described as “the community’s living Trouble in Paradise room,” and is shown thronged with people in the late afternoon. This French-American coproduction The filmmakers lay a foundation is the longest and most detailed of the that easily engages the sympathy of films. Its opening scenes of rush-hour Western viewers. “I love Tuvalu. I freeway traffic and suburban sprawl want to live here all my life,” declares 296 the contemporary pacific • 19:1 (2007) a local woman. A man who has provide airstrip material) that now worked in New Zealand testifies that exacerbate the capital’s housing prob- even in Tuvalu’s capital, life is not lem are shown, and an appeal is made lived by the clock. We are told that in for the United States to provide in-fill. 1998 Tuvalu was declared the nation Community elders describe how the most respectful of human rights in the rising water table sabotages tradi- world. We learn that though Tuvalu- tional agricultural efforts. Tuvalu’s ans may be “poor” by international political independence is contrasted standards (per capita income is put with its economic limitations and the at about us$1,000), everyone enjoys main income sources (philatelic relatively equal access to resources. [stamp-collecting] sales, international Nonetheless, as in many developing fishing zone licenses, seamen’s wage countries, Tuvalu is actually experi- remittances, and dot.tv revenues) are encing rapid growth of a new eco- profiled. Aid dependency is also briefly nomic elite, particularly in Funafuti, discussed. Contemporary social life in creating increasing economic dispari- the capital is evocatively captured in ties in a society where these were scenes of bingo, a kava-bowl singing hitherto almost unknown. The film group (a recent innovation), a night- emphasizes that Tuvalu is “still safe” club, and various community events. and doors can be left open. Indeed, The extent of media availability is the “guard” sitting near the open explored, including the lack of broad- door of the prison compound turns cast television and the growing preva- out to be a prisoner serving time for lence of video and dvd rentals. This assault. It is this “serene, improbably detailed contextual development is low-stress existence” that is threat- important because it positions view- ened by rising sea levels. ers, most of whom will have no previ- A strength of this film is its ous knowledge of Tuvalu, to appreci- detailed, holistic, and accurate over- ate what is at stake for Tuvaluans and view of Tuvalu’s urban lifestyle and why continuing habitation of their its national economy. Carefully traditional homeland is so important sequenced narration and pictures to them. dichotomize the threat and bounty The final third of the film focuses of the atoll’s ocean setting, and depict specifically on the threat posed by both the structural importance of global warming, which, viewers are Christianity and the local emphasis warned, “is accelerating as you watch on family and community. The film this film.” A series of short vignettes also sketches many local issues: rising documents the climate changes that energy demands that are largely met are already occurring. Hilia Vavae, from nonrenewable resources, water manager of the Tuvalu Meteorological shortages and groundwater contami- Service and employed there since nation, the difficulty of policing terri- 1980, describes increased flooding torial waters and enforcing fishing during spring tides, showing photo- licensure treaties, and inorganic waste graphs of herself and colleagues disposal problems. The borrow pits standing ankle deep in water outside (dug by US forces in World War II to their office. Marine Training School book and media reviews 297

Director Jonathan Gayton stands Applied Geoscience Commission before the school’s oldest building, (sopac) environmental advisor Sarah explaining that it now regularly sits Hemstock urges Tuvalu to “keep its in water at high tide but was presum- act clean” by minimizing use of fossil ably sited on dry ground when built a fuels, but acknowledges that real hundred years ago. Retired sea cap- control lies elsewhere. Thoughtful tain Loto Pasifika tells of a large wave comments by government leaders that washed over a part of Funafuti including Enele Sopoaga and Panapasi islet in August 2002, engulfing houses Nelesone raise the possibility of law- in half a meter of water. Some resi- suits should resettlement become dents of the inundated houses also necessary, noting that agreement has share their concern. While large been reached for a few Tuvaluans to waves have always pounded the reef emigrate to New Zealand. It becomes in storms, people say, they normally clear that thoughtful Tuvaluans hold stop short of the land. (Of course, the larger countries morally accountable. worst typhoons are an obvious excep- Viewers are asked “to see what is tion. During Hurricane Bebe in 1972, happening today,” in the hope that several people drowned when a wave the changes necessary to stave off swept through Funafuti village.) this global disaster will follow. Recently, however, waves have surged The Disappearing of Tuvalu is an over land without any associated interview-based documentary. Well storm. Hilia Vavae explains that the crafted, the film segues seamlessly high-tide monitoring gauges installed from one speaker to the next, provid- ten years ago by Australia show a 4 ing a rich array of supporting visual millimeter average sea level rise per material. It is remarkable for its tight year, about 40 millimeters so far. Fili editing and the detailed information and Annie Homasi describe their solu- it provides about local life. Concise tion: placing old car bodies along the voiceover narration structures the first lagoon side of their house to create a half of the film but gradually dimin- seawall to stop storm surges. ishes, leaving a wide range of English- The reality that this film helps speaking Tuvaluans to express the viewers to appreciate is that the peo- film’s concluding message: that Tuva- ple of Tuvalu are powerless to protect lu’s “trouble” is actually an urgent the way of life they value. It is hard global threat. The closing statement, not to be persuaded that the effects of printed over a striking violet/pink climate change are already real and lagoon sunset, rolls out a compelling serious in Tuvalu, rather than simply call to action. a distant future threat. It is equally Tuvaluans who speak in this film hard not to feel sympathy for Tuvalu’s are articulate and often eloquent, plight, and anger at the United States’ notable for their self-possession and refusal to ratify the Kyoto Protocol or modesty. Presentation of their coun- to take seriously the effects of global try’s situation is neither strident nor climate change. angry, which will strike viewers as In the film’s eloquent and under- remarkable, considering the serious stated conclusion, South Pacific losses Tuvaluans face. The credits at 298 the contemporary pacific • 19:1 (2007) the end of the film acknowledge the years after graduation, as recompense local assistance the filmmakers for her government-funded university received and poignantly pay tribute to scholarship. The film’s theme is cap- Paul Alapati of Tuvalu’s Computer tured in a question Meleta asks early Division, who died unexpectedly on: “Can we stay, or will we be while the film was in production. forced to leave our land?” Though lengthy, The Disappearing of Meleta’s experiences move the nar- Tuvalu easily holds viewers’ attention. rative forward. She is shown interact- It is an informative case study, as rele- ing with expatriate and local experts. vant to classes on social and environ- For example, environmental adviser mental issues as to Pacific-oriented Ursula Kaly explains to her the geo- courses, and should be of interest to logical processes of atoll development. nonacademic audiences as well. Paani Laupepa from the Ministry of Natural Resources, Energy, and Envi- Paradise Drowned: Tuvalu, ronment points out an area near the The Disappearing Nation airstrip that floods at high tide, where water bubbles out of the ground as Constructed as a personal drama, the water table is pushed upward by Paradise Drowned was crafted for tidal pressure. Meleta attends a holi- television audiences in 2001 by day feast, visits the store to see the Natural History New Zealand, Ltd. imported food on which people The film does not appear to have increasingly rely, swims with friends been released until 2004, when it was in the lagoon, weaves a head wreath, broadcast in Australia (and perhaps attends the swearing-in ceremony of other markets) and then shown in the the new prime minister, and watches United States in the National Geo- the ocean waves pensively. Local graphic Close Up series in spring scenes are relatively brief and super- 2005. The story follows Meleta Fala- ficial but give viewers some sense of vii, a twenty-three-year-old student in contemporary life in Tuvalu. her second year of studies at Otago Meleta herself offers an ongoing University, Dunedin. Meleta returns commentary that personalizes Tuva- home to celebrate the Christmas holi- lu’s environmental threat and seems days with her family in Funafuti but intended to evoke viewer sympathy. her visit is shadowed by foreboding. For example, sitting on the ocean She and her family fear that rising sea shore with her feet washed by waves, levels will soon make Tuvalu unin- she muses about data just presented habitable, and her parents are consid- on sea level rise: “Average height ering emigration. Already, four of above sea level is two meters. If the Meleta’s siblings have settled overseas, sea rises one meter, there won’t be a and her mother is determined that the lot of Tuvalu above the sea.” Later, family make a new home together in a shot of storm waves leads her to Brisbane, Australia. Her father is wonder, “How can we survive such ambivalent and Meleta herself is com- an invasion?” And in response to mitted by contract to work in Funa- information on increased hurricane futi’s hospital pharmacy for seven frequency and intensity, she poses the book and media reviews 299 rhetorical question: “It is not a happy rising. The sea is not rising. What do future, is it?” This narrative strategy we do, who are we to believe? We seems increasingly artificial as the film believe our eyes. Already there are progresses. Rather than an authentic signs”), and by local and outside window into a Tuvalu person’s authorities who all describe recent thoughts and feelings, Meleta’s com- changes in weather patterns and sea mentary appears to be a scripted level rise. But Grey’s skepticism dramatic device conveying the theme intrudes several more times as the of impending loss. Learning from the film progresses, each point again credits that Meleta’s commentary was countered by other experts. It is not read by someone else contributes to clear whether Grey’s dissenting voice this sense of contrivance. is intended to add an element of Another narrative strategy involves dramatic tension to the film, or to a storytelling session in which former provide “balance” to the central Prime Minister Kamuta Latasi sum- argument that Tuvalu is about to marizes Tuvalu’s history for children disappear. seated in a circle on the beach. His Paradise Drowned makes effective main theme, too, is survival: “We use of satellite photos of Funafuti and adapted to European ways, we sur- Nukufetau to illustrate the dynamics vived. . . . But it appears that we may of atoll development. There are dra- face the greatest enemy that we have matic images of strong winds, rough ever found, the effects of climate seas, and crashing waves. Meleta is change.” (Kamuta’s voice here is also presented as an attractive, forward- that of an actor, the credits reveal.) looking, and intelligent young woman, The film returns awkwardly several at home in the Western world, and times to this scripted historical con- yet undergoing personal conflict as densation cast as a children’s lesson, the forces of globalization affect her which ends by predicting lengthy island culture and threaten her home’s debate over the Kyoto Protocol and very existence. She, her friends, and the role of industrial pollutants in her family are people that Western causing global warming. viewers can easily empathize with Curiously, despite a plot structure and respect. A personalized drama that depends on accepting Tuvalu’s such as this film may well be what is plight as real, Paradise Drowned seri- needed to bring home the reality of ously entertains the possibility that global climate change for some view- sea level rise has not been adequately ers. Others may find it overly con- documented. Dr Vincent Grey, cap- structed, even patronizing, although tioned as a “climate scientist” but well intentioned. given no institutional affiliation, explains that measuring increases in Tuvalu: That Sinking Feeling global average sea level is difficult and expresses doubt that reported rises Filmed in 2003, this short feature was have actually occurred or will con- shown in December 2005 on the US tinue. His doubts are immediately Public Broadcasting Service network’s countered by Meleta (“The sea is Frontline/World series Rough Cut and 300 the contemporary pacific • 19:1 (2007) is available for viewing on the Inter- briefly consider migration to “places net. The initial product of a larger with higher ground” as a potential film project, Atlantis Approaching solution. New Zealand’s agreement to (50 minutes), which the director’s allow Tuvalu seventy-five permanent Web site says is due for completion residency slots annually is noted, but in 2006, this film is crafted as a first- interviews make it clear that migra- person journalistic account, providing tion is an option that appeals only to a brief but comprehensive overview of some people, while others reject it the climate changes already apparent outright. (Actually, migration to New in Tuvalu and local people’s reactions Zealand via the Pacific Access Cate- to them. The US filmmaker herself is gory involves meeting stringent a visible presence throughout. We see requirements, including the ability to her embark on the MV Nivanga II in hold a conversation in English, health Suva to make the three-day voyage to and character documentation, and Tuvalu and then accompany her as proof of an offer of employment that she interacts with Tuvaluans who will meet income requirements—as share their experiences, knowledge, well as a certain amount of luck, since and reactions. Each person is carefully successful applicants are randomly named and introduced with subtitles. selected via computer drawing to meet Despite this film’s brevity, Tuvalu’s each country’s annual quota.) The film experience of rising groundwater ends with the recognition that “the levels, documented higher tides, salt- entire world will be affected by global water incursion in agricultural plots, warming,” not simply Tuvalu. increased shoreline erosion, and the There is an authentic feel to this loss of Tepukavilivili islet is deftly film. People go about daily tasks as presented and documented with visits they talk to the camera, revealing to affected areas. Rare footage (shot much about the crowded, third-world by Funafuti video maker Iakopo lifestyle in urban Funafuti. The film- Molotii) of the 8 August 2002 wave maker’s visibility underscores the fact that washed across a narrow portion that the people interviewed are of Funafuti, inundating several houses responding to her personally, even as and killing vegetation, is included. All they share their stories with a wider of this effectively prepares the viewer audience through her film. Its avail- to understand why Paani Laupepa ability on the Internet and this film’s wants the “precautionary principle” straightforward style make it emi- to guide global decision making about nently useful for teaching. On the climate change. Laupepa urges indus- film’s Web site, a compilation of trial countries to work together to related links provides a wealth of reduce emissions and live sustainably, supporting information, and posted admits his anger that Tuvaluans will reactions from all over the world be “forced to relocate by something provide additional food for thought. that has nothing to do with us,” but Allowing free public access to this maintains the hope that there is still film and accompanying it with quality time to avert catastrophe. supporting documentation surely The film’s focus now shifts to takes advocacy to a new height. book and media reviews 301

According to the filmmaker, the in accord with the “polluter pays” forthcoming hour-long version, principle, is well supported. The film’s Atlantis Approaching, will include message here is explicit: Tuvalu’s exis- additional coverage of local and sci- tence is threatened and its people face entific evidence for sea level change an uncertain future. Indeed, viewers and will portray some Tuvaluans’ of all of these films cannot help but efforts to migrate to New Zealand wonder how Tuvaluans are coping through the Pacific Access Category with such high levels of present and quota. Other aspects of social and future insecurity. cultural change in Tuvalu will be The social aspects of Tuvalu’s “big profiled, including dietary changes, problem,” a second focus of this film, increased vehicle imports, urban drift, are documented through portraits of resource limitation, the damaging a dozen local characters, structured effects of World War II borrow pits, as a series of montages. It gradually and Tuvalu’s internal modernization becomes apparent that the characters’ efforts. The film’s conclusion is situations, activities, and responses to planned to be a “montage of images the unseen interviewer/filmmaker’s and ideas from scientists on things questions connect with a rhetorical everyone can do to help slow carbon question posed early on by the narra- dioxide emissions.” One can request tor: “How do you feel when you’re to be notified of the completion of about to lose the land beneath your this film by leaving an e-mail address feet?” Inevitably, most viewers will on the Web site, . have been selected to provide a repre- sentative overview of what Tuvaluans Before the Flood and local conditions are generally like. In actual fact, the profiles involve The main theme of this film is that equivocal, complex, and sometimes Tuvaluans live just above sea level on conflicting images of local life, per- islands that are soon to sink beneath sonal situation, and opinion, and they the waves, destroying their way of demand active interpretation by the life. The viewer is shown erosion on viewer. The ambiguity that pervades beaches, an islet stripped of sand and this film also tends to distance the vegetation so that only a rough viewer intellectually and emotionally jumble of coral protrudes above the from the local situation, making it lagoon, gardens damaged by salt- hard to feel much empathy for those water, breaking waves looming portrayed. Little background infor- ominously high, Tuvaluans attesting mation is provided about Tuvalu or to increases in cyclone frequency, processes of global climate change, downpours of rain, and many shots and scenes often shift quickly from of bare feet in puddles. Assistant place to place, from person to person, Secretary for Foreign Affairs Paani without obvious thematic coherence Laupepa’s plea for compensation or narrative thread. from industrialized nations for antici- To interpret this “open text ” film, pated economic and cultural losses, viewers must draw from the feelings 302 the contemporary pacific • 19:1 (2007) that images and conversations evoke, Fiji and Vaitupuans moving there without much support from formally recently have not found it easy to presented information. The impres- gain legal residency. The film’s sound- sionistic interpretation process hinges track also feels overproduced, with on two implicit assumptions that are bird sounds overlaid on scenes of the probably accepted by most viewers: Tuvalu bush (which has no song- that documentary images are rela- birds). Dramatic orchestral music tively “real” (though not necessarily accompanies storm scenes, and the “whole truth”) and that the events archaic chant music (recorded in shown illustrate key dimensions of 1960 on the outer island of Niutao local reality (though not its full com- but seldom sung or heard today) plexity). Viewers also assume that plays repeatedly, perhaps intended filmmakers choose editing techniques to add tension. and word/image juxtapositions that In contrast to the other films most effectively communicate what reviewed here, Before the Flood does they understand to be real and true. not evoke much empathy for Tuvalu’s With these considerations in mind, plight; instead, subtle but pervasive some content choices in this film resonances connect easily with West- raised questions for us. For example, ern stereotypes about primitive the local hotel manager, one of the “others.” Nor does it take an activist main characters, seems easily stereo- stance regarding global climate typed by Western viewers. Why was change. With emigration strategies he featured so prominently in the film such a dominant theme and many when the portrayal appears to under- enterprising Tuvaluans shown as mine him? Aggressive interview tech- already poised to leave, viewers may niques lead several speakers to reveal see relocating Tuvalu’s small popula- subtly stigmatizing information that tion to a larger host country as the could have been edited out. What only logical solution to the problem viewer conclusions are these intended of rising waters. If there is little that to support? We also wondered at the seems appealing or even worth saving camera’s preoccupation with bare about local life, it becomes easy to feet, and why a European expatriate conclude that Tuvaluans should sim- who is married to a local woman was ply be moved elsewhere, even though given such a key role in articulating some of those interviewed specifically Tuvaluan experience and concerns. A reject this as a solution. The cultural fairly lengthy segment on Kioa Island reality that this film constructs has in Fiji, purchased by the British gov- intimations of tragedy: People must ernment for the Vaitupu community leave in order to prosper, dreams are in the 1940s and today home to sabotaged by chronic illness and several hundred Tuvaluans from the human limitations, trash is invading island of Vaitupu, is also puzzling. paradise, and entrepreneurial success The island seems to be profiled as a is fragile. Though viewers may potential future resettlement site for develop some sympathy for individual Tuvaluans generally, but this is never characters, and will probably see clarified. In actuality, Kioa is part of Tuvalu as a place of great beauty and book and media reviews 303 serious social problems, they are also film captures the excitement and likely to conclude that Tuvalu has no trepidation the group feels—teenagers future and that global climate change speaking impeccable New Zealand is unstoppable. English worry aloud about not finding Such a conclusion discounts the hot showers and clean toilets, adults loss in cultural integrity that uprooted in their thirties explain that they are Tuvaluans will face, absolves Western funding the trip to show the kids viewers from responsibility for global what Tuvalu is like and to fulfill their warming, and encourages judgmental parents’ dream of returning home, responses about local life. Viewers while older adults speak wistfully of who lack specific knowledge of identity and cultural roots. As one Tuvalu will probably need help to elder puts it, “Tuvalu is my heart. recognize the stereotypes lying just Deep in my heart, my island is below the surface of this film. A always there.” teaching guide, though only a partial As the ship leaves Fiji we see sleep- solution, could raise useful questions ing mats covering the ship’s deck, the about the implicit meanings conveyed. area packed with colorful bedding, luggage, and reclining passengers, all Time and Tide accurately depicting the tone of inter- island travel. Coming ashore at Funa- In 2002, a group of some sixty Tuva- futi, there are tears as elders are met, luans who had been long resident in young ones exclaimed over, and New Zealand returned for a two- jokes made about how people have month visit to their home island, changed. Much of the dialogue is in Funafuti. This film tells their story Tuvaluan, translated unobtrusively in and the current situation in Tuvalu as subtitles, and the film moves easily they experienced it. Told entirely in into English and back to Tuvaluan, the voices of Tuvaluans themselves, reflecting generational differences and without any voiceover narration, the the capital’s own linguistic reality. film follows this malaga (a customary The group settles into its visit and a Tuvaluan group visit from one island series of activities unfold. There is a to another) from its start in Suva welcoming line of elders, a commu- through the conclusion of the visit. nity feast, and dance performances Led by Manoa Manoa, a soft-spoken in which the newcomers are pitted man in his sixties, the group is made against Funafuti residents. The visi- up of three generations: grandparents tors explore Funafuti by bus and on who want to show their families the foot, scenes interspersed with inter- world they left behind two decades views that are smoothly edited, never ago, knowing that this may be their obtrusive, with people simply speak- last trip to Tuvalu; a middle group ing for themselves. of adults who have some memory of The key themes in the film soon Tuvalu but have spent their working become apparent. Change is every- lives in New Zealand; and teenagers where. This appalls some of the and children who have only heard returnees. Their shock at finding that about their distant homeland. The the island’s nicest picnic area is now 304 the contemporary pacific • 19:1 (2007) used as a rubbish dump is portrayed visitors, says that when he is able, he in their faces and in words, a mixture will return to live here at Funafala, of disgust and sadness. Funafuti chief suggesting that some accommodation Siasi Finiki comments that change is might be possible with forces of inevitable, a global phenomenon; change. Tuvalu is simply caught up in a world- But others in the group are focused wide pattern. But the changes that on something else: the changes that have overtaken Tuvalu’s capital are global warming and sea level rise are too much for some in the malaga. precipitating in Tuvalu. The tip of the Sally, thirtyish daughter of one of the islet where Funafala’s village once elders, leaves prematurely for New stood is now just a low sandbank, Zealand, unhappy with what she has underwater. The camera pans across found. Her mother, she says, had a dazzling white beach fringed with hoped to rebuild the family home, but palms. Eric Chivian, a climate change not now: “No way.” The leaders meet specialist at Harvard University, to discuss the tension between ideal- explains that effects like these in ized expectations and the reality of Tuvalu are the result of “profligate life in a crowded urban center. Teen- use of fossilized fuels by the industri- agers in the group comment candidly alized North.” Paani Laupepa, spokes- on the difficulty of being outsiders person for the Ministry of Natural where they expected to fit in. Hair Resources, suggests that Tuvalu is a conditioner is not available in the victim of ecoterrorism: “We are the stores, and they sometimes forget to front line of what’s being caused by cover their New Zealand jeans with industrialized nations. Security is not a wraparound lava-lava, as modesty defined simply by terrorism—it is demands. Their relatives and friends defined by the probable displacement here, they note, would be called of people from their homeland.” “freshies” in New Zealand, short for Iopu, a Funafuti resident related to “fresh off the boat,” a derogatory some of the malaga visitors, contrasts label for recently arrived Pacific the older generation’s faith (that God Islanders. The clash of modernities will never again subject humanity to is evident and portrayed sensitively. a flood such as Noah suffered) to the Another theme is that of “going younger generation’s acceptance of home.” The group goes by motorboat scientific support for sea level rise. to the islet of Funafala, some miles Compelling video footage, shot by down the Funafuti lagoon and a gen- a local resident in May 2002, shows eration or more distant from life in freak waves flooding over the land in the capital. Life here is closer to the part of Funafuti, entering houses, and “traditional” pattern than anywhere inundating planted areas. else in Funafuti: a thatched meeting This film moves at an easy pace, house, piglets foraging, pure sandy allowing images and sounds to fill in beaches, no cars or trucks, a few after interviews, giving the viewer older residents who speak eloquently enough time to reflect and ponder the of a peaceful life away from the meanings of what has been shown. It urban bustle. Manoa, leading the captures the unhurried pace of Tuva- book and media reviews 305 luan life, letting the characters speak These films thus offer a powerful for themselves, using natural sounds and timely message, one that should and scenes in whole sequences to con- be heard by viewers in industrialized vey the actual quality of life in Tuvalu societies especially. Just as Tuvalu’s today. Written information, presented situation and media attention have on screen from time to time, makes made it the exemplar of the fate that voiceover narration unnecessary. awaits all of the world’s low-lying In the end, the malaga members areas, Tuvalu, in turn, has taken an depart for home. They are, as the activist role to become an effective cliché goes, sadder but wiser. Going voice for less powerful nations. For back in time is impossible: inevitably, example, Tuvalu’s UN ambassador, things change. The idyllic Tuvalu of Enele Sopoaga (interviewed at length the elders’ memories is, like many in two of these films), speaks out fre- other nostalgic pasts, not recapturable. quently on climate change issues. At Nonetheless, for all Tuvaluans, global the 11th Annual United Nations Con- warming and sea level rise are real ference on Climate Change in Mon- threats to survival as a society. This treal in December 2005, where he fragile group of central Pacific atolls, also served as spokesperson for the already engulfed by change, is likely Alliance of Small Island States, Sopo- to be literally engulfed by seawater aga worked with others to get the before too long. Mauritius Strategy included on the agenda. This thirty-page action plan The science of global climate change (http://www.un.org/smallislands2005/ is the persuasive subtext in all the pdf/sids_strategy.pdf) to help small films. This review is not the place to island nations cope with climate lay out details of that discussion, change was blocked from discussion beyond acknowledging the increas- in Montreal by the United States, ingly incontrovertible evidence that which has also repeatedly rejected the emissions and other products of the Kyoto Protocol and, with Australia, industrial world are altering the has contested scientific evidence of world’s climate patterns, creating global climate change. Tuvalu also rising temperatures and sea levels. played a major role in the Barbados The risk to all the earth’s inhabitants and Kyoto meetings on climate is sufficient to require immediate change, and was a key participant in action. It seems apparent to us that the 2005 United Nations Conference the few remaining global-warming on Small Island States in Mauritius. skeptics are soon likely to be proven Films such as these support efforts by wrong, and that front-line nations Tuvalu and other nations to mobilize such as Tuvalu (and other small island global action to stem this grave envi- states and low-lying nations) have it ronmental threat. right. People who have successfully While the smaller Pacific Island inhabited sand spits only a few meters states may be among the first to suffer above sea level for some two thou- as sea levels rise, all of the world’s sand years surely know when some- coastal places will be inundated thing is amiss. eventually. As climate patterns shift, 306 the contemporary pacific • 19:1 (2007) life for everyone will be affected and represent the land’s eyes and symbol- new adaptations will ultimately be ize an ancient watching, one that the required. Humanity clearly faces a land supernaturally follows through critical juncture. As the first film with action. Viewers follow Viki’s reviewed here eloquently concludes, life as she embraces the stories of “We are all Tuvalu.” Rotuma’s past told by her father, anne chambers who quietly resists colonial religion and its other ideological influences. keith s chambers Clearly she is her father’s daughter, Southern Oregon University rather than her conformist mother’s. This underlying tension between *** traditional and Western influences is The Land Has Eyes: Pear ta ma ‘on emphasized when the central crisis of maf, 87 minutes, dvd/35mm, color, the film arises: her father is falsely 2005. Writer and director: Vilsoni accused (and convicted) of stealing by Hereniko; producers: Jeanette Paulson his greedy and corrupt neighbor. Viki Hereniko, Corey Tong, Vilsoni Here- then acts to clear the name of her niko; executive producer: Merata beloved father and restore her Mita; distributors: Te Maka Produc- family’s reputation. tions (world, except Australia) and She represents the new generation Ronin Films (Oceania); languages: of Pacific Islander who is able to Rotuman with English subtitles; bridge two often conflicting worlds: Te Maka Productions, Pacific Island- one represented by traditional island- ers in Communications in association based wisdoms and ways of doing with Ora Digital. Information on things (she would rather listen to her price and ordering is available at father’s stories of Rotuma than attend . what she views as a hypocritical church); and the other represented by The phrase “Pear ta ma ‘on maf” is the Western world of knowledge (as taken from an ancient Rotuman prov- a student she is a contending for a erb that translates as “The land has scholarship and, with her father’s sup- eyes and teeth and knows the truth,” port—also demonstrating an ongoing and extols the virtues and reliability negotiation with the West—fervently of justice, indigenous style. This belief pursues the individualistic pursuits of is ultimately based on a holistic rela- higher education). The inner strength tionship with the land as provider and resolution she needs to fight and caregiver of its human depen- corrupt Rotuman officials and face dents. It is a belief central to Vilsoni paternalistic colonial authorities is Hereniko’s feature film, The Land “unearthed” from Rotuma’s principal Has Eyes, shaping the thoughts and myth, passed on to her by her father. actions of Viki, a Rotuman schoolgirl The story of Tafate‘masian (played by (played by newcomer Sapeta Taito), Rena Owen) is one of a wronged its main character and the film’s cen- woman who found the courage and trifugal force. fortitude within herself and in her Indeed, Viki and the land are inti- relationship with the land to become mately connected, as her eyes come to Rotuma’s warrior woman and found-