The Contemporary Pacific, Vol. 19, No. 1
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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 <http://www.wavecrestfilms.com> 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 <http://www.der.org> 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 <http://www.offthefence.com> 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: <http://www.pbs.org/ Media attraction to Tuvalu as an frontlineworld/rough /2005/12/ appealing victim of global warming is tuvalu_that_sin_1.html> 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 <http://www.stampede.co.uk> 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.