Added: Oct 23, 2010

From: videohdv

Duration: 5:21

The Baliem Valley - an escape into the past (a valley in Irian Jaya, the western half of New Guinea in Indonesia), Slovenian film, 1993 on DVD format, Runtime: 70 min It shows the Dani tribesmen who wear penis sheaths made of a cultivated gourd who live in compounds of huts made from trees and mud. One of the more unusual customs is to amputate one or two joints of a woman's finger to calm evil spirits when a close relative dies. We see a mummified head of the tribe whom the Dani people consult when in trouble and experience the tribal fighting for a girl between the opposing groups. In this part of the world we witness the ever more intervention by the Indonesian government with transmigration of Muslims from the island of Java and the changing ethnic composition of the population of the valley. The place is accessible only by planes as there are no roads. The Dani are becoming increasingly dependent on the various items offered by the present time: they still use stone implements to cultivate the soil and the matches replace the protector of the eternal flame in the traditional Dani house (honay). At the market in Wamena, the centre of the valley, we can still see the disappearing "naked". The film is therefore one of the last testimonies of the time, which disappears in the Stone Age in this valley.

Channel: Travel

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