Summary Of The Documentary 'Bak A Cry From The Rainforest'
Baka: A Cry From the Rainforest is a sequel documentary to Baka People of the Rainforest. The Baka were living in subsistence within the forest, using it for easy access to food, medicine, and education (on hunting and medicinal plants). 25 years after the first film, viewers see how the Baka tribe’s (an indigenous hunter-gatherer group in Cameroon) centuries-old methods of hunting and gathering erode within a few decades. The Baka use machetes as their main weapon, and lose their ability to diversify because new regulations on the forest keep them from finding a good hunt. Lumbering contractors are quickly removing the resources these natives need to survive. They have also planted borders for the Baka to stay within that are increasingly
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Phil Agland, filmmaker of the Baka, provides a vivid illustration of the unstable violence caused by alcoholism. Many of the male members become addicted to alcohol and are not able to control themselves. Some leave and take up new wives; some abuse their wives and children (at times, end up killing them), and some simply neglect their entire families, which cause various problems within the family dynamics of the Baka people. For example, Ali’s daughter, Yeye, is physically disabled and unable to walk properly. There is no way for the disabled to be able to survive for long because the rest of the tribe are highly dependent on each other and travel a lot. It is thought by the tribe that her disability might be the result of her mother’s alcohol use. Her mother is not shown in the documentary because she ran away with another man of a different village. Alcohol is also destroying social cohesion of the Baka tradition, making the performance of traditional songs and dances into a sloppy swerving at best.
With no way to secure their future, the Baka are forced to invest in sending one of the first of their children to go to school for a Western education. Ambi, the first girl to go to school, comes back having learned French, English and Math, which she then teaches the rest of her
Phil Agland, filmmaker of the Baka, provides a vivid illustration of the unstable violence caused by alcoholism. Many of the male members become addicted to alcohol and are not able to control themselves. Some leave and take up new wives; some abuse their wives and children (at times, end up killing them), and some simply neglect their entire families, which cause various problems within the family dynamics of the Baka people. For example, Ali’s daughter, Yeye, is physically disabled and unable to walk properly. There is no way for the disabled to be able to survive for long because the rest of the tribe are highly dependent on each other and travel a lot. It is thought by the tribe that her disability might be the result of her mother’s alcohol use. Her mother is not shown in the documentary because she ran away with another man of a different village. Alcohol is also destroying social cohesion of the Baka tradition, making the performance of traditional songs and dances into a sloppy swerving at best.
With no way to secure their future, the Baka are forced to invest in sending one of the first of their children to go to school for a Western education. Ambi, the first girl to go to school, comes back having learned French, English and Math, which she then teaches the rest of her