Kopfjäger von Borneo (1936) - full transcript

FILM O BORNEU

baruna Victora von Plessena

This film was shot in the Borneo jungle,

in one of the last regions on Earth

still unexplored.

Most of its inhabitants had never

seen until then a white man.

So, they behaved naturally

in front of the camera.

They play in front of the camera a

true story that happened in their world,

a story that, as time went by,

became a legend.

This is the story of Anja

and Iring from the Dajaka tribe.

He was

Jalon's son, from Pelebena....

she a child captured in a war,

a slave.

The men from Pelebena are courageous,

attached to their ways and strong-willed.

From childhood, they are used to endure

without complaining the harshest conditions

and they despise who ever

shows his feelings.

Only through their eyes can the flame of

their hearts and powerful passion be seen.

Anji, the chief's son,

and Iring grew up together.

They live in Pelebena,

the village on the river.

In the midst of the tribe,

and under its gods protection,

they lived protected,

and without fear,

surrounded by the virgin forest, full

of wild animals and demons they feared.

The Punan, a mysterious and fearful people,

also roam the jungle.

Silent like shadows they never leave

the forest. The sun's light dazzles them.

They are hunters

and great magicians.

With serpents' venom and roots

extracts they coat their blowpipes' arrows.

If you need a lookout in war, or

a killer in a headhunt, take a Punan.

They are quick and

dangerous like vipers.

No roads cross the virgin forest,

and one can only travel by the river.

The Dajaka's village, Pelebana,

is on the river.

The families live together in the

longhouse, cleverly built on high pillars.

A chief runs Pelebena, but it's the priests

who guide him following the gods' wish.

Here grew up Anja, village chief Jalon's

son, happy and carefree.

Often, the women of Pelebena

didn't have enough rice to grind,

and sometimes there was shortage

as war with the Longleu,

the next village down the river,

raged, and crops were destroyed.

But children knew nothing

about war.

Iring, the little slave,

played with the village children.

She lived like any of them.

And Anja was always at her side.

In all these happy games, Anja was with

Iring, and Iring was with Anja.

They loved each other like brother and

sister the chief's son and the little slave

He was at all times her protector;

he fought with the other boys.

But the gods were watching.

There was war between and

Longledu, the village down the river.

Since always the men from

Longledu and Pelebena had killed each other

and brought home as trophies

the others' heads.

Because the head

is where the soul lies.

And it was the gods' will

to take other men's heads

in order to get their luck, energy and

courage for oneself and one's village.

But, one day, through the high priest,

the gods talked to the men in Pelebena.

The priest dances and

enters a trance.

And once the high priest

was into a trance,

the gods talked to him through

the flight of the sacred birds.

And they ordered the war with

the Longledu to end.

They ordered peace between

Pelebena and Longledu.

The men in Pelebena were gathered so

they could find out about the gods' wish.

Jalon gets in front of them and orders a

branch of peace taken to Longledu.

The men in Pelebena

obey the gods' wish.

A boat was sent to Longledu, down

the river towards the heart of the jungle.

Soon, the boat was back, and, with it,

the Longledu men with the branch of peace,

because they, too,

wanted peace.

But they put the condition that Anja,

married the Longledu's chief's daughter,

so that peace lasts for ever.

That's how Pelebena gets ready to celebrate

the peace with Longledu.

In ancient Chinese vases,

the rice wine is brought.

Jalong tells Iring that Aja from Longledu

is the one to become Anja's wife.

because Aja is a king's daughter

while Iring is a slave.

But Anja spoke against his father

and the men made fun of him.

The guests from Longledu came

and where greeted.

Pelebena village had prepared important

festivities in celebration of the peace.

The men raise a "mamat" pole

and decorate it.

The oldest priest

consecrates the pole.

At the chief's order the boys bring the

sacred heads,

that, due to their cleansing force,

will enhance the celebrations.

As a peace sign, the swords are

suspended to a pillar int he house.

Chief Jalon and the chief in Longledu

exchange their blood.

They exchange their swords.

They then exchange their rice bowls

signifying they have become brothers.

Iring and Anja

also were part of the feast,

and also was Ojau,

who envied their happiness

The Longledu chief

showed his daughter Aja to Jalon.

But Ojau mocked Iring.

Jalon called Anja and showed him his future

bride the guaranty of peace with Longledu.

So, for the first time, Anja from Pelebena

and Aja from Longledua saw each other.

The masks dance to chase

the demons away.

There was peace. The Pelebena men

started to reclaim the forest,

and to sow new fields.

They are burning the jungle, and ashes

fertilize the fields for the new crops.

Anja had the right to work alongside the

men, with his father, and was proud of it.

That's how rice is sown.

The men make small holes in the soil...

and the women

sow the rice seeds.

But, one day,

a messenger came:

he announced that in one month the Punan

would trade in the jungle with the Pelebena

If they wanted wildbeast skins, rare birds'

feathers, they could exchange that for iron

The men in Pelebena

took the road.

The Dajakas took for the exchange: swords,

spear-points, knives and bracelets

made from rare shells

brought from the sea shore.

And they took off going upriver.

It was the first time Anja

had gone into the forest.

And his father taught him how to

drink when thirsty:

aerial roots contain

pure water.

The Punans' camps are

hidden deep into the forest.

They don't know what a house is.

Nor a cultivated field.

They live on hunting

and don't skin their prey.

The arrows of their blowpipes

are silent and never miss.

The Punans are fearful and greeted

the Dajakas with distrust,

The Pelebenas told they

had come in peace, to trade,

so they let them into the camp.

They traded swords for blowpipes,

spear-points for rare feathers

arrows for jewels.

But a Punan wants

chief Jalon's necklace.

Jalon refuses because this necklace

is is forefathers' talisman.

On the way back, Jalon proposes

a race between the boats.

Pelebena mourns the death

of its chief.

In the forest, they're making his coffin.

"O, great chief, go without fear or

hesitation on your last road.

No savage beak will devour you,

no demon will steal your soul.

In Bali Matai, in Heaven, you'll find peace

and we'll be reunited with your ancestors."

In a mortuary house,

suspended between earth and sky,

Jalon, Anja's father found

his eternal rest.

Pelebena found itself

without a chief.

There was no one

on the king's place.

The priest talked to the men and told

them the council would have to rule,

until Anja becomes a man.

They must give him a chief's bringing.

Anja, the future chief, was still a child

who played along with the other kids.

And he went on loving

Iring, the little slave.

When they were playing

building a marriage hut,

as they had seen the grownups do,

it was always her she chose

as a bride.

Iring would follow no suitor.

But, when Alja would come to her,

she'd go with him.

Ojau was envious on their love.

But the men had not forgotten the

promise between Pelebena and Longledu.

A boat with engagement presents

left going downriver.

Iring wanted to share

Anja's pain

and wanted to go through the

pains of tattooing,

that much she loved him.

Months went by,

years went by.

And came the day when the

promise had to be kept,

and Anja had to take in marriage

Aja, from the village of Longledu.

Iring, who turned out beautiful

kept away from Pelebena.

She had with her only

a friend.

Ojau came to speak to Iring.

She told her Aja was waited

for her marriage to Anja,

and that it went against customs and, so,

dangerous for her to go on loving Anja.

Iring then called her friend...

and sent her to Anja,

to tell him she loved him.

The priest talked to Anja and told him it

it was time he married Aja from Longledu,

and to become the chief of Pelebena,

as his forefathers had been.

But Iring's messenger got to Anja,

and he heard her message..

He then went to find Iring.

He had love in his heart.

Thus, he took Iring into the jungle.

Hidden deep into the jungle

was a hut Anja used to go to to hunt.

It was there he hid away with Iring.

Iring reminded him about Aju.

Then he told her he'd

never leave her.

While she was asleep he was visited by the

dreams' spirits, showing him his childhood,

his betrothal to Aja,

and his love for Iring, the little slave.

In this time, in Pelebena start the

preparations for his marriage to Aja,

the daughter of the Longledu king.

The women grind the rice

cultivated in peace times.

In Longledu they are adorning the bride,

dressing her in her best clothes.

As a wedding present, Anja has sent

his ancestors' chief necklace.

Anja himself came to Longledu

to take his wife to Pelebena.

But, while going upstream in their boats,

a tree fell and almost killed the bride.

Anja knows this is a bad omen,

and that the gods are thus warning him.

Aja was received with great honours:

the pelebena priests carried her off the

boat and up to the village.

That's how Anja and Aja

got married on the sword.

They exchanged rice,

as man and wife.

Iring, curiosity and jealous, had come to

the village and had seen them get married.

And the night fell upon Pelebena.

Aja danced the nuptial dance.

Iring saw Aja's dance.

And Ojau saw Iring.

Then Anja got ready

for the chief's dance.

Iring watched Anja dance.

Then Ojau snatched Anja's sword and

and shield and started the war dance.

Ojau dances with courage.

Then...

Staying in the village was dangerous for

Iring and Anja hid her again in the jungle.

Aja only apparently was Anja's wife.

And, as she knew he was going to meet

Iring when leaving to go hunting,

he asked him to follow the custom,

but he pretended not

knowing what she was talking about.

Then, Aja turned sour.

They were mocking Aja, the cheated on

wife, who couldn't win Anja's love.

Aja talked to Anja with harsh words,

but he despised her.

Then Aja went to Ojau and sent him with

her wedding necklace to the Punan,

demanding them to kill Anja.

Iring was in the jungle,

waiting for her lover.

The bird flew over their heads,

the happiness announcing bird.

And they were both happy

with their forbidden love.

Suddenly,

a monkey cried in the jungle.

Anja ran away in its pursuit.

And Iring knew it was a man's voice.

In the Plebena men's council

Anja, the chief, was charged

with breaking the custom.

The priest dances on embers

until the gods talk to him.

"Thus spoke the gods: Anja has trespassed

the law with slave Iring.

She must be banished and Anja will not

be chief any longer and leave the village."

The Pelebena men excluded the two

from the village's community,

as had been the gods' wish.

So Anja had to leave the

village he had been the chief of.

But Iring left with him.

The virgin jungle where rivers

flow to infinity welcomed them.