Moeder Dao De Schildpadgelykende
Netherlands,
1995, 88 min
Shown in 1995
CREDITS
- dir
-
Vincent Monnikendam
- prod
-
Dutch Program Service
- editor
-
Albert Markus
- premiere
-
International Premiere
-
COMMENTS
Vincent Monnikendam in person.
OTHER
Unfolding without narration, Mother Dao, the Turtlelike is a spare and elegant film constructed entirely from archival footage shot between 1912 and 1933 in the former Dutch East Indies. Luminous nitrate images are set against a simple soundtrack of birdcalls, bells and murmuring voices, punctuated occasionally by native poems and songs. The film’s careful construction reveals the face of systematic colonization and the effect of economic expansion on a culture. There are stunning moments: a child leaves off breast-feeding to drag on a cigarette; crocodiles are lassoed in a round-up; a strange white snow floats in the air as workers beat their way through enormous mountains of fluff. Much of the footage, shot by white Dutchmen and meant as propaganda for their colonial causes, now seems both comical and ominous—especially the recurring image of the white-clad colonialist intent on improving native culture and forcing industry forward. The natives’ songs and poems, on the other hand, are full of regretful laments against hunger and the drive for profit. A quiet yet pointed journey through the past, Mother Dao is both an informative time capsule and a moving tribute to a lost world.
—Rachel Rosen
FACTOID #125
According to the November 29, 1959 San Diego Union, The Village on the River was the first Dutch feature ever shown in the U.S. (at the Third San Francisco International Film Festival).
