Notes Mostrar/Ocultar Notes

Version en anglais et papou ; sous-titres en anglais

Résumé Mostrar/Ocultar Résumé

For countless generations, people living in a remote group of Pacific islands have been making epic ocean voyages in open canoes - not for conquest, not for commerce but to exchange shell ornaments with partners across the sea. The practice is known as kula. Today, kula men continue the ancient exchange, using magic to influence the minds of their kula partners and to control the movement of shell ornaments around a chain of islands called the kula ring, to the east of mainland Papua New Guinea. Kula is a force for goodwill amongst the islanders, but there is a dark, sinister side to it. Traditionally, kula canoes are away for months, at the mercy of weather and flying witches. A strange kula armband has been carved from ebony in the likeness of a flyong witch. This black, awesome object is nickamed the 'Coffin' because it is believed to have caused the deaths of men. The Trobriand Islands are the most important group in the kula ring. They are inhabited by a beautiful people in Polynesian, Melanesian descent. When first discovered by Europeans the Trobriands were named the 'Islands of love' because of the peoples liberal approach to sex, an attitude that has never changed. This is story of Chief Nalabatau, a traditional and aging master, and his vision of kula. But can the ancient magic and rituals of kula survive ?