Dance Of The Warriors

INDO 1011 SPRING 2009

Please fill this out while you watch the film. If you know Indonesian, you may write in Indonesian as well. REFLECTION ON FILMS Date: January 29, 2009 Your name: Chandler Routman The title of the film: Dance of the Warriors Name the islands or ethnic groups that you remember from the film: • The islands that were mentioned are Komodo Bay, Sumba Island, Bali and New Guinea. The ethnic groups that were mentioned are the Asmat Tribe and the Sumba Island Horse Warriors. What new information did you learn from this film? • Sumba Island is also known as Sandalwood Island, but ironically enough there are no more sandalwood tress left on the island. The Sumba Island Horse Warriors have a ritual that combines a form of dance, battle and sacrifice. During this ritual the participants, while riding on horses, throw blunt spears at their opponents until the first blood is drawn. The first person to bleed becomes a human sacrifice. The people Asmat Tribe of Indonesian New Guinea are referred to as the “True People”. Long ago they used to be headhunters as well as cannibals. Interestingly enough while studying the Asmat people, Michael Rockefeller (of the New York Rockefeller’s) vanished. Some people think that the Asmat people killed and ate him. How did you relate this film to any other history of some countries that you know about? Please explain. • The culture of the Asmat people is very different from most European cultures. In European cultures, there is no proof of canabalism or of headhunting being practiced. In the United States, there are some similiarites between the Native Indonesian cultures and the Native American cultures, especially in practiced rituals. What did you find interesting about this film? • I found the rituals of the Horse Warriors very interesting, as well as the the culture of the Asmat people. If you follow any news about Indonesia at all, what are the things that remain the same as what the movie portrays, and if there are some changes, what are they? • N/A What questions do you have about this film, or about today’s Indonesia? • I wonder if anyone actually knows the truth about what happened to Michael Rockefeller.

Margaretha Sudarsih Department of Asian Languages & Civilizations University of Colorado-Boulder