Tanna

This award-winning Australian entry to the 2016 Seattle International Film Festival is based on a true story from Vanuatu (English captions), an island nation in the South Pacific that boasts a rain forest and an active volcano in its archipelago.

Directors Martin Butler and Bentley Dean directed this breathtaking look at a location and a lifestyle that is rapidly disappearing. Even though this is a scripted story based on actual events, they used NO professional actors; they cast only local people and used their names for the fictional characters. In reality, this story took place in 1987 and resulted in major changes in how the native tribes interact.

We saw:

• Marie Wawa (Wawa) rebels when she learns she is to marry a man from an enemy tribe as a peacekeeping measure. Her brown-eyed charm has a young man in her tribe totally smitten.
• Mungau Dain (Dain) has watched her from a nearby vantage point and it's clear that she welcomes his attention. His patrician good looks made him doubly appealing, even though he is forbidden to her.
• Marceline Rofit If there is any justice, this is the name of the little girl who plays Wawa's younger sister Selim. She is a vital part of the story. (I can't verify it in any reference.)
• Chief Charlie Kahla (Charlie) risks his own son's life in order to achieve peace with a traditional enemy.

The story develops at a deliberate pace (99 minutes). We see the little girl pluck two bugs from a vine; she eats one and shares the other with her companion. We see the women preparing fronds for a new skirt; Wawa has become a woman and they will celebrate. There is nudity everywhere, but it is National Geographic nudity, not Playboy! We are reminded of recent deaths due to the enemy tribe. The volcano and the terrain play important parts in this story and you should be mindful that the event this is based on is true.