The Sky Above, the Mud Below

I see dogbowl thought these explorers were wimps. I believe they traveled 700-1000 miles in seven months, three people died, they were near starvation several times, several people had to be air lifted to the hospital near the end of their journey, they were lost many times, ran out of supplies (eventually resupplied from the air), among head hunters many times, endured high and low temperatures with rain and wind (and mud), and bitten by leeches and flying insects for days at a time. The territory they went through had never been explored by anyone other than some native tribes, and I doubt some of them had even explored much of the isolated and wild jungle traveled in this story.

New Guinea is the second largest island on the planet. Yes, they had help from bearers, and were funded by the Dutch government. I don't see how they could be called rich. The support was necessary. It was a large and bold scientific exploration. They did receive air support of food and supplies, which were delivered at the peril of the pilots on several occasions. It's a very good story, which is probably the last of such adventures of its type. Yes, the story is missing the modern cinematography touch, and the narration is somewhat matter of fact, but it's still quite an impressive story.

The Sky Above The Mud Below is an absolutely stunning film. This was made about 1960. It is basically one of the last journeys of its kind: A trek into unexplored territory meeting uncontacted tribes in New Guinea. Where can you go today this remote? As our world grows closer and closer in its current media saturated configuration the possibility of real geographic and ethnographic discovery by anyone is becoming more and more remote. The tribes are all accounted for. This film is the only real glimpse we can get of what it was like for explorers of the past to encounter the UNKNOWN. Yes as it is modern times they do have a radio. But no plane can land anywhere to find them. As their rickety little boat motors up river suddenly the voyagers come up a huge band of cannibal headhunters chanting intensely in canoes downstream straight towards them, hundreds and hundreds. It is compelling and eerie, Truly Other. One of the blessings of this film is that it is NOT made by anthropologists or any of the politically correct interpreters of the present, the kind of people who say "Well everyone has their own culture you know." Thus the tribal natives appear truly other in a way that preserves their mystery and uniqueness. The explorers may not understand what they are seeing but then again neither do we. The rites are truly hard to enter from the outside. Men sleep on skulls. Human skin is cut to seal a lizard skin drum. Young boys are readied to spend a night alone with a freshly cut head. Tribal warfare lurks everywhere. Malarial jungles invade the explorers' minds with frightening efficiency. Ghosts and spirits haunt everything. This film captures the dream of the exotic, the fear of the jungle as a central archetype better than any film I can think of. This is a glimpse of the true heart of darkness. This is a chance to look into a cannibal's face and to see both the humanity and that which lurks within us all. As we move towards our own neo-pagan dreams of burning men in the Nevada desert and frat house orgies captured for the Internet. New Guinea whispers to us. Paganism isn't just a few incantations of cosmic energy. There is always the blood. It must return if we move that way. Our postmodern cargo cults need to look to this part of the world to understand many things. Otherwise our rituals will bring fear lest we perform them the wrong way. I am so glad this film exists to leave a cracked door open on a world that has nearly completely vanished. They do listen to rap music now in New Guinea. You can take a tour. But New Guinea requires deep thought.

(By the way it is available on DVD now. It was made to be watched in French with English subtitles. It is on the same DVD as Black and White in Color. I wish it had a DVD of its own. A triple bill of The Sky Above The Mud Below with Dead Birds and Cannibal Tours would be outstanding.)

'Sky Above, Mud Below' by today's standards would not qualify as a documentary despite its Academy Award for best documentary feature in 1961. The film is painfully patronizing, while simultaneously insulting and embarrassing. The narration is a constant irritant in both it's tone and content. At one point the narrator even whispers as if standing just out of sight of the camera with a microphone in hand, ala Howard Cosell. Much of the film is quite obviously staged and many things are mentioned to be going on while never shown. The only use for this documentary now after nearly 40 years is to be the next victim of Mystery Science Theater 3000.

I had meant to see this film when I was a teenager, but I seem to never have gotten around to it, as high school was full of beckoning activities. The filming of this adventure was quite impressive; the entire trip took seven months. Each day of those seven months, or over 200 days, were 200+ days of various challenges, tortuous marches and several unknown dangers. These explorers were facing millions of flies and mosquitoes, treacherous jungle paths (when there was a path; most times there weren't any), endless vegetation and rivers flowing at 30 knots; enough to carry away even the strongest swimmer. There were pygmy tribes, friendly tribes, and mostly cautious tribes, who had never seen a Westerner. The cameraman did a fantastic job getting and developing footage in a part of the world where keeping film dry was a major challenge. You have to see the film to believe that men would put themselves through such adversity, just to explore some new areas of New Guinea. You wouldn't find me there for ten grand a month.

When I was growing up I imagined adventurers to be fearless daredevils who travelled into unknown lands by themselves. Boy was I wrong. Apparently the only people who could afford to travel in the older days were rich society men who you can bet would never carry anything by themselves. This documentary was the academy award in 1960, but when viewed by today's standards looks like it is full of a bunch of whimps. The "adventurers" never lift a finger themselves and when any sort of danger arrives they radio for help. Having supplies airlifted to you at the drop of a dime isn't very impressive if you ask me.