The Sky Above, the Mud Below

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.

You have to commend the crew and the tribal people. Hard as nails. I don't really have much to say, that has not already been said in the other reviews, but I felt like I had to leave a review to show my support.

I am a fan of much lesser films in the mondo cinema genre. It is hard to define this film as mondo, as it is not really exploitational. It is just the terrain and the cultures shown in the movie are so primal and harsh. You are spared the really violent parts, which other movies in said genre tend to glorify. This however doesn't seem forced, like modern cinema is toned down, and benefits the movie as they strike the right balance.

Anyone who can cut down a tree with a stone tool must be hard as nails anyway. You wouldn't want to mess with those blokes, even if they're 5ft high max. A miracle all the crew came back with their heads still attached to their bodies by the sounds of things. Don't worry, only a few skulls on display, no severed heads. A true story of perseverance.

Will inspire the explorer in anyone who has the inclination.

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.

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.

'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.