Îlé Aiyé

The well-known Mr. Byrne mostly keeps himself on the sidelines of this documentary, and lets his subjects take the stage. Most of this consists of video and interviews of people in the Bahia region of Brasil, and their colorful festivals and costumes, et cetera. There is a lot of dancing, costume jewelry, and intricate outfits. It looks more than a little like Mardi Gras, and like other videos I have seen of festivals in Brasil. Everybody says that Brasilians know how to party! Apparently the Bahians practice a folk religion called Candomble, which is an intriguing mix of old African religions with Catholicism. Some of the subjects are very charming.

Looking at how the people in Bahia Brasil celebrate their African root through symbolism, costumes, and traditional festivals has a magical sense of empowerment you can see in the culture. They embrace and love the roles they all do to be a part of something bigger than them which applies to any religion but to carry on for so long in a country so far from their ancestors and different from the national majority is quite special.

Ilé Aiyé was a very interesting film about Buddhist practices. I enjoyed the display of the many different types of worshiping practices. However, for learning purposes, the film could focus on maybe four or five different practices that are most important and then explain them in depth regarding its importance to the religion and culture instead of just showing ten or more different types. I would've liked to hear more about how the people value these rituals and how they are beneficial to themselves and their people.

Byrne captures some fascinating footage throughout the film Ilé Aiyé or The House of Life. Ilé Aiyé explores the ways in which Candomblé has influenced the daily life and culture of the people of Brazil. Many visual senses depict festivals, ceremonies, dances, food, clothing, jewelry, and music, which clearly show how African roots influenced Brazilian traditions. I thought it was very substantial how Byrne included personal interviews to demonstrate the purpose of culture and religion. For instance, according to Gil Vicente Barbosa, he describes a festival where people got together for over 40 years ago to dance in the streets with the same rhythms and music. They get together and dress up all in white to express themselves and symbolize peace. Also, the film mentions how nature is sacred. A stone is not only a stone but it is a place where a God expresses himself. Nature is a place that is always susceptible to many manifestations of the sacred. I also thought the ending scene that showed a trans was very interesting. I learned that the trans is a kind of control that is attributed to the Oshum. It is a manifestation of the God that is present there. A trans is the moment when the God arrives and when the faithful who are watching the ceremony see a person in a trans that is the moment when the faithful come in contact with the Gods and come together with the Gods. This is considered to be the deep meaning and great beauty of the trans.

Very interesting attempt to explain the actions of a foreign culture without stooping to the level of simplifying it or altering it to fit a western paradigm. Byrne successfully conveys the emotional, cultural, and religious meaning of this spirit-possession ritual through imagery – using a split screen to associate various semiotic visual `clues' which are then repeated later and used as a sort of `visual language' to illustrate `meaning' by associating what is happening in the Ile Aiye ritual with cultural observances made earlier in the documentary. A very interesting and educational film which takes several viewings to `decode' and comprehend. A few years ago I taught a `Cultural Diversity' course for Western Kentucky University and I used this film in class.