Keeper of the Rainforest
(2019)
The Mentawai tribe has been living in a harmonious balance with nature deep in the forest of Siberut Island since 500 BC. For centuries, they are known for their ancient tattoo traditions, arrow hunting, sago eating, and living in large wooden longhouses called uma. The connection between nature and the Mentawai tribe is continuously inseparable. They consider that everything has a soul- man, animals, objects, and plants. They are devoted to the spiritual realm inhabiting the forests, rivers, and sky in a belief defined as Arat Sabulungan. Those three must not be tempered.
The river is a source of life, a symbol of territorial boundaries, a place to perform traditional rituals, to a means of daily transportation. A newborn child will be bathed in the river. According to the Mentawai's faith, the river is so sacred. They will not befoul it.
The forest has defined the lives of the Mentawai tribe. It provides food to eat, land to live, and even plants for medicine. They have everything they require from it while respecting and keeping it viable. But, exploitation of the jungle for commercial and development purposes has a disturbing history here. Deforestation becomes a major problem.
Even though they are hoping to retain their traditional hunter-gatherer way of life, modernization has barged in and altered the conventional method of life in the wilderness. Aman Sasali and Aman Manja are building a bigger uma and intending to host more visitors in the future. The world of tourism presents them as a spectacle object. It creates an opportunity to remain sustainable in the forest and maintaining the antiquity of their lifestyle. But, on the other hand, it threatens their genuine culture and unique identity from forces outside their control. Will their authenticity be marginalized? One can only hope that they will have the choice over protecting their individuality and pride within the ancient tradition.
