OVP: Tanna (2016)

Film: Tanna (2016)
Stars: Marie Wawa, Mungau Dain, Marcelien Rofit, Charlie Kahla
Director: Martin Butler, Bentley Dain
Oscar History: 1 nomination (Best Foreign Language Film-Australia)
Snap Judgment Ranking: 2/5 stars

I have officially completed 2016 for the Oscar Viewing Project as of yesterday morning, when I caught Tanna, the final film of that year that I hadn't seen.  I will be working hard throughout April to give you 2015's final few articles (the next week I have a different writing project I need to invest some time in, otherwise I'd guarantee an official ballot or two this week), but suffice it to say I ended the 2016 rundown with two diametrically opposed films, both of which we'll be looking at today and tomorrow.  For the final film, I took a chance on Tanna, Australia's first ever nomination in the category, though weirdly not a single bit of the film actually takes place in Australia and features an enormous amount of ni-Vanuatu actors, since the whole film was lensed on this South Pacific island, so I'm curious how this movie didn't get disqualified (as other similar films have done) for not being sufficiently Australian. That said, it's a fascinating film since it's the first movie of its kind from the island, though I frequently felt like it was fetishizing the tribes and cultures of the villages as much as trying to capture them, with gorgeous scenery played for filler in a thinly-plotted and acted film.

(Spoilers Ahead) The movie's story is about two dueling tribes on the island of Tanna.  The two have been warring, and are expected to find some sort of peace through arranged marriage, as Wawa (Wawa) is being promised to the Imedin tribe as a bride/peace offering to be one of their young men's brides.  However, Wawa is in love with Dain (Dain) a handsome, tempestuous young grandson of the chief, and wants to marry him instead of having an arranged marriage.  The movie follows them as the two consummate their love and then run away, rather than being forced to marry.  Eventually, they are caught on a different island, and instead of Wawa leaving their love forever, they commit suicide atop a volcano.  As a result of their sacrifice, the chiefs decide they should no longer forbid love marriages.

The movie is based on a true story, and indeed in the 1980's the tribes of Vanuatu decided that love marriages should be allowed as a result of this tragedy.  This makes the ending somewhat surprising and effective (it's not entirely clear until the end of the film whether this is based on a legend or real events), but the rest of the movie is a mixed bag.  Everyone in the film appears to be an untrained actor, and it shows in some of the performances.  While the leads are effective, particularly Wawa, the rest of the supporting players aren't nearly as good, and even when they're clearly embodying classic roles like Friar Laurence (there's an obvious similarity to Romeo & Juliet even if this is inspired by real-life events), it comes across as wooden, and occasionally like the filmmakers were taking advantage of the actors in an exploitive way.

The movie also suffers from odd tangents, particularly Wawa's little sister Selin (Rofit), who is something of an instigator of the whole affair, and yet it's hard to connect with her at all since the movie cares so little about her until the end of the picture.  The film's best asset, a balmy cinematography, overshadows too much of the movie, with it almost feeling like a tourist video to come visit Vanuatu than a moving film.  The movie has had some recent heartbreak (Dain died at the age of only 24 from an infection in his leg), which may be why you've heard it more recently in the news, but the film itself is more a curiosity than a great picture.  Hopefully its Oscar nomination will serve a higher purpose in giving more attention to cinema in the South Pacific, particularly among persons of color in Oceania, but its citation is more historic than anything else.