Filmreihe Donnerstagskino: Ethnologische Themen der Zeit
Film by Stéphane Breton, France, 2001, 63'; Languages: French, Wodani; English subtitles.
Eux et moi (Them and me)
Stéphane Breton has made many visits to the Wodani in the highlands of Irian Jaya, New Guinea. He speaks the local language and lives among the people, but relations with his neighbours are not always easy. At the beginning, the Wodani were sceptical towards him, but little by little Breton has become accepted. Nevertheless, it is still not clear to the Wodani why a French anthropologist is interested in them. Is he a missionary? Does he come from the land of the dead? In any case, they involve him in the village life and their constant conflicts.
With Eux et moi, Breton takes the viewer into the Wodanis’ daily life. At the same time, he provides a look behind the scenes of fieldwork, inverting the classical approach of the ethnographic film: this documentary is not about an unknown society, but rather about the exoticism of the one who observes.
