Cinema on Paper--The Pangcah Way of Life
Alexandra Liu / photos courtesy of Mayaw Biho / tr. by Robert Taylor
February 2001
"Reel Amis-Real Pangcah," Taiwan's first film festival organized by Amis people and devoted entirely to documentary films about the Amis (or Pangcah, as they call themselves), was successfully staged in November 2000. Those who attended were both amazed and moved by the event.
To give readers a better understanding of Amis life, we have chosen four of the best documentaries from the festival to "screen" in Sinorama's "Cinema on Paper." Our first feature is As Life, As Pangcah, directed by Mayaw Biho. The film, about a 97-year-old Amis elder living in the Makutaai (Kangkou) tribal village in Hualien County, gives insight into the Amis way of life and attitude to life.
As Life, As Pangcah
Main character: Lukar Maku (Chinese name: Hsu Chin-mu)
Sound recordists: Hu Mei-kuang, Chu Wen-ching
Editing and sound production: Hsu Chien-chung
Interviewer: Wusai Kulas
Cameraman and director: Mayaw Biho
Introduction
The first scene opens with the resonant sound of an old Pangcah man singing. Amid lush greenery, under a blue sky, the sparse, diminutive figure of Lukar Maku moves briskly through the mountain forest, from time to time using the machete in his hand to hack bamboo, clear a path or cut bananas.
"What a hot sun! Don't be afraid of the sun or rain-that's the Pangcah spirit!" says the old man in Amis, in a kindly tone.
Mialaw (divination using bamboo)
Lukar Maku, the leading chieftain of the Amis people of Makutaai, has conflicting feelings about the religious faith of the village today and traditional Amis beliefs: "Although I now follow another God, I still secretly do mialaw. Yes, I'm worried that the church is against it. But who else can my people ask when they have questions about hunting or about life?"
The sea
The sea plays an important part in Amis life.
Every morning when Lukar rises, he always wants to go and look at the sea, and imagine what it might be thinking. The sea is so mysterious. It gives his people so many things, such as fish, crabs and shellfish.
When his people catch fresh fish from the sea, they always gather together to share it. If he could, Lukar would like to go sea fishing again.
Wild boar
"I've always had the urge to go into the mountains. It's never stopped. When I was still strong, it was wonderful to go up the mountains. And if I managed to catch anything, I could share it with my children and the other people in my village."
"I've caught wild boar here before. The boar have their trails, and as a hunter you have to know how to find those trails. If the boar hear you singing, won't they run away? So a hunter doesn't sing, he just climbs quietly."
"If you find a boar in your trap you must first kill it, because an injured boar will attack people." Lukar recalls how, as a young man, he could lift and carry a 50-kilogram boar with strength to spare. But now he has to ask youngsters to carry it home for him so he can share it with his tribespeople and perform the ceremony for the ancestral spirits, to ask them to protect his people and ensure that the next hunt will also be successful.
Dream divination
On an open patch of ground, with care and concentration Lukar demonstrates how to set a trap.
He also carefully sets a trap in the mountains.
As he does so, he talks about Amis dream divination.
"If you dream about people fighting or killing each other, it means you won't catch anything. If you dream of a beautiful young lady, it means you will catch something. But if the beautiful lady comes and then leaves, it means the wild boar were there but they've gone away again."
Collecting rattan
"Although it is now forbidden to collect rattan, in my heart I still want to go up the mountains and collect it as I did in my youth. If I was seen by a park ranger, I would surely tell him I was collecting it to weave, and I was only taking a little. He'd be sure to say it was OK."
Lukar doesn't want to sit around all day vegetating: "I have to find things to do. It's better to be busy. If I had some rattan I could weave all kinds of things, and give them to anyone who wanted them."
Tradition and modernity
Lukar discusses tradition and modern life:
"Some people say traditional life is outmoded, but others don't agree."
"They ask me if I could go back to our old way of life."
"I tell them: Our material standard of living is better than before, but we can't abandon our traditions. We have to pull ourselves together!"
"They say: Grandfather, we will do as you say. Only then will we Amis stand up."
Tears
But on the subject of raising the status of Amis culture, Lukar is disheartened, for in Taiwan today people only speak Chinese. Lukar cannot read or write, and having grown up under Japanese rule, he can only speak Japanese and Amis. He doesn't know what to do.
Lukar says: "If only I could speak Chinese, I certainly wouldn't be embarrassed to say that Amis culture is a good culture." Lukar has been commended by the government many times, and each time he hoped they would make an effort to properly understand Amis culture. Once when he received an award from President Lee Teng-hui, Lukar thought of many things he wanted to say to the president, who understands Japanese. "But the president only said 'Congratulations! Congratulations!' and then left. And all I said was arigato [Japanese for 'thank you']!"
Lukar Maku weeps.
