Student Film Reviews

Someplace with a Mountain (Steve Goodall, 2011); USA

Reviewed by My Eklund. Viewed at Santa Barbara Film Festival 2011.

This is an unusual documentary called Someplace With a Mountain, directed by Steve Goodall. He sold everything he owned and bought himself a sailboat to sail the world. He sailed to Hawaii, Tahiti and then came to a very distinctive island, where the people had a whole different civilization than the rest of the world. A master navigator, he navigated through the stars and the sun. The teacher of the island didn’t teach the children or young adults things that people used to be taught in normal schools. She thought them how to be good, very handy adults. They had to learn how to built houses, boats, catch fish etc. They could sail 1000 miles and find their way back. They had little contact with the outside world. Steve found the island to be so inspiring, to see these people, living, happily so far outside of the “normal”. Everything is done for the good of the island. However, there was a problem that the people didn’t know about; the water was rising and the island was going to be gone in about two years. The people were terrified and asked; what does the outside world do to pollute this world? Something had to be done.

The cinematography was done very well. It took him three months to make the documentary. The film begins with the ocean and the sun going down. That emphasizes that something is not right; something bad is going to happen. The director did not use a high technology camera, although he got his point across. He wanted to do this film because the people needed immediate help. He wanted to move the entire population, but not to an island that has been built up with modern infrastructure, a government, or even money. He wanted to move them to an isolated island, where they could continue to live their lives in the same way.

There was a Q&A with a very emotional Goodall after the documentary. He hasn’t been to the island in about a year and a half. He told the people that he was going to get help and then he was going to come back. He hasn’t returned to the island yet. Although, Goodall was very happy that the documentary has reached so far with hopes that something eventually will happen. He searched the web and found an island that the population could move to. He told us ironically that it would have cost him $10 million, but the sellers could give him the island for 50% off. He doesn’t have that kind of money. That is why he wants to show the documentary to the world.

This is an original documentary in a way. It makes you think. It makes you think about the world, about where we are going, about globalization etc. The people in the audience even seemed to be wanting to help, so to send the people to a secluded island might not be too far from happening.

If you want to help or want to know more, please go to www.someplacewithamountain.org

I’ve just seen a copy of the film and I am completely flabbergasted by it. Having been raised on Houk (formerly called Pulusuk) and Tamatam islands which are located not too far from Polowat, I watched with complete horror as the storyline, the interview footages, and scenery did not match up. It appeared to me Mr. Goodall set out with his own selfish agenda and weaved a tale of several islands in as far away as Yap State and made it appear as though this film is about Polowat. Nowhere in the interview footages were the indigenous people all of whom I know and are relatives asking anyone including Mr. Goodall to raise millions of dollars, buy them a land in another country such as French Polynesia, return to the island, and relocate them to the island that he would have signed off on with money he raised from rich Americans who have been duped into helping some poor uneducated souls from a foreign island without realizing that it is their lifestyle that is contributing to climate change. These rich donors probably easily write a large check to Mr. Goodall without thinking twice about the fact that their lifestyle in fact contributes to the climate change that Mr. Goodall shows in his film. Do they even think how the Polowatese and all of us in small low lying islands are impacted by their big SUVs, their continued use of plastic bags at their exclusive grocery stories, their gigantic homes that take a lot of energy to heat, their private golf courses that consume alot of water, their private yacht and jets with huge carbon emissions?

Where will their money relocate these poor islanders? How many more lowlying islanders can they relocate with their token donation before they alter their lifestyle to curb climate change? Where else can we go? As the late FSM Ambassador to the United Nations Mr. Masao Nakayama said in an interview on ABC News about where the people from those lowlying islands can move to…he says, “We don’t want to go anywhere. We want to stay in our islands.” Yes, we want to stay where our ancestors are buried, where our cultures are intact, where we know we belong (not in some foreign country where we will be non-citizens), where we own lands (not where someone like Mr. Goodall signed the property papers and can just as easily kick us off his property), where we know our reefs to catch our fish, where we are free to be ourselves and live by our own cultures rather than becoming objectified as rarities. In short, I am 100% certain that the people of Polowat do NOT want to leave their island any more than the other three islands nearby in the Pattiw region want to be relocated thousands of miles away to a foreign land to become non-citizens.

I am suspicious of Mr. Goodall’s intentions to purchase an island in beautiful French Polynesia where the people become refugees? How does he plan to secure their citizenship in French Polynesia since most Polowatese who have never left the island do not have passports? Will Mr. Goodall buy them all French citizenship too? Will there be a sequel documentary called “Someplace with a Passport” and which he will show the Polowat people standing in line at a French Embassy somewhere their native attires trying to buy citizenship? How much money will Mr. Goodall need to raise then? And how much more money will the rich Santa Barbarans dish out to Mr. Goodall to educate the Polowatese in the new language which they will need to learn as citizens of the protectorate of France. Has Mr. Goodall secured all of these citizenship questions before he plans to buy the people their island with a mountain?

Why move the people to a foreign country when there are plenty of mountains in Chuuk State. Afterall, Chuuk means mountain because the main lagoon has a lot of mountains. Aren’t those mountains large enough? Is Tahiti and the allure of the South Pacific the exact spot for a sailor like Captain Goodall? Why focus on Polowat alone when there are three other islands (Houk, Tamatam, Pollap) in the same Pattiw region in the same if not worst state? Does he plan to buy them islands too to keep those clan systems which exist among all four islands intact? Why not raise millions to buy them lands on the mountainous islands nearby such as Weno, Toloas, Tol, Uman, etc?

To be fair to the filmmaker, the cinematography was fantastic and the footages on the reality of the negative impact of climate change are worth viewing the film. But I would not dare append the description of “documentary” to this film in the same sense that one expects historical accuracy of Ken Burns. I couldn’t help but think that the poor people of Polowat are being used as pawns in a Hollywood-minded filmmaker’s dream of making a ton of money to buy himself a nice piece of island in the blue ocean of French Polynesia. All I can think of as I listen to Chevy Chase’s narration of the film is his equally bad film, “Foul Play.”

Do watch the film to be introduced to the reality of life in several islands in Chuuk State and Yap State. Those are real footage of life to this day on those islands. They are indeed impacted negatively by climate change. We do need help, but relocation isn’t the solution. Big industrial nations such as the United States must do better in curbing carbon emissions by small lifestyle changes. Having been born and raised on those islands next to Polowat and making the decision to leave them to get an American education and now living and working at a university in Northern California I can tell Americans that you have alot to learn from the simplicity of life in those islands where there is no running water and electricity and yet people live happy and fulfilled lives. But our decisions here in the U.S do indeed negatively impact my people who continue to struggle with taro patches that are rotted by sea level rising. So think about those before reaching for your check book. Your lifestyle change impacts us much more positively than buying Mr. Goodall a piece of property.

About

Film Review Club: Reviews of current film releases, streaming films, and revivals by student members of the SBCC Film Review Club.

Prof. Nico Maestu: Faculty Advisor ([email protected])

Film Festival Course: FS108: Film Festival Studies: Santa Barbara International Film Festival and AFI Fest: Hollywood (2 or 1.5 units). Field course at film festivals to study U.S. and international fiction, experimental and documentary films.

Contact: Prof. Nico Maestu ([email protected])

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Someplace with a Mountain (Steve Goodall, 2011); USA

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