Keep the River on Your Right: A modern cannibal tale

 

Tobias Schneebaum greeting one of the Asmat Natives

    I think the scene that got to me the most was about halfway from the documentary. Tobias was reading from a book that he wrote about his experience from living with the Asmat Natives, he was recalling when he was fairly new. They went walking south for awhile until they started painting each other and Tobias didn't understand what was going on until he watched his Native friends kill white people. 

    In his book he wrote about how the Natives would murder and completely mutilate white people, they would  tear off their genitals and eat them. While Tobias is reading from his book, the screen is flashing through photos and videos of this action taking place. You see white men tied up on crucifixes upside down waiting to be killed. 

    I can't even pin point how this made me feel. Curious? Surprised? Unsettling? I don't know how to react to  people eating other people. This raised a lot of questions with me, so maybe I'm feeling confused... What makes someone want to eat a human? 

I was very surprised about how inviting and open the Natives were to the tourists. Tobias worked on a tour  boat now that goes out to the island the Natives live on, the tourists can get off and interact with the Asmat people. When talking about this in the documentary, the tourists got off the boat to watch the ceremony of 50 little boys getting circumcised. So, you just saw a bunch of little boys running around naked. The Asmat people are very open about their bodies, they have access to clothing but some still walk around barring all, for everyone to see. 

Some questions I have altering watching are, Why do the male natives have multiple sexual partners, male and female? What made them want to eat people, and why would Tobias engage in cannibalism? How do the Asmat people continue their traditions and culture while watching the world modernize around them? How do they not change with the rest of the world? Why does Tobias talk so much about his sexual experiences?

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