En attendant Jésus

The filmmaker’s previous film The Gospel according to the Papuans showed the Huli warriors of Mundugya, a village in Papua New Guinea, being baptised under the influence of their old chief Ghini. The chief had been worried by the predictions of doom-preaching pastors heralding the end of the world at the close of the millennium. As a result of their conversion, the men had to give up polygamy, tribal wars and some of their traditions. The year 2000 did not bring with it the apocalypse announced, but village life had changed. The missionaries’ presence had already considerably eroded the power of the traditional leaders, and now the latter are forced to deal with the challenge of democratic power in the guise of a locally elected woman town counsellor.