Le Chamane, son neveu et le capitaine

On Palawan Island in the Philippines, an indigenous mountain community is struggling to save its traditions from the onslaught of the modern world, embodied by the “Visaya”, their cousins from a neighbouring island who are now settled in the Palawan coastal areas. The Visaya already have administrative and commercial control of the island, and now are eying its fertile lands. Faced with this “invasion”, Medsinu, the community’s new shaman, finds it hard to make himself heard by the younger generations, attracted by town life. First, his nephew Issad, a fickle but now chastened husband who has fallen ill, has just one idea in mind: to get treated at the “foreign” hospital, from where, rumour has it, you only leave feet first. Issad is not against tradition, and has even bought back the lands his father had sold to the Visaya. But his suffering is too great to respect the taboos laid down by his uncle. After all, the modern world doesn’t look that black, offering as it does a stable job and income, a career in the local police force with a smart black uniform. Especially when it takes on the face of the Captain, a promising young man, close to his subordinates. The Captain has grand designs for the district (banning public drunkenness), and for himself (opening a karaoke serving rivers of beer). The Captain is half Palawan, proving that the Palawan have a place in the Visaya world. If Issad’s heart does not hesitate between Medsinu and the Captain, his reason is definitely faltering. (Yann Lardeau)