Savage Memory 2011
Distributed by Sly Productions, 8 St. John St., Boston, MA 02130; 617-524-6848
Producer n/a
Director n/a
DVD , color, 77 min.
College - General Adult
Anthropology, Area Studies, Biography, Social Sciences
Date Entered: 01/31/2013
Reviewed by Carrie M. Macfarlane, Librarian for the Sciences and Head of Research and Instruction, Middlebury College, Middlebury, VTZachary Stuart is the co-director and narrator of Savage Memory. He is also the great-grandson of Bronislaw Malinowski, and we are reminded of that relationship throughout this film, for better or for worse. Bronislaw Malinowski was a leading British anthropologist of the early 1900s. Savage Memory studies Malinowski’s familial and professional legacy in equal parts.
[filmmakers' addendum] The narrator travels to Papua New Guinea and interviews present day members of the Trobriand tribe Malinowski studied. We hear their opinions on the value if his work. We see the changing religious practices of this tribe and their relationships to their ancestors. We also hear fom a number of anthropologists about Malinowski's work and historical changes in the field. [end addendum]
While Malinowski made significant contributions to the field of anthropology, his relationship with his family and his feelings about the people he studied were less than ideal. For these reasons, anthropologists may find this film’s personal approach interesting.
Non-professionals likely will come away with a different impression. Returning again and again to interviews with family members and clips from family videos is at first puzzling, then uncomfortable. With all due respect to the family, it even seems self-indulgent at times. The narrative often seems to suffer from a lack of purpose.
Professionals and non-professionals will respond differently to this film. Therefore, it is recommended with reservations for professional and college-level audiences.