Description
Situated in the very heart of Africa, Zaire’s Ituri Forest is one of the world’s least known regions. The Mbuiti Pygmies have lived in the isolation of the huge trees of the rain forest for unknown thousands of years, sharing their remote world with an incredible assortment of animals. This film portrays the everyday life of these monadic people from the distant past: the building of tiny huts from saplings and mongongo leaves, the women and children gathering roots, fruit, mushrooms and edible plants, trekking to new camp sites and hunting grounds. The Pygmies hunt with bow and arrow and with nets strung through the forest. Once in a lifetime, one or two hunters of the clan succeed in killing an elephant. We see the strongest hunter track a bull elephant for days, leaving his fellows far behind. With his primitive spear, reaching as high as he can, he brings the huge animal down in an epic sequence. PYGMIES OF THE RAIN FOREST provides an extraordinary glimpse into a primal world unchanged for at least 6000 years.
