Bitter Melons
1955
Released 1971
Filmmaker: John Marshall
This film was shot in the 1950s, among the !Twi San, a group of San who are very closely related to the !Kung. It is structured around several songs strummed by the great San musician Ukxone. Each song is about !Twi life—food, hunting, social relations, sorts of animals. And as we hear the music, the films cuts away from Ukxone himself to scenes of that particular activity. But this is far more than a collection of songs. Because of the rich cultural content of each song, the film as a whole gives us a good idea of what it is like ot be a forager in the Kalahari. We see the landscape, dried grass, scattered small tress, use of melons, and catching a turtle, but there seem to be no mongongo nuts in this area, such a Lee had observed in the Dobe region where he worked.
The film goes far beyond a simple picture of an isolated, timeless culture. There are hints of contact with Bantus as San women plant melon seeds obtained from the farmers in ground clearly by an abandoned cattle krall (enclosure). We see evidence of relatively dry and relatively wet seasons. And we see the importance of ties with other groups of !Twi, and we see how carefully the !Twi have studied the plants and animals of their world (Heider 1997)
Setup Questions
1. What are these prototypical hunters and gatherers doing planting bitter melon seeds? Do you see where they are planting the seeds?
2. Where do the San get water/liquid/moisture from?
3. Why is the singer so concerned about distances?
4. How do men’s and women’s sharing patterns differ? Can you think why this might be?
5. How many different artifacts can you recognize in the San tool-kit.
6. Can you figure out the rules of the porcupine game?
7. Play special attention to the way John Marshall films the men’s ostrich courting dance. Can you see how it is a great example of whole act?
8. What is the point of all of these animals songs, games, and dances? Are they realistic?
9. What entered into the singer’s decision not to accompany the leader to the new camp?
Description from John Marshall Filmography 1951-1991.
This is a film about a small band of Khwe San. Ten people share a camp, including a blind musician Ukxone, his wife and son, two older women, two boys and another man, !Gai, with his wife and child. Ukxone plays music that he has composed on his hunting bow: songs in praise of melons, about trapping antelopes, about shouting and being lost in the bush. “Bitter Melons,” his favorite song, is about a women who learned from her Bantu neighbors to plant melon seeds. Wild melons taste bitter, the agriculturalists said. Ukxone’s songs evoke the /Gwi landscape and its diverse wildlife, as well as the routines of daily life: collecting, hunting, catching a tortoise that is cook alive and shared.
!Gai, a member of the band, returns one day with a group of relatives. Visitors and hosts enjoy the occasion, as young boys play animal games (porcupine, hyena) and make their own traditional music on the bow (animal songs like giraffe and kudu). Men and boys dance the “ostrich courting dance.” The fluidity of /Gwi bands is revealed when !Gai and his family depart with their other relatives, disappearing into the tall grass of the veld to the sound of Ukxone’s “Bitter Melons.”
For other
reviews check out the following: American Anthropologist 74(4):1018-1020. NY Times
AWARDS: Flaherty Award, CINE Golden Eagle; Festival dei Popoli, Athens International Film Festival; Salerno International Festival of Small-Sized Films; Philadelphia International Festival of Short Films.