'waiting for Harry'

In the film “Waiting for Harry” The Anbara people of Canberra Australia perform a special ceremony for Harry’s blood and passed uncle. Although he claims his uncle was murdered by sorcery, he says he wishes to forget about the past because they cannot bring his uncle back. So instead, the ceremony begins with preparation to the dead man’s land with sand sculptures and the creation of a shaded tree dome. The people then prepare the bones by rubbing them down with red ochre as well as painting the hollowed log with symbolic representations that pay tribute to the dead uncle. When one of the village members was talking about the painting of the grave or hollowed beam, he mentioned the two spirits, Ngarapia and Marlindji who controlled the monsoon winds as trade partners. I found this especially important to point out because different forms of reciprocity are the routes of all interaction. People trade for convenience to better the livelihoods of the keepers of certain goods. Others trade for the sake of good favors and for the sake of giving. The relationship between Coastal Ngarapia and inland Marlindji winds link two deeper connections of the Anbara peoples. They are not one without the other like the relationship between light and dark, good and bad or up and down. The winds signify the importance of trade and travel in their positive effect upon the valued people as well as its negative. Such as the way in which the winds work, they can either help push people along their routes or destroy the path to a point of questioning its existence.
Coastal and inland tribes came by to pay tribute to harry's uncle. They participated in the ceremony by dancing certain dances like the crow, painting symbols like the fish and turtle on the totem pole as well as themselves and indulged in chnats and songs. In this way, the Anbarra people shared the stories of their people future generations like themselves and the white man beyond. The importance of this first time experience in sharing their point of veiw is evident because they choose to take part of the ceremony during the daylight. They not only want their voices to be heard, but they want their stories through dance, paint and sand sculptures to be remembered and seen for the future.