All language subtitles for A.Dogs.Life.1962.BLURAY.1080p.BluRay.x264.AAC-[YTS.MX].en

MONDO CANE

...to neglect
your respectable engagements...

...and to be here with us,
remembering and celebrating...

...one of the many children
that this generous land...

...gave to the world
of culture and art.

Rodolfo Guglielmi,
a son of this land...

We are at Castellaneta,
in the province of Taranto,

...where Mister Semeraro,

...vice minister
of the cultural affairs,

...is commemorating the honorable
citizen Rodolfo Guglielmi,

...son of the late Giovanni
and Gabriella Barbi,

...born here on May 6, 1895,

...who died in America
on August 15, 1926.

...but his persistence,

...his energetic nature,
prevailed and captured

...the attention of those who
worked in the movie industry,

...then starting to come to life.

...his path was not spread
with roses,

but there were thorns,
and many of them.

The Latin actors were given
the most hateful roles:

...the hoodlum, the bad guy,

...the man to be eliminated.

At Castellaneta, the community
consists of a few families,

...all related.

A lot of the Guglielmi blood
flows among this crowd...

...that counts dozens of
close and far relatives...

...of the great late actor.

Among them we can easily find
some legitimate resemblance...

...with the fateful Rodolfo
who smothered with love...

...the women of half the world.

And I'm now glad
to stress the opinion...

...expressed by Valentino
during his trip to Italy...

For 30 years,

...the young men of Castellaneta
have been waiting...

...for the movie industry
to discover among them...

...the heir of the great Deceased.

Finally, tonight
the lights go on.

The cameras start humming.

Many anxious eyes
look into the lenses.

Yes, in this little rural
town of the Apulia,

...where the land is not generous,

...the opportunities offered by
the movie industry seem more...

...appealing than those offered
by the agricultural reform.

Castellaneta's night
smells more like pomade...

...than like ripe crops.

And the young one's dream,

...enraptured by the sweet
rhythm of tango.

...of the other communities.

But, alas, in Rossano Brazzi,

...Rodolfo Valentino has
found his heir a long time ago.

It's for him today
to perpetuate in America...

...the Valentinian myth
of the Italian lover.

That sort of Mr. Love-muscle
that for thirty years...

...thirty thousand American women
expect to be an Italian.

Poor Brazzi!
Look what happened to him...

...when he went to
a big department store...

...to take shirt measurements
for advertising purposes.

But if American
women are for real,

...these women are not joking.

Do you know what they want from
their suntanned Rossano Brazzi?

Well, all we can tell you is
they don't want his autograph.

East of New Guinea
lies the Trobriand archipelago.

And this is Kiriwina,
the biggest island,

...surrounded by dreamlike
beaches and probably...

...the most beautiful
coral ocean in the world.

Here, the sun shines eternally,
the land is generous,

...and nobody works.

Consequently, the general mood
leans toward having a good time.

These women, attractive
and carefree about love,

...have been practicing for
centuries on these beaches,

...one sport that, here too,
is very popular:

Hunting the male.

This sport made them
so famous in the world...

...that today there isn't
one respectable anthropologist..

...who doesn't refer
to this archipelago...

...as one of the few places
in the world...

...where women still
practice polygamy.

As you can see,
even in Kiriwina,

...the rules of the game
remain unchanged.

The male, once captured,
is democratically assigned...

...to the healthy and thrifty love
appetite of the community.

With maybe the only difference
that here, it's not a custom...

...to tear up his shirt.

And the male?

Not a problem. Here, like
elsewhere, the male is smart,

...and knows how to stay
away from danger.

Unfortunately, the male of
the Trobriand, when in fear,

...keeps making the mistake
of climbing on something...

...where, sooner or later,
he will be caught...

...and forced to nest,
one way or the other.

As you may have noticed,
hunting the male is a sport...

...that has many analogies
all over the world.

Maybe these women practice
the hunt more like a sport,

...so to speak, in the open air
and bare-chested.

But this is the only difference.

After all, in the Riviera,
a region famous for games,

...male hunting is practiced in
the open air and bare-chested,

...if not literally so.

This woman's child
has been killed.

Now she must nurse a small
pig whose mother died.

This is how the law
of the Cimbus goes,

...in the heart of New Guinea.

There's still a place
on this earth...

...where there is no difference
between the life of child,

...and that of a pig.

Under an immense sky,
on high mountains...

...that seem to raise the land
to the sources of light,

...men live surrounded by darkness.

The land, still waiting to know
the secrets of plow and seeds,

...is not generous.

It's the Kingdom of Hunger.

Many of these men
have eaten human flesh,

...which used to be
their ancestors' usual food.

The tribe has come down
to the village,

...where a general celebration
is about to start.

Which, according to a tradition
imposed by poverty,

...only happens once every 5 years.

A violent celebration during
which, for 3 days and 3 nights,

...they will gulp down meat
until they burst.

Soon, hundreds of pigs,
the only wealth they gathered...

...through many years
of starvation,

...will be killed
and devoured in a few hours.

Then, back to the long fasting.

It'll take five
more terrible years...

...before the survivors
will come back to celebrate...

...three days of feasting, wearing
bird of paradise feathers.

The cooking of the pigs...

...is probably more brutal
than their execution.

Here, cooking a pig means,
more or less,

...burn it here and there.

The dead animals still have
their bowels full of intestine.

But the natives don't believe
in such formalities.

Hunger can't wait
for the big moment...

...when the tribal chiefs
announce that finally,

...after 5 years of waiting,
the meal is ready.

Someone thought
of the children,

...and gave up eating the bladders.

Maybe playing soccer
is also an instinct...

...as ancient as hunger.

Here too, the chiefs
are allowed to eat...

...as much as they want.

As long as they do it
without looking hungry,

...as they are an example
of good table manners.

Along with the tribal chiefs,

...the dogs enjoy a special
treatment too.

It's maybe some sort
of gentle feeling,

...something unexpected
among so much cruelty,

...so, we'd be happy
for having discovered it.

Or maybe, these are just
the dogs of the chiefs.

Then we wouldn't have
discovered anything new.

But the country
where compassion for dogs...

...goes beyond the limits of
human imagination is America.

We are in the canine
cemetery of Pasadena,

...on the outskirts of Los Angeles.

The same that inspired
Evelyn Waugh's famous book.

It's one of those
windy and sunless days...

...when the sky of California
turns to the color of despair.

Here, the memory of
the deceased, all of them,

...is so happy, and this
place is yet so pathetic,

...that we could shed a tear or two
over the small graves...

...of these venerable creatures.

Over their dead ancestors,
these dogs behave in a way...

...that is only irreverent
by human standards.

Conversely,
only to canine eyes...

...could the intense human behavior
appear inexplicable.

In Taipei,
on the island of Formosa,

...dogs receive a different
kind of attention.

They are selected,
raised with extreme care,

...fattened, and get cooked
following old and complex...

...recipes, for the joy of
a large public of gourmets.

Such restaurants, where the
customers can directly choose...

...from the cage
the most appetizing pet,

...are extraordinarily
popular all over China.

In these areas, people are very
fond of Dachshunds, Poodles,

...Boxers, Great Dane cubs,

...but, usually they have
a preference for the Chow-chow,

...those very cute dogs
also appreciated...

...for their intelligence
and their faithfulness.

In Rome, when Easter
is approaching,

...hundreds and hundreds
of chicks are immersed...

...in a colored bath and locked up
to dry in a 50 degree oven.

They are selected, tested
and multicolored guaranteed,

...and they are ready to be
locked up in the Easter eggs.

It is unfortunately estimated
that out of every 100 chicks...

...that undergo this treatment,
about 70 end up being...

...victims of
some unpleasant accident.

In Strasbourg, known as
the capital of foie gras,

...over half a million geese...

...undergo this kind of treatment
every year.

Their liver, in order
to swell and get fatter...

...and reach the right weight,
needs a lot of nutrition.

So every day, the specialized
staff stuffs them,

...albeit with the help
of a little force,

...with such an amount of food
that even the greediest goose,

...without supervision, would be
unable to digest in one week.

Up until two years ago,

...to prevent the geese from
losing too many calories,

...they used to nail
their feet to a plank.

But now, thanks to these
very small cages,

...most of all,
thanks to the funnels,

...we can obtain
the same amount of foie gras...

...with a more humane
and civil treatment.

In Japan, about
500 miles from Tokyo,

...there is the most sophisticated
cattle farm of the world.

Eight hours a day,
these experienced masseurs...

...take care of the bulls in
order to soften their flesh.

Plus, every bull receives
six liters of beer a day,

...in order to expedite
their fattening process.

The beer is given to the animals
directly from the bottles...

...to prevent the liquid
from losing its dilating power.

All the steaks
coming from these bulls...

...end up in three or four
specialized restaurants...

...in Tokyo and New York.

They cost approximately
7000 liras a kilo.

Here, where drinking
beer is unknown,

...they resort
to the use of tapioca,

...a starch that has more or less
the same fattening qualities...

...as potatoes.

We are at Tabar,
the largest island...

...of the Bismarck Archipelago,

...where, by tradition, the most
beautiful women of the tribe...

...are locked up in strong cages

...similar to those we've seen
in Strasbourg to fatten geese,

...and they get filled
with tapioca...

...until they reach
at least 120 kilos.

Then, they will be
offered as wives...

...to the village's dictator,
Utame Alunda,

...famous all over the islands
for his physical power...

...and his odd personality.

The fattening process
lasts from 3 to 6 months,

...meanwhile, Utame Alunda
didn't remain idle.

These are some of his most
recent children,

...that he loves to show to
the foreigners in this dance,

...as a proof of his virility.

This is his latest spouse:

Eight children and
one hundred thirty kilos.

This is his favorite wife.

Ten children and 150 kilos.

And this is
the great chief Alunda:

27 children and 34 kilos.

The American woman, instead, if
she wants to be lucky in love,

...needs to lose weight.

We are in Los Angeles, in one
of the many Vic Tanny gyms,

...the famous health gym
specializing in...

...feminine reshaping.

Here, hundreds of American
women come to spend most of...

...their recurrent widowhood
in order to eliminate...

...the weight gained
during their last marriage...

...and to reconcile
with the law of gravity,

...while waiting for the next
inevitable wedding.

Due to the constant flow and
financial weight of its patrons,

...the Vic Tanny is a heavy
and prosperous industry.

A must stop in the American's
long trip around marriage.

The next train to the next
honeymoon leaves from here.

A train that whistles,
pants, puffs, sweats, blows,

...and then brakes
and stops here again.

In Hong Kong,
where it's harder to get fat,

...about two million hungry Chinese
crowd these local markets,

...where, for about
100 liras a kilo,

...you can chose at will,

...crocodiles, toads, snakes,
turtles, lizards, etc.

Prices, in spite of
the great range of choice,

...are generally
considered excessive.

In New York, instead,
for big spenders,

...there is the Colony,
one of the most expensive...

...and sophisticated
restaurants in the world.

While the average American,
in order to survive,

...must settle for the usual steak,

...here, rich Americans can
fully enjoy this bonanza.

Fried ants, stuffed
roaches, butterfly eggs,

...battered worms, rattlesnakes,
muskrats, etc.

Most of the Colony's patrons

...are internationally famous
gourmets, politicians,

...diplomats, tycoons,
church leaders,

...aristocrats, etc., etc.

Here, a light breakfast
costs about $20.00,

...about 12,000 liras.

But, considering the exceptional
rarity and taste of the food,

...the price is usually
thought to be fair.

To open a store like this
in Singapore,

...where snake is the national
dish, is always a hassle.

Malaysian customers are very
picky and before they decide...

...what to buy, they always
choose meticulously.

In order to really be edible,
snakes must have innumerable...

...prerogatives: weight, length,
color, age, skin conditions,

...a particular season for each
race, etc., etc.

The Malaysians,
who know them all,

...once they choose their snakes,

...don't lose track
of them for a moment.

It is estimated that,
out of 100 sold snakes,

...at least 50 are discarded
as totally inedible,

...and are regularly shipped...

...to American
and European gourmets.

There is a little village in
the Abbruzzi where snakes...

...are part of an ancient
and gentle tradition.

At Cucullo, on Saint Dominick's
Day, the statue of the saint...

...is carried in this procession.

And the believers follow it...

...with their hands full of
these harmless creatures.

In ancient times,
as the legend goes,

...the valleys of this region
were infested with vipers,

...which the saint,
with the power of his love,

...made harmless by depriving
them of their poison.

Beyond its pagan aspect
and its unusual folklore,

...the ceremony reveals
an ancient and deep...

...act of faith toward goodness.

The name of the village
is Nocera Tirinese,

...in the region of Calabria.

The day is a Good Friday,

...and the police are trying...

...in vain to implement
the priest's request.

He's been trying for
a few years to convince

the believers to give up
the ritual, the "battienti".

The "battienti" perpetuated
through the centuries...

...a tradition whose
origins are obscure.

On every Good Friday,
they flagellate their legs...

...using wooden disks
full of fragments of glass,

...and run to spread
their blood on the streets

...where, in a few hours,
the procession,

...with a crucifix,
will pass by.

Nocera Tirinese is a small,
hidden village in Calabria.

It's their way to exalt
Christ's flagellation.

These girls, all between
16 and 20 years old,

...who parade in the streets
of Sydney,

...belong to the Life
Savers Girl Association,

...that is, the girls
who rescue people...

...who are about to drown
in the Pacific Ocean.

So now the Australians
have two Armies:

The famous Salvation Army,
whose goal has been,

...for a long time, saving souls,

...and this one,
more recently established,

...whose goal is saving the body.

But, to avoid unpleasant
misunderstandings,

...the two armies have been
given different uniforms.

Today, the Association
celebrates, on Manley Beach,

...a decade since its formation
with a big display.

Of course,
under the circumstances,

...the rescues are imaginary,
therefore, any reference...

...to real drowned people
is purely coincidental.

But the most interesting
phase of the rescue...

...is undoubtedly the CPR,

...a treatment judged as
very beneficial by all those...

...who have received it.

On these beaches, the physical
importance of the life savers...

...speaks for itself.

The ocean is tricky
and the young Australians...

...are getting more and more
reckless each day.

For 4 days, this long stream
of small white flakes...

...has been leading us toward
our next adventure.

They are migrating butterflies,

...killed by the radioactivity
of these waters.

We are in the Pacific Ocean,

...a few miles
from the Bikini atoll.

Ten years ago,
after the explosion...

...of the last American H-bomb,

...a few types of birds
which used to stay...

...in their underground nests
only during the brooding,

...learned that,
if they wanted to survive,

...they must no longer come out.

Such an instinct, caused
by a long forgotten event,

...was transmitted to
the following generations.

And now these birds, rather
than coming out of their holes,

...let themselves be captured.

But this is just one sign
of the dramatic alteration...

...of the fauna
in this archipelago.

Everywhere,

...animals seem to mistrust
their natural habitat.

Even some fish,
like this particular specimen,

...which can usually
live out of the water

...only for a very short time,

...not only have learned
to leave the polluted...

...and radioactive ocean
for many hours a day,

...but they even migrated
to the top of the trees.

Thousand of eggs
that will never hatch...

...cover the surface of the atolls.

They are the eggs of sea gulls
and other birds.

Sterile eggs that died
before they were even laid.

This sea bird went out
looking for food,

...but every night,
it still comes back...

...to sit on them.

The atom killed the seed
of life in the eggs.

Atomic contamination,
even more tragically,

...destroyed the sense of
orientation in the sea turtle.

Tired and lost,
rather than toward the sea,

...the animal walks inland,

...where it will be killed
by heat and fatigue.

Some eggs of the barret
hatched on this island...

...and the chicks watch
the turtle's agony in amazement.

The turtle, like in a mirage,
believes it's back in the sea.

Hundreds of turtles
die every day...

...in this hot desert of sand.

The barrets nest inside
the big skeletons.

The little ones look for
some meat among the bones.

The natives of the Malay
islands bury their dead...

...in this immense
underwater cemetery.

Their religion teaches
that the sea washes the bodies...

...and frees them from sin.

Only during the day are these
waters empty and still.

At night, the sharks
rush in to perpetrate...

...their devastating action.

They only leave the bones,
which the friends...

...and families of the dead
arrange, with macabre pity,

...among the bizarre
coral branches.

In these waters, the sharks
of the Malay coast learned...

...how to feed on human flesh,

...and become man eaters.

Catching man eaters is
the only resource in Raiputh,

...a village on the Malay coast.

Fishermen who were disabled
by the sharks' bites...

...pile up in the sun
dried fins on the beach.

They will sell them
to rich Chinese communities,

...where they are thought to have
a strong aphrodisiac power.

Every day in Raiputh,
a fisherman doesn't come back,

...or returns in this condition.

But the village is poor, and the
Chinese pay well for their vice.

So the sacrifice goes on.

The only alternative to despair
and pain is revenge.

Today there has been
another victim.

In these waters,
a 12-year-old boy...

...has been devoured by a shark.

Today the fishermen of Raiputh
give up their prey.

They give it back to the sea,

...with a poisoned sea-urchin
stuck in its throat.

It will suffer at least
for one week before it will die.

In the Roman cemetery
of the Capuchins,

...death has been assigned
a decorative task.

A few centuries ago,
maybe the monks wanted...

...to give this place
a sense of immortality.

In spite of its gruesome
results, this work shows...

...a certain sense of beauty,
which is always motivated by love.

Love that survives death,
death that survives love.

MARIO AND INES

Still in Rome,
on the Tiberina island,

...the "Red Sacks" brotherhood
keeps carrying out its mission.

The "Red Sacks" brotherhood
started around the 1600s,

...on the initiative
of some Romans who,

...during the plague, wanted
to bury the abandoned bodies...

...of the poor and the unknown.

Nowadays,
after so many centuries,

...the "Red Sacks" still look
after their mortal remains,

...the sole but eloquent evidence
of the old compassion.

Protecting the bones
from the ravages of the time...

...is the task of some local
families who gather here...

...once a week on Fridays
to work and to pray.

Just like these Germans
from Hamburg,

...let's drown the memory of
so many cemeteries in beer.

Instead of focusing
on the cult of death,

...in this happy German beer-house
on Reeperbahn Strasse,

...our attention turns now
to the cult of life.

Life as happiness
for being alive,

...freedom of spirit,
agility, physical health,

...sociability,
peacefulness, oblivion.

But most of all,

...complete absence of any memory
or thought of death.

Who said "Drink beer
and you'll live to be 100"?

But the Japanese in Tokyo,
after a very busy night,

...come straight in here
to get back in shape.

This is a Tokyo Onsen,

...a real service station
to wash and lube...

...those Japanese who got drunk
on the previous night.

The perfect functioning
of the company depends on...

...some hundred girls
in shorts and bras,

...so that the patrons,
besides so many tortures,

...can at least comfortably
enjoy the view.

According to a gentle
Japanese custom,

...the patrons must be naked.

We covered him according
to a gentle custom of ours.

Japan is maybe the cleanest
country in the world.

The rituals of bathing
and massage...

...are as old as its civilization.

In Tokyo, a city with
10 million people,

...6 million women tend every
day to 4 million men,

...pampering, flattering,
serving and rubbing them,

...in order to make their lives
more pleasant,

...according to an old,
admirable tradition.

So, Japanese men,

...with every inch of
their bodies taken care of,

...without the smallest
personal effort,

...can taste
the heavenly relaxation...

...that their god
will only grant them...

...in the afterlife.

Chinese men too,
give themselves up...

...to the hands of a woman on
the day of their last makeup.

They entrust
to her seductive arts...

...their uncertain fate to come.

Buddha is a wayward god,
very impressionable,

...and when he opens the gates
of the flowering garden,

...he cares more for the looks than
for the virtues of the dead.

This is the funeral
of a rich Chinese...

...in a temple of
the city of Macao.

Friends are bringing food
to his altar,

...so he can nourish himself
during his long trip.

Then they bow before
the mourning family.

In a corner,
a woman burns his money,

...which only this way
will be able to follow him...

...and preserve for him,
in heaven, what to every...

...Chinese is the utmost good
of this life and the other:

Wealth.

The heirs attend the sad ceremony
in tears.

Not only here in Singapore,
but in all Malaysia,

...the Chinese represent over
a third of the population.

Never tired to figure out
a thousand ways of making money,

...they are nonetheless famous
for their physical laziness.

They don't swim, run,
jump, or play soccer.

Like the Chinese
don't waste their money,

...they also don't waste
their energies,

...which they prefer
to use around the table...

...or in bed.

Between snacks, the Chinese
find the time to fill...

...their houses with children,
legitimate and illegitimate.

This guarantees a big bunch
of birthdays to celebrate...

...with abundant meals.

The Chinese celebrate
everything by eating:

Religious and national
holidays, business,

...a competitor's failure,

...an averted danger, births,

...and even death.

Here we're not allowed
to photograph.

We had to force
the situation to show you...

...Singapore's "home of the dead".

All the terminally ill
end up dwelling here,

...in this tragic hotel
for the dying.

The Chinese homes,
full with children,

...have no place for them.

Down the streets,
their relatives,

...relaxed and confident,
wait for their funeral.

If you don't die soon,
sing the Chinese,

...your good dinner gets cold.

If they see us eating,
say the Chinese,

...they'll get hungry too.

Death is still late,
and the Chinese urge the gods...

...with a dance.

For cars, the house
of the dead is America.

California kills three
of them every 2 hours.

They get dumped
in these cemeteries,

...but their remains
will not be eternal.

Compressed to save space,

...thousands of Fords, Chevrolets,
Chryslers, Oldsmobiles,

...Cadillacs, Lincolns, Buicks,
no longer need repair.

But they're not yet at the end
of their destiny.

Soon they will be shipped to the
great European car factories,

...where the modern mechanical
reincarnation...

...will bring them back
to life as cars,

...with a new, more humble
label: "economy vehicle".

Correction: not all of them
will come back as cars.

In Paris, in one of the most
respectable modern art galleries,

...we recognized the remains
of an old Ford,

...whose name was changed
into a charming...

"Esprit de la Carrosserie",
"Spirit of Chassis".

The price:
half a million francs.

The Czech painter
Yves Klein is ready.

Music gave him the thrill.

These models, covering
themselves with paint,

...are the human brushes
that soon Klein will use...

...to turn his creative
fever into art.

You may have guessed, by now,

...that Klein's favorite
color is blue.

Moreover, blue is his only form,
his only color.

Blue like his pictures that sell
like hot cakes in Paris.

Blue like the event that
our camera is approaching,

...which most venerable critics
consider as the utmost...

Klein masterpiece,
whose dominant color,

...any connoisseur may guess,
happens to be blue.

Dripping with blue,
the human brushes...

...leave their prints
on the canvas,

...while Klein guides
them from afar,

...with the energy of
his creative genius.

The work, which we had
the privilege to catch...

...in all the phases
of its creation,

...is on sale for only
4 million francs.

In search of tropical,
impressive views,

...and the picturesque aspects
of primitive life,

...three thousand American
tourists arrive in Honolulu.

Yearning for romantic
experiences and eager...

...to face
unexpected adventures,

...they will follow the program...

...of the "Hawaiian Travels
Organization" that,

...for only $4,000,
taxes included,

...organized for them ten days
of a "very exciting holiday,"

...as it is advertised
in the brochure,

...a vacation across a "tropical
dance and paradise of love."

The paradise of love and dance.

The first page of
the Hawaiian Travels'...

...long and detailed
program says that...

...the landing ceremony
will take place in a charming...

...Hawaiian atmosphere
and according to...

...the romantic customs
of this love island.

Therefore, the company's
management invites...

...the gentle ladies not to be
jealous of the innocent...

...attention that the splendid
Hawaiian girls...

...will direct to their husbands.

Soon after,
the company's photographer...

...provides the tourists
with their arrival souvenirs,

...which include,
according to the program,

...smiles and flowers leis
that the splendid...

...Hawaiian girls
lay on their guests...

...with amazing generosity.

The speaker is now informing
the tourists...

...of the most important customs
of this tropical paradise.

He says:

"Ladies and gentlemen,
fate has been generous with you..."

"...by giving you the privilege..."

"...to visit this island
before it is too late."

"The beautiful women
who are giving you..."

"...this charming performance
are the last specimens..."

"...of a race
that is disappearing."

"It's a pity you can't savor...

"...a bit of their
very sweet language."

They sing:

"Welcome, welcome,
strong and handsome white man."

"Welcome, welcome, seductive
and beautiful white woman."

"You will teach me the secret
of your elegance wherefore..."

"...you can seduce your men."

"I will teach you the secret
of my dance wherefore..."

"...I seduce mine."

"Come, come to learn the Hula."

"This, ladies and gentlemen,
is the Hula."

"You think it's too difficult?"

"Of course,
ladies and gentlemen,"

"...but nothing is impossible,
as Abraham Lincoln used to say."

"Look at that dancer.
She's the best on the island."

"But, ladies and gentlemen,
when she was a child,"

"...she was struck by polio,
and do you know what..."

"...had the power to free
her poor crippled limbs?"

"The Hula,
ladies and gentlemen."

"The Hula and her willpower."

They listened, clapped,
had fun and were moved,

...exactly as it was written
in the program.

And now that the program
prescribes a Hula lesson,

...they go to learn Hula,
nice and diligent.

This candid generation
of once hard workers now...

...believe in the Hula, in theirs
and other people's happiness,

...while they enjoy
a little murdering rest,

...with their first symptoms
of arthritis.

They still believe
in this tropical paradise...

...that they have destroyed
and where the only real,

...genuine native dance we can
still attend, is this one.

After six hours
of cold steel training,

...Sergeant Rhuba Narcktitle
is being made up as a woman.

The situation
is pretty embarrassing...

...for a fierce warrior who,
only a few years ago,

...during the war against
the Malaysian communists,

...decapitated 36 partisans.

But today is
a national holiday,

...and the tradition requires him
to celebrate it with a dance...

...in a woman's costume.

The fierce Gurkhas
live in the mountains of Nepal.

For one and half century,
they have been mercenaries...

...under the English empire.

According to tradition,
their celebration must be...

...attended by
all English officers,

...their commander-in-chief
included.

Seeing them in this circumstance
and dressed like women,

...nobody would believe
they are the fiercest

...and most faithful soldiers
in the world.

Still, during the last war,
when they were captured...

...by the Japanese, 300 of them
preferred to be decapitated...

...rather than betray
their promise of loyalty...

...to her British Majesty.

Today is the anniversary
of that memorable day,

...and the Gurkhas celebrate it
with great solemnity.

This time too, the bull's head
has fallen with one strike.

The honor of
the battalion is safe.

The spirit of the fallen
Singapore soldiers is at peace.

The English officers
watch with satisfaction.

The English colonel
encircles the heads...

...of the champions
with a white strap,

...a symbol of strength,
fidelity and bravery.

About a month later,
in Portugal, a few bulls...

...take their revenge
goring and killing 4 people,

...and injuring 18.

We are at Vila Franca
de Xira, where the people...

...happily celebrate
the traditional "Forcada".

Later on, in the arena,

...the nobles, too, offer
proof of their courage.

On these mountains in
the Garoka region in New Guinea...

...lies the border between
history and prehistory.

Here we found the last cave man,
still armed with a club.

He doesn't even know metal,
he lives in the unreachable...

...caves of the mountain with
his women and children,

...he's as wild and suspicious
as a beast.

We don't know how
he'd react if he spotted...

...our camera pointed at him.

Rather than by a camera,
these images seem to be...

...caught by a huge telescope
pointed into time.

They could be the shadow,
the photographic memory...

...of the stone age.

This day, this moment,
goes back 4 or 5 thousand years.

Nothing particular is happening.

Now as in the past,
life goes on under the eternal...

...guide of their instinct
for work, leisure, children,

...food, human contact
and an orderly social life.

50 miles north of there,
a Catholic mission marks...

...the last outpost
of civilization.

Five missionaries have been
killed in recent years...

...before the sound
of a bell could awake,

...through these old valleys,
the instinct of faith.

Here, after hundreds of
centuries spent in the dark,

...men discover, for the first
time, that there's a doubt,

...a question they cannot answer,

...sense of anguish,
unknown so far,

...which is not hunger
or thirst or physical pain,

...but that hurts,
nonetheless, like a wound.

It's the anguish that follows
men from the beginning...

...to the end of world.

But they still don't know it.

Only yesterday
they discovered the world...

...and themselves, and today
they need to believe,

...to hope that they'll be better
in a better world.

But one fine day,

...the aboriginal comes down
from the mountains and,

...as he approaches the coast,

...his experience runs across
hundred of centuries...

...in a few days.

Here, at the gates of
Port Moresby airport,

...where the aboriginal ends
his journey through the time...

...and where he cannot find
a reason to all the things...

...he learned,
but saw too quickly,

...the "Cargo Cult" has
burgeoned inside of him,

...that is, the cult of
these cargo airplanes.

Along the great oceanic
route between...

...Hong Kong and Australia,
flown every day by tens...

...of cargo airplanes
that stop here in Moresby,

...the Cargo Cult has a temple
almost everywhere.

Here is one,

...with the altar built at
an altitude of 3,000 meters.

The small airplane
is at one end of the track.

On the other end,
the control tower.

The native of
the Rozo and Mekeo tribes...

...wait for an airplane,
attracted by their bamboo decoy,

...to land on this track.

To them, airplanes
come from heaven,

...sent by their ancestors,
but the white men,

...those cunning thieves,
hijack them...

...and lure them
in the big Port Moresby trap.

Build your airport too,
says the Cargo Cult doctrine,

...and wait with faith.

Sooner or later,
your ancestors will discover...

...the treachery, and will lead
the airplanes to your track.

Then you'll be rich and happy.

They wait motionless,
scanning the sky.

There is no other world
beyond these mountains,

...so the big birds that fly up
there can only come from heaven.

In heaven,
there are only their dead...

...and only their dead
could build them.

The spirits of the dead
do not know the whites,

...so all those wonderful things
carried by the airplanes...

...are sent to them by
their dead ancestors.

They destroyed their villages,
they abandoned their jobs,

...but here they are,

...still waiting with faith
at the gates of heaven.