Keep the River on Your Right: A Modern Cannibal Tale

 

Keep The River on Your Right

    A documentary directed by David and Laurie Shapiro tells a tale about a man, Tobias, who was lost in the forest of Peru. He was left to live among the people and learn their ways. He was and still is called a cannibal to this day because as the Harakambut tribes culture, they would raid villages and eat the people they killed. They also show how he lived with the people of Asmat and how they were also cannibals. 

    A scene in the documentary that got to me was actually one of the opening scenes. Tobias is on a boat with tourists who go around the islands in Indonesia. They all get off the boat to watch a ritual. The people in this village have a ritual for young boys to be circumcised. They show needles filled with substances and little boys crying. Tobias was narrating how scared the boys looked with all these people around looking down at them. The boys were held down on the table and the doctors went to work. They actually showed the boys being circumcised and it was pretty disturbing to watch. 

    I was surprised about how openly Tobias talked about being gay or a homosexual. He described having sexual relations with a certain member of the group of the Asmat people. When they were reunited he was first, surprised he was still alive but, they had interacted with each other like they were still lovers even after not seeing each other for years. I was also surprised to see in both tribes how eager the people of the tribe were to help Tobias. Tobias was 76 in the film and they were in the jungle and climbing on very rough terrain or sketchy infrastructure. They held his hand and guided him, they'd pick him up if he slipped, helped him out of a boat, helped him up a ramp, and much more.

    I still have some questions like how much of an impact did Toby have on these people for them to remember him 45 years later. I also just want to know how he actually lived in the tribe. I wish there was more film of him actually living in the tribe and not Tobias just revisiting. 

    We should avoid research in our summary because other than the documentary, different websites can have skewed views or opinions about the topic at hand. So, it is best to stick to the documentary itself because this is where all the information is coming from and the information given in this documentary should be the only information provided in the summary. What the directors want to show, is what they want their viewers to know.