Matai Samoa

The film is a valuable treatment of archival footage that George Milner shot while conducting fieldwork in 1955 and 1959. The footage (18 minutes of the total film) focuses on the traditional Samoan way of life. Then the footage is discussed and analysed by Christina Toren, a South Pacific specialist, and Reverend Lalomilo Kamu, a Samoan scholar. The interview gives a rare opportunity to hear a scholar from the filmed group comment on and explain the symbolism behind the pictures.