I posted this earlier today to my personal blog, and after watching this I absolutely had to make this more available to a wider audience. It’s easily the most compelling non-fiction documentary I’ve seen since watching The Devil and Daniel Johnston or MSNBC’s Witness to Jonestown, which might seem like two very radically different documentaries to be bringing up, but there you are. I’ve never experienced white-knuckled tension while watching a documentary on google video, that’s for sure. Seriously, watch this from beginning to end. The footage in this documentary went on to influence global policy at the United Nations:
This documentary film about a mountain ethnic group in South East Asia, the Prisoners of a White God, tells the story about a researcher who investigates the activities of christian missionaries and international development among the Akha peoples.
Prisoners of a White God received the Grand Prixes at RAFF Film Festival, at Ecofilm Festival, at Festival of the Mountain Films, at “It’s Up To You” Film Festival and the Main Prize at Ekotopfilm in 2008! Published Date: 2008 Producer: Tomas Ryska Genre: Tribal / Thailand and Laos.
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I really feel for the Akahs and I liked this film too, but let’s be honest, the end of this film is highly exaggerated. I really do not believe the part about the missionaries coming to kill him. He has no footage, gives no names, and miraculously gets to his plane.
Missionaries are a problem but the are not known for being murderers. They are there to make money and marching Christian soldiers but this man beefed up his story quite a lot. If what he said was true, he never would have made it to his plane. I think he takes away a lot of the credibility of what is valid and important in this film because of this obvious tactic. Just my take.