RASKOLS

Sally Browing
Australia 1995 | 54 Min. | 16 mm, OmeU

RASKOLS is a crit­i­cal­ly acclaimed doc­u­men­tary about the crim­i­nal phe­nom­e­non known as raskolism and its under­ly­ing human rights issues in Papua New Guinea. The film looks at the vio­lent behav­iour of raskol gangs and their grow­ing anger against a small gov­er­ment elite which is jeop­ar­dis­ing the sus­tain­able human devel­op­ment of a whole nation. Raskols are usu­al­ly mar­gin­alised people who are attempt­ing to par­tic­i­pate in cash econ­o­my in a soci­ety where pres­tige is based on one’s abil­i­ty to par­tic­i­pate in cer­e­mo­ni­al exchange. The film looks at the lives of Night-fox and Kau­peke gangs of the West­ern High­lands as they try to make sense of their tra­di­tion­al part, their crim­i­nal actions and their future.