Mondo Magic

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• 1975
• 1 hr 40 mins
• Documentary

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• Watchlist

This film is about tribes in Africa and South America who turn toward magic as a means of survival and way of life. The Mundari tribe in Africa herd cattle but do not slaughter them for meat. They make use of the cattle urine as an insect repellent and shower underneath their cows. They also use the dung as a body covering to further thwart insects and pest. The cattle are so prized to the Mundari that they are treated as a member of the family and a number of Mundari are shown puffing into the cattle's vagina to encourage an early birth. A hunt is then shown where the Mundari are able to bring down mighty Elephants and Giraffes with ease. Yet unlike sport hunters they hunt merely for survival and pay respect to the beast before eating them. The Dinka tribe is another group who praise their cattle but they bleed the cows and mix it in their milk to help sustain tribes during periods of hunger. They also migrate to different areas along the Nile as to not over consume their pastures. The camera then moves to the South American continent where The Yanawana people are shown in their full glory. They sleep in simple hammocks and allow their dogs every freedom. One woman is even shown suckling a puppy along with her own child. Hunters prepare to catch their meal and a feast of spiders, crab and tapir is enjoyed by all. The Yanawana hold a gathering each year where the shamans drink a mixture of the crushed skulls of their dead shamans to transfer the soul and release it to the heavens. Psychic healers in the Philippines are shown next, they appear to do surgery without leaving scars and impress those around them. Christians are then shown self inflicting wounds as a form of penance to their saints. The cameras move back to Africa where children in Ethiopia have their Uvula removed for no real reason known to us. An Arab woman takes her daughter to a woman called a Marabou and has her checked to insure she is still pure, others use her services to heal themselves with holy messages from the Koran. The final scene has a tribe which takes woman and uses them as fertility gods, they help insure fertility and a big family.