Tanna Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.5
Overall		4.5

Tanna Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman March 17, 2017

William Shakespeare’s immortal tragic romance Romeo and Juliet has given birth to innumerable film versions, both those directly based on the play (Romeo and Juliet, Romeo and Juliet, Romeo and Juliet, Romeo and Juliet, Romeo + Juliet), or the basic Shakespeare plot ported over to other media like ballet ( Prokofiev: Romeo and Juliet, Prokofiev: Romeo & Juliet, Prokofiev: Romeo & Juliet, Prokofiev: Romeo & Juliet) or classical “program” music (Tchaikovsky: Juliet & Romeo, which in this version has actually been further transformed into a ballet). A number of properties have taken the basic idea of doomed lovers from different families and/or groups and made something completely new out of it, as in such disparate entries as West Side Story and Warm Bodies. (Those wanting something approaching a traditionalist approach toward Shakespeare’s original might like the Royal Shakespeare Company’s version of Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet.) Tanna is in some ways one of the most fanciful reimaginings of some of the central tenets of the Romeo and Juliet story, though it’s notable that the film’s story is (supposedly) based on a real life incident. Unless you have a particular interest in Pacific Island nations or maybe were a fan of some Survivor seasons located there, chances are you’re not overly familiar with the island(s) nation of Vanuatu, and probably even less familiar with one of its islands, Tanna, a place “discovered” by Captain Cook in 1774, though of course it had been settled by natives for literally millennia before Europeans found it.

When A Man Called Ove was released on Blu-ray, I let my geek flag fly high by mentioning how I follow the announcements of the “shortlists” for the (then) upcoming Academy Award nominations, and how A Man Called Ove had made that initial cut in the Best Foreign Language Film category, but that I questioned whether it was off kilter enough to make it to the “final round” (meaning the ultimate nominations). A Man Called Ove did indeed end up being nominated, along with Tanna, a film which on its atavistic face would seem to be exactly the sort of provocative but undeniably compelling material that would not just pretty much guarantee a nomination but even an outright win. Alas, neither A Man Called Ove nor Tanna triumphed this year at the Oscars, with both losing to The Salesman.

There’s an almost anthropological aspect to Tanna, reportedly the first feature film ever shot in Vanuatu, and one which uses Tanna’s native Yakel tribe members as its cast, obviously offering the first professional film roles (or any kind of roles) to a group of people who still live in primitive if not unsophisticated conditions. As is documented in some of the really interesting supplementary material included on this Blu-ray, filmmakers Martin Butler and Bentley Dean “embedded” themselves in the tribe for months before the actual filming started, becoming familiar not just with the story they were going to try to tell, but with tribal traditions and customs, a word which is morphed into the pidgin English equivalent Kastom in the film. (Those who find this background interesting may want to try to track down Rolf de Heer's Ten Canoes, which was filmed under somewhat similar circumstances with another indigenous tribe. de Heer is thanked in this film's credits and Tanna shares Ten Canoes' editor Tania Nehme.)

While the underlying idea of forbidden love is part and parcel of Tanna, in a way the film turns Romeo and Juliet on its head by having its putative lovers, Wawa (Marie Wawa) and Dain (Mungau Dain) come from the same tribe, albeit one with a certain “class” system that makes their eventual marriage unlikely if not impossible. However, some conflict with a neighboring tribe ultimately puts even this improbable eventuality at peril, with Wawa promised to the son of the other tribe’s chief in a desperate gambit to procure peace.

That’s really the gist of Tanna’s seemingly minimalist plot, but this précis hardly touches at the depth of content this remarkable film offers. The film is rooted in a keen observational stance of tribal life in modern times. Some of the subtext of the film deals with Wawa’s official emergence into womanhood and the rites associated with that passage, but there’s perhaps a subliminal nod toward nascent “feminism” (for want of a better term) that is beginning to be experienced by some of the women in the tribe. While the film has a probably unavoidably elegiac feel, both in terms of the central tale of the lovers but also in terms of tribal life itself, something that’s also unavoidably suffused with melancholy, Tanna is an undeniably uplifting experience which suggests tribal customs are elastic enough to bend, or at least be bent by insistent tribe members, to meet the needs of a modern world.

Tanna Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Tanna is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Lightyear Entertainment with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. Several online sources credit the Canon C300 as the camera the two person crew utilized for the shoot, something that may come as a surprise given the gritty, almost Super 16, appearance of much of the presentation, evidently achieved in post (take a look at screenshot 9 for one example). Aside from that surprise factor, this transfer offers a beautifully lush and nicely saturated accounting of the forested palette, one that is awash in a glut of green tones. Fine detail is excellent in close-ups, offering precise looks at the straw skirts the women wear or some other elements like textured hair. There are occasional deficits in shadow detail, though contrast is very strong and one of the key darker scenes, at the lip of a volcano, offers rather good shadow definition.

Tanna Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Tanna's main menu doesn't offer an Audio option, and so some viewers may be disappointed when the film defaults to a Dolby Digital 5.1 mix in the tribal Nauvhal dialect. However, there is a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track available on the disc and accessible through the Audio button on your remote. This is a really winning track, especially given the on the fly filming techniques that were utilized. Regular surround activity includes the lovely gurgling of streams that wander through the tribal areas or other ambient environmental elements like breezes wafting through the trees. A really haunting score by Antony Partos also contributes to some effective surround activity. Dialogue is presented cleanly and is accompanied by forced English subtitles.

Note: As this review is being published, our database is being updated to include the rare Nauvhal dialect. Specs will be updated appropriately once that happens.

Tanna Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Bonus Programs

  The Story of Tanna (1080p; 6:39) is a really interesting if too short piece documenting some of the background of the film, including the source story and the "embedding" of the film crew with the Yakela tribe. There's some really fun footage of the tribe in their native costumes enjoying the Venice Film Festival.

  
  

  Cyclone (1080p; 2:18) documents the horrifying effects of the storm that beset Tanna after the film had wrapped.

  
  

  Going to Venice (1080p; 00:50) repeats some of the Venice Film Festival footage.

  
  

  The Making of Tanna (1080p; 2:14) has some enjoyable candid footage.

  
  

  What Does the Tribe Think? (1080p; 3:37) offers some tribe member reactions to the film.

• Theatrical Trailer (1080p; 2:11)

Tanna Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Tanna is a beautifully wrought and ultimately almost devastatingly effective meditation on a number of issues, but it works through some fairly thorny subject matter with what amounts to almost ebullience, despite a tragic undertow of sorts. Gorgeous to look at and listen to, the film's seemingly simple storyline only partially cloaks some really profound statements about love, tradition and the changes that modern life force upon everyone. Technical merits are strong, and Tanna definitely comes Highly recommended.