
Jago: A Life Underwater
2015 · Film · documentary · 48 min
Directed by James Reed
Jago tells the story of an 80 year old sea nomad called Rohani who has spent his life plying the waters of South East Asia’s Coral Triangle. The story is told entirely from Rohani’s perspective, against the spectacular backdrop of the Togian Islands, and recreates events that capture the turning points in his life, as a hunter and as a man. We were able to bring Rohani’s past experiences to life by working closely with his family and friends in the village where he grew up. These are the people you see representing Rohani in the film at various stages in his life. Story telling is a big part of Bajau culture, and a way of preserving traditions through generations, so everyone was very enthusiastic about what we were trying to do and brought lots of ideas of their own, especially Rohani. Although he had never had a camera pointed at him, it certainly wasn’t the first time he’d sat around telling stories. We were just lucky that he let us capture it on film.
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1 comment on Hacker News
Jago: A life underwater [1]. It's been a while so I'll refer to the synopsis [2]: "JAGO: A LIFE UNDERWATER is the story of Rohani - an 80-year-old hunter who hobbles around on land but who dives like a fish on a single breath descending to great depths for several minutes to stalk his prey like a true underwater predator."
I have found the life story of Rohani incredibly humbling and his connection to the sea unique. He lived on it. He lived in it. The images pictured this relation in such a way that left me mesmerized. The human aspect of the documentary is worth it by itself, but if you want some stunning underwater images, you are in for a treat.
[1] https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5141686/ [2] https://www.amazon.com/Jago-Life-Underwater-James-Reed/dp/B01MSUBKJ3