10:02:55:00 10:04:28:11

LOUIS SARNO:
I love the Mumbongo. This is a beautiful stream. This was the first place where I lived in the forest, camped with the Bayaka, was at the Mumbongo. Right around here someplace. I had some great walks with the Bayaka in the forest. Probably one of the best was when Goma’s grandfather, Awungi said, “I’m going to show you my forest. This is my forest where I’ve roamed since I was a kid. And someone like Awungi was the most incredible man in many ways that I’ve ever met. He could live in the forest forever. He never would have to go out, you know. He spent long times in the forest. He was showing how he did it. Because we didn’t have manioc with us. We had a little salt. That’s the one thing we brought from the village. And we just wandered through the forest and we were eating like kings. Bush pig with the natural garlic-flavoured thing you get in the forest, a fruit called mungimba. And cocoa leaves and sometimes mushrooms and then honey for dessert, honeycomb. Wild honeycomb. The most delicious, fragrant honey in the world, packed with pollen from different flowers. Man, it’s like some kind of candy. You’re going slowly, ever deeper and deeper into the forest over a period of months, just moving farther out and farther out and farther out. That was great. 

10:04:56:24 10:05:59:22

LOUIS SARNO:
The other thing is, when I used to record, staying in one spot just completely quiet: you see things, you know. Animals come up to you. You have encounters, but they’re the ones that encounter you. You don’t encounter them, you know. You’re already there. And I’ve had lots of encounters with animals, including with a gorilla. And this gorilla – maybe it didn’t know what humans were – but this gorilla just sat down about 20, 25 feet away from me for half an hour, without any kind of reaction. Just like it wanted company. It came on up this elephant trail and there was no undergrowth. And there I was and I was scared. I would have run away, but I had all my microphones around and everything. Even though I knew you’re not supposed to run away, I probably would have. It just stayed there for half an hour without any kind of reaction. And then got up and walked on. It was really strange. 

10:06:55:16 10:06:59:07

MEN:
We're not finding anything to eat here.
-No animals.

10:07:01:06 10:07:02:21

MAN:
The forest is sick.

10:07:04:07 10:07:07:21

MAN:
There's no game here!
-The forest has been cursed.

10:07:08:00 10:07:09:16

MAN:
Always bad luck!

10:07:13:01 10:07:15:19

MAN:
Let's go, there's only hunger here.

10:07:45:15 10:09:46:02

JIM JARMUSH:
I remember him coming back after he’d spent the first long period of time with the Bayaka and I saw a change in him. I could see his obsessive love for the music, his interest in the culture, the place. I could tell he’d found something. I didn’t know it would endure his whole life, but it has anyway. I love Louis as a friend and I just feel very close to him. It’s funny, no matter how long we don’t see each other, it’s immediately always the same feeling. We’re right back where we were. There’s no reacquaintance required ever in our friendship. He was not - like all of us… We didn’t quite know where we belonged yet. And you know, we’re kind of outsiders and always will be. Not trusting the economic system, the political system, the social system, even the infrastructure. Seeing how ridiculously greedy and self-centred people with power are. Being young and not wanting people telling you what to do. Not wanting parental authorities or police authorities or governments or borders or territories or nationalism. You know, it means not believing in the kind of racism and apartheid that we still have in America, that people are in denial of. You know, this is kind of a form of apartheid here. And it’s true in Europe and it’s true even in South America. It means not feeling comfortable with what we’re told: “This is the way the world is.”

10:09:58:01 10:10:00:21

TRIBE:
Oh woman!
You should have taken a better rope!

10:10:01:02 10:10:05:22

TRIBE:
Help me, people! Help me!
You loser! You asshole! You dick!

10:10:12:06 10:10:14:16

TRIBE:
My back hurts! My back!

10:10:15:15 10:10:18:19

TRIBE:
My husband,
climb that tree and get me honey!

10:10:28:15 10:10:30:08

TRIBE:
You'll kill yourself.

10:10:31:06 10:10:35:01

TRIBE:
My husband, climb that tree.

10:10:38:15 10:10:40:00

TRIBE:
I've hurt my stomach.

10:10:42:18 10:10:44:03

TRIBE:
My stomach hurts!

10:11:05:16 10:11:09:18

RADIO:
And more on that a bit later on,
here on World Update.

10:11:09:24 10:11:11:04

LOUIS SARNO:
My favourite programme: World Update.

10:11:11:08 10:11:49:17

RADIO:
On the BBC World Service let’s turn to the rather less comfortable situation on the Eurozone crisis. A new government headed by Lucas Papademos will take office in Greece today. A tough job: his country is threatened with bankruptcy and the challenge of getting his parliament to ratify a 130-billion-euro – that’s 178 billion… … has been developed in Uganda. Let’s have a quick look at the numbers: the euro at the moment is up against the dollar, a dollar thirty-six point five US cents for a euro. Against the yen, a dollar gets seventy-seven point four…

10:11:50:14 10:12:56:22

LOUIS SARNO:
The most remarkable example of not being in touch with the world was when I was in the forest once for three months and I came out. I didn’t have a radio back then, but one of the Bayaka was working for the project and he’d bought a boom box and had the radio on. He was sitting in front of my house – which was up at Yendoube then – twiddling the knobs and he just happened to stop at the BBC and it was in English and I suddenly heard and it was the end of a news report. And the sentence I heard was: Mr Gorbachev was the president of the former Soviet Union. And you know, I didn’t know that there was a “former Soviet Union”. When I got into the forest, there was still the Soviet Union. So I was like, “Wait a second. What? What?” Then he twirled the knobs again and I was going, “Wait, wait! Go back, go back!” But then the news programme was over. It was something else, like Outlook, or some stupid programme like that. So I didn’t know. I didn’t hear it for another hour and then they didn’t refer to it because it was something that had happened already a while ago. So there wasn’t any news item about it, but it became clear to me that the Soviet Union didn’t exist anymore. 

10:13:21:18 10:13:24:10

LOUIS SARANO AND MAN:
Where are the others, hunting?
-Yes.

10:13:24:24 10:13:27:21

SPEAKER UNCLEAR:
The women, too.

10:13:34:09 10:13:37:03

MEN:
Quick quick quick!
Put it up!

10:13:41:06 10:13:45:00

MAN:
Let's get the tarp up.
Get on with it.

10:13:49:13 10:13:52:08

LOUIS SARNO:
Please, help me out of here.

10:13:55:06 10:13:58:11

MAN:
The rain came through.

10:14:02:17 10:14:07:10

MAN * LOUIS SARNO:
Samedi, make room for your father.
-Can you move over a little?

10:14:10:02 10:14:15:19

LOUIS * MAN:
I have to get out of the rain.
-Yes, Louis, you are right.

10:15:37:00 10:15:39:12

SAMEDI'S MOTHER:
Samedi? Samedi!

10:15:39:23 10:15:41:18

SAMEDI'S MOTHER:
Go and get me some water!

10:15:43:13 10:15:44:23

SAMEDI'S MOTHER:
Samedi!

10:15:48:24 10:15:51:20

SAMEDI + SAMEDI'S MOTHER:
There's water left, Mama!
-I'll use that to wash later.

10:15:54:12 10:15:55:22

SAMEDI'S MOTHER:
Come on!

10:15:58:05 10:16:00:07

SAMEDI + SAMEDI'S MOTHER:
Did you catch the armadillo?
-No.

10:16:08:08 10:16:11:16

LOUIS SARNO:
Do you want to stick your head out?

10:16:20:24 10:16:22:24

LOUIS SARNO:
You're still eating
that little ball of manioc?

10:16:23:08 10:16:24:16

MAN:
Yes, it's only a small ball!

10:16:24:20 10:16:26:04

LOUIS SARNO:
Why don't you eat it up fast?

10:16:26:08 10:16:28:03

MAN:
We take our time and chew it an hour.

10:16:28:08 10:16:32:15

MEN.
Thank God, the ball isn't bigger!
-Or we'd need two hours!

10:16:36:22 10:17:12:02

LOUIS SARNO 2
The forest, the ambiance, the little bits of music you hear, the happiness of all the people around me. The excitement because people are going hunting, being with the children that I love. So, it’s the whole thing. Who knows how much longer this kind of life will go on? I feel privileged to have lived a better part of my life in this world. I hope this is not the end of it. 

10:17:19:01 10:17:24:02

WOMEN:
Be careful with your eyes.
-The splinters are dangerous.

10:17:25:01 10:17:26:17

SAMEDI'S MOTHER:
We still need coco leaves.

10:17:26:21 10:17:30:12

SAMEDI'S MOTHER.
Let's cut the wood,
then we'll search for leaves.

10:17:32:04 10:17:36:24

SAMEDI'S MOTHER.
Just break this branch!

10:17:39:02 10:17:43:13

SAMEDI'S MOTHER:
It was not my idea back then
to get married.

10:17:43:17 10:17:45:08

SAMEDI'S MOTHER:
It was Louis' idea.

10:17:45:14 10:17:50:20

WOMAN/SAMEDI'S MOTHER:
He is the man!
-A woman cannot declare her love first.

10:17:51:03 10:17:53:21

SAMEDI'S MOTHER:
The man must do it first.

10:17:56:06 10:18:00:04

SAMEDI'S MOTHER:
Even though his skin is not black,
he's still one of us, a Moaka.

10:18:00:08 10:18:04:08

SAMEDI'S MOTHER:
He cannot turn black.

10:18:04:12 10:18:08:12

WOMAN + SAMEDI'S MOTHER:
Our language lives in his head.
-He speaks Yaka very well.

10:18:11:00 10:18:14:17

SAMEDI'S MOTHER:
Samedi grew up in Louis' hands.

10:18:14:21 10:18:20:00

SAMEDI'S MOTHER:
Louis has made a good boy out of him.

10:18:21:02 10:18:25:13

WOMAN:
It makes us happy that Louis and Samedi
are going on a journey.

10:18:25:24 10:18:27:19

WOMAN:
We are very happy.

10:18:28:15 10:18:31:03

WOMAN:
This journey will do Samedi good.

10:18:31:13 10:18:36:15

SAMEDI'S MOTHER:
I cannot imagine that country
as I have never been there.

10:18:38:07 10:18:44:06

SAMEDI'S MOTHER:
It'll be my son's job to tell me
how it looks over there.

10:18:45:21 10:18:48:23

SAMEDI'S MOTHER:
All these years
Louis never wanted to take me there.

10:18:50:07 10:18:54:07

SAMEDI'S MOTHER:
I would have liked to see America
and meet Louis' mother.

10:18:55:02 10:18:57:08

SAMEDI'S MOTHER:
But Louis never gave me the chance.

10:18:57:19 10:19:01:11

WOMAN:
As long as Samedi is there,
his mother won't go into the forest.

10:19:01:15 10:19:06:07

WOMAN:
She and I will stay in the village
and wait for him.

10:19:06:17 10:19:11:24

WOMAN:
We won't eat any honey
until Louis and Samedi return.

10:19:12:15 10:19:16:20

WOMAN:
And no wild manioc,
which we love so much.

10:19:17:04 10:19:22:21

WOMAN:
When they leave, we will all come
to give them our blessings.

10:19:30:06 10:19:32:09

SAMEDI'S MOTHER:
A storm is coming.

10:19:34:24 10:19:36:22

LOUIS SARNO:
At least you get a small sound out!

10:19:38:10 10:19:41:05

LOUIS SARNO:
Don't put it so close to your lips,
more like this.

10:19:43:14 10:19:44:24

LOUIS SARNO:
I can't.

10:19:45:09 10:19:46:19

LOUIS SARNO:
Look, try like this.

10:19:49:22 10:19:51:07

LOUIS SARNO:
It's really difficult!

10:20:00:03 10:20:46:15

LOUIS SARNO 3
Look, try like this. It's really difficult!

I recorded a lot of flute music. There were a few players we had originally and one by one they died and there’s no more flute. And it is really beautiful to hear at night when you’re in bed because that’s how they play it. At two in the morning, the flute player would get up and he’d just wander around the camp or the village playing the flute. So you’d hear it in the distance when it sounds like a yodelling woman and then it comes nearby and then it goes in the distance again. They’d do that for a couple of hours every night, you know. It used to be like that. It was great.
And they all had their little signature things. The best player… my favourite player called Mombole used to go.

10:20:52:16 10:20:56:18

LOUIS SARNO:
That’s how he ended his songs.

10:21:02:22 10:21:05:16

LOUIS SARNO:
A sound not to be heard again. 

10:21:49:20 10:23:03:10

MAN IN BEIGE CHAIR:
Here there’s about a thousand hours of recordings all made in the rain forest in the Central African Republic by Louis Sarno. We care for them. We look after them in Oxford. He’s donated to the museum somewhere around in total I think it’s going to be about a thousand hours of recordings across the last twenty-five years or so. And as we know, he’s had almost permanent immersion in the culture. He has become a member of the community. That’s unprecedented. The researchers, ethnomusicologists, anthropologists, they develop lifelong relationships with the communities they’re interested in. But nobody goes and lives there permanently, so his level of immersion is unprecedented. You can really hear the life bubbling through the recordings. Children laughing, conversation. People claiming they’re tired and someone else saying, “No, no! Carry on. We must carry on. We must make more music.” And they’re so… they really do bubble and breathe with life. On and off for the last six years, I’ve been digitising the entire collection, slowly bringing it to the point where it can be useful, where it can be heard and where it can be known. Nobody has made as big and as impressive a collection of music, in my opinion, as he has. 

10:23:08:18 10:24:53:08

WANDA
When Louis and I went to Amsterdam in the summer of 1979 we had a small radio. And then one day – I forget the gentleman who put on the show – but he has been on for years and years on American public radio: Georges Collinet. And he had focussed on pigmy music and when Louis heard that, a light went on. He also wanted then to record it and to find these people who made this kind of music. And then realised that, in fact, he wants to live there. He no longer wants to leave. This is the other flipside of wanting to go to a place is not wanting to come back. He was in contact with a gentleman by the name of Collin Turnbull. Collin Turnbull is an anthropologist who had written one book called “The Rainforest People”. This was the only book outside of Central Africa that even described these secret people that lived in the rain forest, whose mystique and mystery carried beyond the borders of that rain forest. The Egyptians, their god of music was a pygmy. And the villages, the bigger villages around were terrified because these people could appear and disappear at will. They seemed to be in touch with the forest spirits. The closer you get to a culture like that, I think you get more and more intrigued. So I think Louis Sarno, he’s the only person who has ever done this – with that particular people – who came as an outsider and stayed. And these are his people. These are his people.

10:25:59:14 10:27:42:05

LOUIS SARNO 4
It’s very contemplative music for me. It helps me just write or sometimes I just like to sit and think to it, think about different things when I’m playing this music. Sometimes I’m just listening to it. It’s just so very beautiful. And you know, I love polyphony. And the Bayaka have their style of polyphony and this is European polyphony from the Renaissance. This period in European history when Europe was kind of waking up to the wider world and there was this beautiful music being composed and this deep faith in God. And it’s a kind of a remote time and for the Bayaka it was like a whole remote world, also kind of a remote time. Almost timeless. And I think with the Bayaka I’m also seeking, in a way, serenity, I guess. Spiritual serenity, because I do get that from the forest, from the rain forest. And I get that when I hear the Bayaka music as well. Because there’s something special that happens when they perform their music. It’s a communal thing. They’re all so together that they can create this beautiful thing that they’re just creating in the spur of the moment. No rehearsals except that they’ve always sung together. And it’s the whole community. It’s very beautiful. That gives you a sense of not just serenity, but almost kind of transcendence, of being with others. A kind of union with other people. 

10:28:34:19 10:28:36:18

BOYS:
That's not easy, my friends!

10:29:13:13 10:29:17:20

MAN:
A long time ago, at the very beginning
of time, a Moaka died.

10:29:18:01 10:29:21:02

MAN:
The Moaka was dead.

10:29:21:12 10:29:24:14

MAN:
Many tears were shed.
The Moaka was dead.

10:29:24:19 10:29:26:22

MAN:
Tears were shed for the Moaka,
many tears.

10:29:27:08 10:29:28:12

MAN:
The Moaka was dead.

10:29:28:16 10:29:30:05

MAN:
His friend cried and cried.

10:29:30:09 10:29:33:03

MAN:
Kombe! Kombe! Kombe! Kombe!

10:29:33:15 10:29:36:12

MAN:
What killed the Moaka?
I will find out.

10:29:36:16 10:29:41:16

MAN:
Kombe is dead, Kombe is dead.

10:29:42:03 10:29:45:08

MAN:
The friend went to him
to bring him back to life.

10:29:45:16 10:29:47:16

MAN:
Wake up, Kombe!
Kombe, wake up!

10:29:47:20 10:29:50:23

MAN:
And Kombe woke up.

10:29:51:05 10:29:53:13

MAN:
The Moaka awoke.
But his skin was white.

10:29:53:21 10:29:58:00

MAN:
He awoke and was white.
And the white sat himself down.

10:29:59:01 10:30:01:14

MAN:
And the white sat down.

10:30:01:18 10:30:03:07

MAN:
And he observed the world.

10:30:03:15 10:30:04:21

MAN:
Kombe!

10:30:05:11 10:30:07:12

MAN:
And so it was.

10:30:08:01 10:30:09:19

MAN:
A long time ago.

10:30:09:23 10:30:12:20

MAN
The Moaka was dead,
then he came back

10:30:13:01 10:30:14:15

MAN:
and his skin was white.

10:30:20:12 10:30:21:18

LOUIS SARNO:
I'm just taking a few.

10:30:21:22 10:30:24:19

LOUIS SARNO + MAN:
Okay, give me 100 francs.
-I'll give you 100 francs.

10:30:28:03 10:30:32:08

LOUIS SARNO * MAN
Do you have a few leaves for me?
-Ayosi, bring Louis a few leaves.

10:30:51:10 10:30:52:15

LOUIS SARNO:
Hello!

10:30:53:19 10:30:57:13

LOUIS SARNO * MAN:
You take two in the morning.
-Yes, two!

10:30:57:17 10:30:59:02

LOUIS SARNO:
Two, two.

10:30:59:11 10:31:02:14

LOUIS SARNO:
You're late today,

10:31:02:18 10:31:07:06

LOUIS SARNO:
so take two right now.

10:31:07:16 10:31:12:10

MAN:
Bring me water,
so they don't get stuck in my throat.

10:31:14:22 10:31:20:05

LOUIS SARNO:
When you're finished taking this batch,
I'll bring you the next.

10:31:24:02 10:31:27:15

LOUIS SARNO:
I've heard that Mbonda's wife
has started coughing.

10:31:27:22 10:31:29:15

WOMAN:
Yes, she's got a bad cough.

10:31:29:21 10:31:33:12

LOUIS SARNO:
I'll check on her and make sure
she does a tuberculosis test.

10:31:33:19 10:31:38:01

LOUIS SARNO:
Both her mother and father
died of tuberculosis.

10:31:38:12 10:31:41:04

LOUIS SARNO:
Her sister, Poumboa died of it, too.

10:31:41:18 10:31:43:05

LOUIS SARNO:
You see.

10:31:43:22 10:31:46:14

LOUIS SARNO:
It's bad if the sickness
takes hold in a family.

10:31:46:18 10:31:48:06

LOUIS SARNO:
We have to stop this.

10:31:48:17 10:31:52:16

MAN * LOUIS SARNO:
Do you have money for a smoke?
-You don't smoke, right?

10:31:52:20 10:31:55:21

WOMAN * LOUIS SARNO:
No way!
-He smokes? Quit! You have tuberculosis.

10:31:56:00 10:32:01:06

WOMAN * LOUIS SARNO:
He already stopped smoking.
-Good, I'll give you 500 Francs later.

10:32:02:18 10:32:05:14

SPEAKER UNCLEAR:
Give me a little money,
so I can buy some petroleum for my lamp.

10:32:05:20 10:32:07:02

SPEAKER UNCLEAR:
Petroleum, petroleum!

10:32:07:06 10:32:11:00

SPEAKER UNCLEAR:
I'll give you some as you gave me
a piece of river-rat meat the other day.

10:32:36:16 10:32:39:00

MAN *LOUIS SARNO:
You have no cooking oil?
-None at all.

10:32:39:04 10:32:41:15

MAN:
You can put it on your slate
at Chamek's store.

10:32:41:19 10:32:44:14

LOUIS SARNO * MAN:
Can I, really?
-Buy me a can of sardines.

10:32:44:22 10:32:46:23

MAN:
Just one can of sardines.

10:32:47:09 10:32:50:10

LOUIS SARNO:
You really want a can
of those awful sardines?

10:32:51:12 10:32:54:24

LOUIS SARNO * MAN:
They're really bad.
-Then buy me some Maggi stock cubes.

10:32:55:17 10:32:58:13

MAN:
And I'll guard your house for you.
I'm good at it.

10:32:58:17 10:33:02:00

MAN:
I won't sleep.
When hunting I can stay awake all night.

10:33:02:04 10:33:07:24

LOUIS SARNO:
I once saw you at night with your spear,
naked except for your loin cloth.

10:33:08:03 10:33:10:22

LOUIS SARNO:
You were transformed.
Like another person.

10:33:11:01 10:33:12:15

MAN:
Animals can hear everything

10:33:12:19 10:33:16:11

MAN * LOUIS SARNO:
so I hunt naked.
-You crept through the forest

10:33:16:15 10:33:21:02

LOUIS SARNO:
bent over, naked, with your spear!
Goung! Goung! Goung!

10:33:22:13 10:33:25:24

LOUIS SARNO * MAN:
I thought, who is this guy?
-You need a loin cloth,

10:33:26:03 10:33:29:17

MAN:
otherwise the antelope
can smell you from far off.

10:33:31:16 10:33:34:17

LOUIS SARNO * SAMEDI:
Give me a little.
-Just a minute.

10:33:37:24 10:33:41:17

LOUIS SARNO:
Just a little, a sip.

10:33:48:21 10:33:51:06

LOUIS SARNO:
It’s so sweet.

10:34:02:17 10:34:05:18

MAN:
Give me those ones over there!

10:34:07:00 10:34:09:07

LOUIS SARNO:
There's another, good quality.

10:34:09:21 10:34:11:19

LOUIS SARNO:
These batteries are flat.

10:34:12:21 10:34:13:24

LOUIS SARNO:
Mekoubà, you're alright?

10:34:14:03 10:34:16:14

Mekoubà:
I could take care of things for you.

10:34:16:18 10:34:20:04

LOUIS SARNO:
Sorry, I can't help you right now.
I'm broke!

10:34:24:01 10:34:28:15

MAN:
Give me money, Louis!
I need money!

10:34:29:00 10:34:32:17

MAN:
I need bamboo for my hut!

10:34:45:01 10:36:02:23

LOUIS’ BROTHER
My father, I think, was always concerned about having enough to support us. Teachers in the days that he was a teacher didn’t get paid a lot of money. And, you know, I’ve made as much money as my father made in his two jobs in a month. There were times where I did that and he couldn’t believe it. He was so proud. Before he passed on, he definitely had difficulties understanding my brother Louis’ choice of his life, as did my mother. But I think they did it out of love, because they wanted to see him more. He was their first child. They didn’t want to see him move away and not be home. They changed their opinion as they got a little older. You know, once they realised how this lifestyle made my brother feel, my mother and my father stopped asking me to try and talk him into staying.

10:36:45:22 10:36:48:09

MAN:
Oh Lord

10:36:48:13 10:36:51:11

MAN:
What an unfortunate child I am

10:36:52:19 10:36:55:02

MAN:
Oh Lord

10:36:55:19 10:36:57:06

MAN:
Oh, my heart

10:36:57:13 10:36:59:13

MAN:
How my heart aches

10:36:59:21 10:37:01:15

MAN:
Oh Lord

10:37:06:20 10:37:09:01

MAN:
Oh my misfortune

10:37:15:05 10:37:18:00

MAN:
My mouth, my mouth

10:37:18:04 10:37:21:00

MAN:
These words burn

10:37:21:04 10:37:22:19

MAN:
Like pepper in my mouth

10:37:29:06 10:37:32:07

MAN:
What misfortune

10:37:32:18 10:37:36:09

MAN:
Why am I dogged by it?

10:37:42:03 10:37:45:03

MAN:
What misfortune

10:37:45:10 10:37:48:15

MAN:
Why me?

10:38:03:08 10:38:18:14

LOUIS SARNO 5
Well, my father certainly thought my interest in music was a waste of time because his idea of good music was, like, Laurence Welk or muzak. The kind of stuff they play in elevators and things like that. That’s the kind of music he liked to listen to. 

10:38:21:15 10:38:57:06

LOUIS SARNO 6
I was interested in classical music since I was a child. I wanted to be a composer and still I wish I had the real talent or genius to be a composer because that’s still what I would have liked to be more than anything. But, you know, my life turned out different. But it’s still connected with music. I like the fact that I’ve made so many recordings of such beautiful music that’s sort of disappearing now and… I mean, you can still hear the music, but I got some great performances when the Bayaka were just doing it for themselves and they were all so into it. That was fantastic. 

10:38:59:06 10:39:08:22

LOUIS SARNO:
My parents, of course, were completely
opposed to me having any kind of career
in music. So I didn’t have that kind of
support behind me for doing music. But… 

10:39:17:21 10:39:19:02

LOUIS SARNO:
Take this!

10:39:21:21 10:39:48:01

LOUIS SARNO:
When my father was dying I
spent a couple of months there sort of
looking after him. He died in our arms.
All my brothers came the day he died, the
morning he died. So we were all around
his bed. And so, you know, it was a nice
bit of closure for me because towards the
end my father was accepting my life in
Africa. He was finally, like… He had
accepted it on his death bed.

10:39:54:23 10:39:57:16

BOY 1 * BOY 2
Be quiet!
-It's nothing, just a bird.

10:40:13:10 10:40:16:05

BOY
Let's see who can stay under the longest.

10:40:16:09 10:40:20:20

BOY
Four against four.

10:40:21:24 10:40:23:17

BOY
Look, look!

10:40:42:14 10:40:44:06

BOY
You will fly with the wind.

10:40:47:09 10:40:49:18

BOY
You will have lunch in the sky.

10:40:52:12 10:40:54:07

BOY
You will fly over the ocean.

10:40:54:15 10:40:57:19

BOYS
Uh, the ocean!
-That's not for kids.

10:40:58:17 10:41:00:13

BOY
The ocean is huge!

10:41:03:04 10:41:04:19

BOY
I haven't seen it.

10:41:06:08 10:41:11:15

BOY
Your driver has to be very careful.

10:41:11:23 10:41:15:07

BOY
If he looks up, he'll bang his head
against a skyscraper.

10:43:10:04 10:43:52:21

LOUIS SARNO 9
When Samedi was about three months old, he got extremely ill one day. And so I held him in my arms all night and he was having diarrhoea and just had an incredibly high fever. Terrifying. And I was putting a wet cloth on his head and trying to cool him down. And three times he stopped breathing. I made a lot of promises during that night. I told him I’d show him the world. He just had to keep breathing. In Bayak I said I’d show him lots of ground, lots of places. This trip now, going to America, is a bit like fulfilling that promise that I gave him.

10:43:54:08 10:43:57:20

LOUIS SARNO:
First, our plane lands in Casablanca.

10:43:58:10 10:44:02:05

LOUIS SARNO:
There you can eat something
in a little restaurant or café.

10:44:03:06 10:44:05:03

LOUIS SARNO:
Then we fly on.

10:44:05:21 10:44:08:08

LOUIS SARNO:
We have to go through a police check.

10:44:08:12 10:44:11:12

LOUIS SARNO:
The laws to travel to America
are very strict.

10:44:12:07 10:44:15:02

LOUIS SARNO:
They will take us to a little chamber

10:44:15:18 10:44:20:01

LOUIS SARNO:
to search us for weapons,
like guns or something else.

10:44:20:07 10:44:21:18

SAMEDI * LOUIS SARNO:
Really?
-Yes.

10:44:22:05 10:44:24:02

LOUIS SARNO:
America is very scared.

10:46:14:13 10:47:04:20

LOUIS' BROTHER 2
In the end, it’s all about happiness. It’s about that pursuit for happiness and Louis is following it. We’re all following it. We’re just all finding it in different ways. I couldn’t live the life Louis lives. Because it’s not for me, but I could see the beauty in why he’s living… in why he wants to live that life. So, you know, I admire him for that. I admire anyone that goes after their dream and lives their life the way they want to live it, no matter what it is. It takes a lot of guts sometimes to do something a little different. Or a lot different.

10:47:49:13 10:47:51:20

MAN:
So, the boy has a passport and visa?

10:47:52:00 10:47:54:10

LOUIS SARNO:
I got him a passport a long time ago.

10:47:54:17 10:47:58:24

LOUIS SARNO:
But for his visa we had to go
to the American embassy

10:47:59:11 10:48:01:13

LOUIS SARNO:
in Yaoundé, over in Cameroon.

10:48:04:01 10:48:08:03

LOUIS SARNO:
After all, Barack Obama's family
came from Africa, from a Kenyan village.

10:48:08:07 10:48:10:16

MAN * LOUIS SARNO:
From Kenya?
-From a tiny village there.

10:48:12:16 10:48:15:19

MEN:
There's no future here.
-Send your son to school in America!

10:48:16:02 10:48:19:20

LOUIS SARNO:
I've lived so long in
the Central African Republic now!

10:48:19:24 10:48:24:05

LOUIS SARNO:
We're just visiting America.
I'm a Central African resident.

10:48:24:12 10:48:27:10

MAN:
But the boy - make sure
he learns to read and write over there.

10:48:31:13 10:48:33:14

LOUIS SARNO:
Au revoir. Merci.

10:49:02:16 10:49:23:19

WANDA 2
I see you now Louis walking as an older man. You are in an orchard. There is a small, shed-like structure I believe is perhaps your home. Perhaps it is a… No, it is your home. 

10:49:27:15 10:50:39:01

WANDA 3
You muse on the trees you have planted. You believe this is your legacy. If you could become a tree and if children could pick your fruit, you would still think you had not done enough. You pick a fruit yourself, you take a bite and you toss it over your shoulder. It does not have the taste that it used to for you. I see someone coming out of your house. It is an older man. He is almost blind. He is looking for you. You have become the young man again. He wants you to come to him. You are obstinate and do not wish to go to him. It is too painful for you. You are not happy with your response and are puzzled and do not comprehend which direction to take right now. 

10:51:23:02 10:51:32:06

STEWARDESS:
Au revoir, bonne journée.
Bonne journée, Mesdames, au revoir.
Au revoir. Bonne journée, au revoir.
Merci.
 Au revoir.

10:52:55:07 10:52:59:13

LOUIS SARNO:
Let me out! I didn’t do it. I swear!

10:53:01:02 10:53:02:17

LOUIS SARNO:
Samedi, move away from the edge!

10:53:03:08 10:53:06:04

LOUIS SARNO * SAMEDI:
You have to be careful with the tracks.
-Why?

10:53:06:08 10:53:09:06

LOUIS SARNO:
They run on electricity.

10:53:09:21 10:53:13:00

LOUIS SARNO:
When you touch them:
Bzzzz! And you're dead.

10:53:13:13 10:53:16:06

SAMEDI *LOUIS SARNO:
Really?
-Dead as a door nail - bzzz!

10:53:16:17 10:53:20:01

LOUIS SARNO:
Like in the videos.
But here it's for real!

10:53:40:24 10:53:45:11

SAMEDI:
Louis? If you want to marry a white,
do you have to go to work?

10:53:45:24 10:53:47:11

LOUIS SARNO:
You have to go to work.

10:53:47:15 10:53:49:11

LOUIS SARNO:
You need a salary.

10:53:50:20 10:53:53:24

LOUIS SARNO:
If you don't have a salary,
how can you buy things?

10:53:54:03 10:53:55:18

LOUIS SARNO:
A house, say - uff!

10:53:55:22 10:53:58:10

LOUIS SARNO:
Everything here is expensive.

10:53:58:14 10:54:03:00

LOUIS SARNO:
Everything is money here.
If you don't have any, you die of hunger.

10:54:04:04 10:54:06:18

SAMEDI:
But it has to be a beautiful white woman!

10:54:06:22 10:54:10:09

LOUIS SARNO:
Then you have to learn to read and write.

10:54:10:13 10:54:13:06

LOUIS SARNO:
Or a white woman will never marry you.

10:54:13:10 10:54:17:13

LOUIS SARNO:
Learn to read and write!

10:54:17:21 10:54:23:04

LOUIS SARNO:
Otherwise you won't be able to come back,
when I'm gone.

10:54:23:08 10:54:26:18

LOUIS SARNO:
But I want you to be able
to decide for yourself

10:54:27:02 10:54:29:12

LOUIS SARNO:
if you want
to come back some day.

10:54:31:14 10:54:34:17

LOUIS SARNO:
This is the witness to the truth of my
stories. 

10:54:35:01 10:54:48:23

JIM JARMUSCH:
Yeah, because for a while… We don’t
really believe he goes there at all. He’s
just going to Camden New Jersey and
somehow sending mail to someone in the
Central African Republic that comes to
us. We’re not buying this.

10:54:49:06 10:54:52:10

SARA DRIVER:
And then they conveniently stop the mail
system in the Central African Republic.

10:54:52:14 10:54:54:09

JIM JARMUSCH:
How convenient!
And were did you purchase this?

10:54:54:13 10:54:59:10

SARA DRIVER:
And Louis knows about all the new movies,
he knows all about the new literature…

10:54:59:14 10:55:15:14

JIM JARMUSCH:
Like, how can he know about, you know…
Britney Spears and Justin Bieber and all
this? He also knows all the Hollywood
gossip. C’mon, man, where did you buy
this? Tell the truth.

10:55:15:24 10:55:18:10

SARA DRIVER:
So this comes from a tree, right?

10:55:18:14 10:55:27:23

LOUIS SARNO:
Yeah, it comes from the sap from a tree.
You break pieces and, you know, it’s like
a candy bar. I like to bring these
things. You have to look at this other
thing here.

10:55:29:10 10:55:30:19

JIM JARMUSCH:
It’s amazing.

10:55:30:24 10:55:39:06

LOUIS SARNO:
This is just part of a seapod, part of
it’s broken off. But it’s the longest
seapod in the world of this species. It
comes from the Giant Leone.

10:55:39:10 10:55:40:08

JIM JARMUSCH/SARA DRIVER:
Wow!

10:55:40:13 10:55:43:02

LOUIS SARNO:
And each one has one of those giant round
purple seeds in it.

10:55:43:10 10:55:44:15

LARA DRIVER:
Oh, right. You brought us the seeds.

10:55:44:23 10:55:50:04

LOUIS SARNO:
But sometimes you get them really long,
you know. Look at that! I’m going to
leave this for them as well.

10:55:50:16 10:55:51:22

JIM JARMUSCH:
Do they use it musically at all?

10:55:52:01 10:55:54:00

LOUIS SARNO:
No, they don’t use this for anything,
but…

10:55:54:19 10:55:55:06

JIM JARMUSCH:
No?

10:55:55:10 10:55:56:22

LOUIS SARNO:
I love the seeds.

10:55:57:19 10:56:05:02

JIM JARMUSCH:
It’s fantastic to have Samedi here and
for him to see this and have this kind of
experience.

10:56:05:07 10:56:08:21

LARA DRIVER:
Yeah, but also, it must be so
mind-blowing for him to see this world.

10:56:09:01 10:56:35:05

LOUIS SARNO 10
Samedi’s not impressed by the tall buildings and stuff. He’s more impressed by people’s behaviour. Like we saw some guy down on the street now. He was like on the corner there and he was combing his hair and then he was doing that kind of dancing where you have the movement go up one arm and down the other. But he was also a little crazy because he was going into the garbage can, the trash can and stuff. But he was doing that and Samedi was really fascinated watching that guy.

10:57:07:16 10:57:10:17

LOUIS SARNO:
Samedi, are you sure
I shouldn't take a picture of you?

10:57:11:20 10:57:15:24

LOUIS SARNO:
Or if you want to take a picture,
you can use my camera.

10:57:18:24 10:57:20:09

LOUIS SARNO:
You see the fish there?

10:57:26:11 10:57:30:01

SAMEDI:
But Louis, when do I finally
get my own camera?

10:57:30:10 10:57:32:14

LOUIS SARNO *SAMEDI:
You'll get your camera.
-Yes, really?

10:57:32:23 10:57:36:08

LOUIS SARNO:
Look, he's lowering his head.
You see?

10:58:27:14 10:59:15:14

LOUIS SARNO 11
It gets dark too soon. So much noise from the traffic. But you know, there’s nice things too, but it is a strange world. When you’re away from it and then you come back, you realise how strange and artificial it all is. Everything is kind of marching in this kind of fake economy. Everybody doing these tasks that really have no intrinsic importance to their lives. It’s just something they do to make a living, you know? It’s not really connected to life, like it’s not quite real or something. Or, you know, part of me is here, but part is not here. It’s like I’m a holograph or something. I’m not a real person in this place.

10:59:45:21 10:59:48:08

MAN * WOMAN:
Should I help you?
-Hold the foot.

11:00:01:10 11:00:02:09

WOMAN:
Give me the liver.

11:00:02:18 11:00:04:24

MAN * WOMAN:
You have enough.
-There is nearly nothing left.

11:00:05:12 11:00:06:22

MAN:
Give him the pancreas.

11:00:12:13 11:00:13:23

WOMAN
Bring that to your mother.

11:00:14:09 11:00:16:06

MAN:
And don't take your time!

11:00:17:18 11:00:21:15

HUNTER:
Don't look at the whites.
Let's pretend they're not here.

11:00:22:11 11:00:25:14

HUNTER:
They're taking up our time.
They should pay us.

11:00:25:20 11:00:27:01

HUNTER:
Exactly!

11:00:28:08 11:00:31:17

HUNTER:
Then we'd show them
what we do in the forest.

11:00:32:21 11:02:12:19

LOUIS SARNO 12
For me it’s not the same coming into the forest anymore. I don’t like to go off from the camp anymore because I just run into poachers. It’s just breaks my heart. It’s the Bilo, the non-Bayaka Africans that have guns and wire snares and now they’re just wiping out the animals. It’s become an existential threat to the Bayaka. They need an abundance of wildlife for their hunting method to be viable. I’ve been warning the WWF for a few years now that this place is being depleted and they haven’t – as far as I’m concerned – responded at all adequately. I mean, WWF comes in with good intentions, but you’ve got to watch yourself when you have good intentions. It’s the Bayaka, it’s the culture that allows the WWF to habituate gorillas and all of that. Without the Bayaka, if they stopped working tomorrow, there would be no more gorilla habituation. It would be finished. Definitely, they have to be given something in return. At least give them adequate conservation. I mean, it is their land. It’s wrong to think that this is some virgin, untouched wilderness, an Eden, untouched by humans. Sort of a Mike Fay vision: it’s just wild nature. It’s not. This forest has been shaped by the Bayaka for generations. They have shaped the ecology here by their hunting and exploiting it. They’ve affected how it is now, they’ve managed it, as much as a farmer manages his crop, or something like that. They have managed this environment, so it is their environment.

11:04:24:03 11:04:45:23

LOUIS SARNO:
In 2006, I got sick and I thought it was
malaria. You know, then it turned out I
had typhoid. That’s what it was. I came
back to the States anyhow for a break and
then I went to the National Institute of
Health. They did a diagnosis and they
found antibodies for hepatitis D, so they
said I had hepatitis D.

11:04:46:12 11:04:48:16

DOCTOR:
Hepatitis D is something that you can
only get if you have hepatitis B.

11:04:48:22 11:04:51:24

LOUIS SARNO:
Yeah, exactly. It’s like a parasite on
the hepatitis B.

11:04:52:22 11:05:06:12

LOUIS SARNO:
You know, I don’t want
it to interfere if I’m leading an active
life still. And there’s no guarantee that
it’s going to do anything. I mean, it’s
not like they say it can cure me. It’s
going to make the hepatitis inactive, but
I thought the hepatitis B was inactive
already now for a while.

11:05:06:17 11:05:08:10

DOCTOR:
Well, there are other options too. 

11:05:08:19 11:05:15:04

LOUIS SARNO:
They said to me, like… You know, then
with the D thing, you read about
hepatitis D and it sounds really scary.

11:05:15:18 11:05:37:18

DOCTOR:
It confounds to some extent the effects
of hepatitis B, so with people who are
co-infected, it becomes a little bit more
complicated in terms of potential effects
and exacerbation of the chronic liver
disease. Perhaps an acceleration of the
changes in the liver that lead to
cirrhosis and a potential perhaps
for liver cancer.

11:06:21:24 11:06:25:13

SAMEDI * LOUIS SARNO:
What water!
-It always was and always will be so.

11:06:25:17 11:06:29:08

LOUIS SARNO:
You think it stinks,
but we whites love the smell of it.

11:06:32:10 11:06:35:00

LOUIS SARNO:
Don't get your shoes wet
or your feet will freeze.

11:06:35:06 11:06:36:11

SAMEDI:
Okay.

11:06:42:14 11:06:45:12

LOUIS SARNO:
Wait! The next one is coming soon.
Let's stay here.

11:06:45:19 11:06:47:10

SAMEDI LOUIS SARNO:
I'm staying.
-Here it is!

11:06:47:14 11:06:48:22

LOUIS SARNO:
So, let it come.

11:06:49:15 11:06:51:10

LOUIS SARNO:
It's coming, watch out!

11:06:52:02 11:06:53:17

LOUIS SARNO:
Let's see.

11:06:53:21 11:06:55:06

LOUIS SARNO:
Careful, watch out!

11:07:24:09 11:07:27:11

LOUIS SARNO:
You don’t remember the time you fell out
of the car when we were driving?

11:07:27:16 11:07:29:20

LOUIS’ BROTHER:
No, I do actually remember that.

11:07:29:24 11:07:30:24

LOUIS SARNO
You were nine.

11:07:31:03 11:07:33:03

LOUIS’ BROTHER:
I swear to this day you pushed me out!

11:07:33:07 11:07:46:23

LOUIS SARNO:
I didn’t push you out! He was leaning on
a car door that wasn’t closed properly
and we were driving along with my family.
And he fell out of the car. He just sort
of rolled along. He wasn’t hurt at all.
He was completely relaxed.

11:07:47:18 11:07:59:17

LOUIS’ BROTHER:
Well, I will tell you though, this is one
of my hopes that I wanted to accomplish
was meeting Samedi and watching my son
playing with him.

11:07:59:23 11:08:01:12

LOUIS SARNO:
Yeah, it’s kind of neat.

11:08:01:20 11:08:11:01

LOUIS’ BROTHER
So it’s something I always wanted and
never really thought it was going to ever
happen. But, you know, you’re my big
brother. I’ve got to meet your kids,
right? 

11:08:11:12 11:08:13:01

LOUIS SARNO
Yeah, I made it difficult though, didn’t
I, buddy?

11:08:13:05 11:08:13:20

LOUIS’ BROTHER
Yeah, you did!

11:08:13:24 11:08:15:05

LOUIS SARNO
Going to Africa.

11:08:15:11 11:08:16:24

LOUIS’ BROTHER
You certainly did. 

11:08:18:01 11:08:22:13

LOUIS’ BROTHER
I’d like to visit you
over there sometime. I’ve talked to you
about it before.

11:08:22:18 11:08:30:21

LOUIS SARNO
I don’t try to encourage too much because
I don’t want to… if something happens
then I would feel responsible. So I leave
it up to the person to… You know, if you
want to come…

11:08:31:03 11:08:32:00

LOUIS’ BROTHER
What do you mean “if something happens”?

11:08:32:04 11:08:33:18

LOUIS SARNO
Well, like, if you got some disease.

11:08:33:22 11:08:40:03

LOUIS’ BROTHER
Well, you’ve had so many things, they’ve
actually thought you were like a science
experiment, so… Remember when you went to
Washington?

11:08:40:12 11:08:41:15

LOUIS SARNO
Yeah, they wanted me to stay there.

11:08:41:19 11:08:43:05

LOUIS’ BROTHER
Yeah, they wanted you to stay there. 

11:08:43:09 11:08:44:16

LOUIS SARNO:
Because they wanted to study me.

11:08:44:21 11:08:48:01

LOUIS' BROTHER:
Look, anytime someone tells you they want
to study you…

11:08:48:05 11:08:59:08

LOUIS SARNO:
Well, they didn’t tell me that, but
another doctor told me. He said, “Don’t
tell them I told you this. I’m telling
you this in confidence, but they’re very
interested in your liver."

11:09:14:18 11:09:18:09

LOUIS SARNO * SAMEDI:
Samedi, what are you doing?
-Nothing.

11:09:18:13 11:09:23:03

LOUIS SARNO:
Don't touch anything, do you hear me?
We don't want to get into trouble.

11:09:43:21 11:09:48:09

LOUIS SARNO:
Your cousins Danielle and Tyler.

11:11:04:19 11:11:08:09

LOUIS SARNO:
The other one, too, I take both for you.

11:11:19:04 11:11:20:18

LOUIS SARNO:
Look straight, straight.

11:11:22:05 11:11:23:05

LOUIS SARNO:
Look straight.

11:11:25:04 11:11:37:11

TEACHER:
Step. Up. Down. Step by Step. Bring back.
No, the other hand.

11:11:37:20 11:11:39:15

TEACHER:
The right hand, the right one.

11:11:47:18 11:11:49:07

TEACHER:
Step, side.

11:11:50:02 11:11:51:11

TEACHER:
Over here.

11:11:51:18 11:11:52:23

TEACHER:
PUSH!

11:11:55:22 11:11:57:22

TEACHER:
Step, push push me!

11:11:59:05 11:12:03:17

TEACHER:
Step back! Punch! Step back!

11:12:05:03 11:12:14:02

TEACHER:
Punch.
Back, back, back, back.

11:12:16:03 11:12:18:07

TEACHER:
That's good. Ok.
Pretty good.

11:12:18:20 11:12:20:00

LOUIS SARNO:
Well done!

11:12:22:11 11:12:23:21

LOUIS SARNO:
Very good.

11:13:08:10 11:13:31:04

LOUIS SARNO: This was one of my early
recordings, so to me it was like seeing
the beginning of some unknown island that
you’re approaching. You’re just seeing
the shoreline or something and knowing
already that the shoreline is beautiful
and knowing there’s going to be all kinds
of marvels beyond that. And that’s sort
of how it was. And that’s the kind of
feeling it brings back to me when I hear
that. 

11:13:31:22 11:13:32:24

MAN IN DARK SHIRT
Recordings can bring that back?

11:13:33:10 11:13:57:12

LOUIS SARNO 13
Yeah, I think so. Especially if you haven’t heard them for a while. Songs that I’ve heard many, many times, it loses that association. But I haven’t heard that in years. I haven’t listened to that particular recording. So just hearing it now, I remember the whole feeling of that time period, when it was all kind of an unknown to me. It was still like the adventure was in front of me. Whereas now the adventure’s pretty much behind me, you know?

11:13:58:06 11:13:59:15

MAN IN DARK SHIRT:
I think there’s one here at the moment.

11:13:59:19 11:14:05:10

LOUIS SARNO:
Yeah, it’s an adventure for him. So
that’s good for me too, to see him on an
adventure.

11:15:09:15 11:15:15:18

LOUIS SARNO:
You don’t sell those separately? Because
if I take that back to Africa, once it
runs out of batteries… Oh, I see, you
have big ones here.

11:15:27:15 11:15:29:00

LOUIS SARNO:
You take it.

11:15:31:09 11:15:33:14

LOUIS SARNO:
How do you turn it off?

11:15:38:22 11:15:39:15

SHOP ASSISTANT
Have a great day.

11:15:39:21 11:15:40:09

LOUIS SARNO
Thank you very much.

11:15:40:13 11:15:41:05

SHOP ASSISTANT
You’re welcome.

11:15:41:14 11:15:42:22

LOUIS SARNO:
Let's go.

11:15:43:11 11:15:45:01

LOUIS SARNO:
I spent all my money.

11:15:46:02 11:15:49:00

SAMEDI:
You said the gun shops are closed.
You think I'm stupid?

11:15:49:04 11:15:51:18

LOUIS SARNO:
The gun shops
are in another district.

11:15:51:24 11:15:53:05

SAMEDI:
Sure they are!

11:15:54:04 11:15:59:01

LOUIS SARNO:
I bought you an air gun in Cameroon,
and you gave it away after two days.

11:16:00:02 11:16:03:23

LOUIS SARNO:
You said it wasn't real.
What do you think a real gun looks like?

11:16:04:02 11:16:06:05

LOUIS SARNO * SAMEDI:
A pistol?
-You're just telling me all this

11:16:06:09 11:16:09:13

SAMEDI:
because you
don't want to buy me a gun, right?

11:16:09:18 11:16:11:23

SAMEDI:
But...
-I knew it! You won't buy me one!

11:16:12:06 11:16:13:15

LOUIS SARNO:
I buy tea,

11:16:13:19 11:16:18:17

LOUIS SARNO * SAMEDI:
and you want me to buy you a gun!
-I'm not mad about the tea but because

11:16:18:21 11:16:23:14

SAMEDI * LOUIS SARNO:
you've been promising me a gun for days.
-Today's not the day to buy a gun.

11:16:23:18 11:16:26:06

SAMEDI * LOUIS SARNO:
That's enough!
-A gun! A gun!

11:16:39:21 11:16:41:22

MAN:
These are God's leaves.
-So be it!

11:16:42:01 11:16:43:19

MAN:
God let us know himself.
-So be it!

11:16:44:00 11:16:48:04

MEN:
So humans could use them as a charm.
-So be it!

11:16:48:09 11:16:51:12

MEN:
Here are the leaves we'll use as a charm.
-So be it!

11:16:51:18 11:16:55:13

MEN:
You, God, gave them to our grandfathers.
-So be it!

11:16:55:19 11:16:59:23

MEN:
To help them to hunt in this forest.
-So be it!

11:17:00:02 11:17:04:10

MEN:
For we grandchildren of the elders...
-So be it!

11:17:04:14 11:17:07:13

MEN:
... need meat for our families.
-So be it!

11:17:08:15 11:17:12:02

MEN:
So be it! So be it! So be it!
-Bring us animals!

11:17:14:23 11:17:16:23

MEN:
Kill it! Kill it! Kill it!

11:17:20:23 11:17:24:10

MEN:
Catch the antelopes! Catch them!
-Kill them! Kill them!

11:17:31:06 11:17:34:04

SAMEDI:
How much are these things worth?

11:17:35:04 11:17:38:15

SAMEDI:
Things for children,
all things for children.

11:17:39:01 11:17:41:23

SAMEDI:
If I knew the names of everything
I could buy here,

11:17:42:02 11:17:44:06

SAMEDI:
I'd make the whole list now.

11:17:44:10 11:17:46:19

SAMEDI:
But I don't know all of their names.

11:17:50:13 11:17:55:01

SAMEDI:
I only know the name of things
that we stopped in front of once:

11:17:55:05 11:17:59:03

SAMEDI:
drum, guitar -
beautiful things.

11:18:00:11 11:18:06:13

SAMEDI:
And even if I could make a list,
who would buy me those things?

11:18:07:11 11:18:14:07

SAMEDI:
When you take on such a journey,
you cannot return with children's things.

11:18:14:17 11:18:18:06

SAMEDI:
You don't return to your village
with toys,

11:18:18:10 11:18:20:18

SAMEDI:
but with real things.

11:18:21:01 11:18:23:24

SAMEDI:
Things I can bring back to my family:

11:18:24:03 11:18:27:05

SAMEDI:
underwear, shoes, rucksacks, shirts.

11:18:27:09 11:18:29:18

SAMEDI:
None of that has been bought yet.

11:18:30:01 11:18:32:22

SAMEDI:
I told Louis, but he doesn't want
to buy me real things.

11:18:33:01 11:18:35:24

SAMEDI:
That's why I get mad when we go out.

11:18:36:06 11:18:40:21

SAMEDI:
I think of the things,
that we don't buy, and I get angry.

11:18:41:11 11:18:42:21

SAMEDI:
I don't know.

11:18:47:24 11:18:50:19

LOUIS SARNO:
Even if you're angry
because of your things,

11:18:50:23 11:18:52:19

LOUIS SARNO:
you still have to eat.

11:18:54:08 11:18:55:23

LOUIS SARNO:
It's for your own good.

11:18:56:22 11:19:02:16

LOUIS SARNO:
Back then when I arrived in Bayanga,
did I know about Bayaka food? No!

11:19:03:02 11:19:07:13

LOUIS SARNO:
Did I demand American food?
No, I ate what the Bayaka ate.

11:19:08:08 11:19:09:11

LOUIS SARNO:
Do the same thing!

11:19:09:15 11:19:12:22

LOUIS SARNO:
You came to America

11:19:13:08 11:19:15:09

LOUIS SARNO:
so eat American food!

11:19:16:02 11:19:19:18

LOUIS SARNO:
You can't always refuse everything.
You only have one body.

11:19:45:14 11:19:48:22

LOUIS SARNO:
You only eat one kind of bread!
Only one kind!

11:19:49:01 11:19:50:17

LOUIS SARNO:
But there are many kinds.

11:19:50:21 11:19:53:11

LOUIS SARNO:
We're not in Bayanga
where there's only one.

11:19:53:15 11:19:54:23

LOUIS SARNO:
Here are many!

11:19:55:02 11:19:57:10

LOUIS SARNO:
Eat something else!
Another bread! Just eat it!

11:19:57:14 11:20:00:01

LOUIS SARNO:
It's not bad, not at all.

11:20:01:13 11:20:05:07

LOUIS SARNO:
It doesn't have to be the bread
you know from Bayanga for you to eat it!

11:20:05:19 11:20:07:14

LOUIS SARNO:
You can't refuse all other bread.

11:20:08:21 11:20:12:19

LOUIS SARNO:
Bayanga? What is that anyway?
The centre of the world?

11:20:21:08 11:20:26:12

WOMAN:
He was looking for our songs.

11:20:26:20 11:20:29:07

WOMAN:
He had already looked
everywhere for them,

11:20:29:11 11:20:32:10

WOMAN:
but people told him,
we don't know these songs.

11:20:32:18 11:20:37:21

WOMAN:
He looked everywhere, everywhere.
And then he came to us

11:20:38:02 11:20:43:03

WOMAN:
and with us he found his music.

11:20:46:04 11:20:47:14

WOMAN:
Louis is no hunter.

11:20:47:18 11:20:50:04

WOMAN:
But he can buy food for his wife.

11:20:50:16 11:20:55:01

WOMAN:
He buys meat and shares it
with his wife and community.

11:20:55:12 11:21:00:11

WOMAN:
He buys at Chamek, the Mauritanian's
shop, and puts it on his slate.

11:21:00:23 11:21:04:12

WOMAN:
He doesn't record our music anymore.

11:21:05:08 11:21:07:17

WOMAN:
He says he's gotten old.

11:21:08:05 11:21:10:05

WOMAN:
Now he takes care of our children.

11:21:10:09 11:21:13:22

SAMEDI'S MOTHER:
When they are sick,
Louis takes them to the hospital

11:21:14:01 11:21:15:11

SAMEDI'S MOTHER:
and pays for it.

11:21:15:24 11:21:21:15

SAMEDI'S MOTHER:
He even does the same for adults.
This is now his role in the community.

11:21:21:19 11:21:28:18

SAMEDI'S MOTHER:
He takes care of the Bayaka.

11:21:29:05 11:21:31:14

SAMEDI'S MOTHER:
That is now his role.

11:21:32:13 11:21:36:24

WOMAN:
When you're sick,
Louis saves your life.

11:21:56:17 11:21:58:08

LOUIS SARNO:
Both bullets missed.

11:22:14:13 11:24:00:13

LOUIS SARNO 14
I woke up at four o’clock in the morning and I couldn’t sleep because I have this big debt, partly because of the school. Last year, I made a huge debt to supply all the kids with materials for the school, notebooks and pens and little blackboards. And I paid their school insurance and I still have debts from that. I’ve never made any money since then to pay back those debts and my debts keep creeping up because every day I have to get things from the Mauritanian shop. There was a period for two months when I didn’t even make a dollar. There were no tourists or the tourists that came, they didn’t stop by, so I couldn’t sell a single CD. Nothing, you know. I’m going to go back and I’m going to have very little cash and then I’m going to have these people coming and bothering me, thinking I’m lying. I hate it when I say, “No, I don’t have anything.” They laugh, you know. They think of course I have money, that I’m loaded because I’m a white person. And I just came back from America and it really wears you down. I’m going to get it for a week. I’m going to have people coming to my door, Bilo and Bayaka, just coming and coming and not believing anything I say. You know, thinking that I’m holding out on them, that I have this stuff. I mean, I could deal with that, but what’s depressing for me is the fact that I don’t seem to have any source for financial help. That really makes me depressed because… I’m beginning to think, “How can I carry on living there in my village?” I just don’t know how I can. 

11:24:35:04 11:24:37:06

LOUIS SARNO:
Look, the mountain over there.

11:24:37:12 11:24:40:24

LOUIS SARNO *  SAMEDI:
Yes, there are even people on it.
-Really?

11:24:43:13 11:24:46:00

SAMEDI:
I can see all the way to the far side.

11:24:49:24 11:24:52:07

LOUIS SARNO:
Let me look through your telescope, too.

11:24:53:22 11:24:57:05

LOUIS SARNO * SAMEDI:
Fantastic!
-No, it's not a real one.

11:25:16:00 11:26:37:23

WANDA 6
For some people, they may become a long-distance marathon runner. Some people may want to sail around the world by themselves. Louis happened to enjoy the pygmy music and thought that listening to wildlife, the wind in the trees, just sensing a place was a way to enjoy and further and deepen his experience of solitude. And he has told me now not too long ago in a telephone conversation that when he first went to Central Africa, when he did not understand a word, these people with their different, different culture, he felt so at home, sitting at the fire in the middle of these people because he did not have to communicate with them, he felt so at ease and so at home because he could enjoy solitude in the middle of people. Now that is a very intriguing statement, I think. We have spoken briefly on the phone when he’s come to this country, but since 1982 I have not seen Louis. Thirty years that I have not laid eyes on this man. 

11:26:39:01 11:26:41:02

WANDA:
So this is for both of you.

11:26:41:06 11:26:42:06

LOUIS SARNO:
Well, he can look at them.

11:26:42:10 11:26:44:10

WANDA:
Maybe you can put those numbers on the
back.

11:26:44:14 11:26:47:20

LOUIS SARNO
Thank you very much, Wanda.

11:26:50:19 11:26:52:24

WANDA:
Yeah, he’s good. He’s good.

11:26:55:03 11:26:56:19

LOUIS SARNO
Samedi, do you still want your tea?

11:26:56:23 11:26:57:09

SAMEDI:
NO.

11:26:57:13 11:26:57:24

LOUIS SARNO:
NO?

11:26:58:12 11:26:59:05

SAMEDI:
No, thanks.

11:26:59:14 11:27:03:00

WANDA:
I have cider, I have egg nog. All kind of
weird drinks for him to try.

11:27:03:06 11:27:07:07

LOUIS SARNO
Maybe he’d like to try… I don’t know. Try
a little egg nog. I don’t know.

11:27:21:23 11:27:25:12

WANDA:
Oh, we dropped one. I heard that.

11:27:28:23 11:27:59:15

LOUIS SARNO 15
He’s handling the trip pretty well, you know. He’s coming out of his shell a lot more in the last week or so. All the Bayaka that hang out with me are the children of my friends because most of my friends have died. And so now it’s just their children, people either that were babies when I came or little children that were born after I came and those are the people that hang out with me now. It’s a different generation, you know. And then their kids, they have kids now and then their kids are beginning to reject the traditions of their parents.

11:28:00:00 11:28:00:11

WANDA:
Of course.

11:28:00:15 11:28:05:13

LOUIS SARNO:
It’s the first generation I’ve seen that
don’t want to be like their parents.

11:28:05:19 11:28:06:09

WANDA:
Of course.

11:28:06:13 11:28:18:03

LOUIS SARNO
They want something more. They want… When
I first went there, people ran away from
cars. Now when cars come, they run
towards the car, you know, to see who it
is. That sorts of sums up the change.

11:28:21:16 11:28:53:15

WANDA:
Our line of sight and our quick jumping
to conclusions makes us get all tangled
up. We stumble.… In fact, it’s like
those children who play pranks on each
other by taking the toes of the socks and
tying them in little knots. It is not
easy to walk like this. Do you have
another question or concern, Louis? 

11:29:58:12 11:29:59:17

LOUIS SARNO:
Watch out.

11:30:02:22 11:30:04:05

LOUIS SARNO:
Only mine fits.

11:30:05:07 11:30:07:03

LOUIS SARNO:
Can you get this one on the back seat?

11:30:07:24 11:30:08:24

TAXI DRIVER
I’ll try this way. 

11:30:09:05 11:30:10:02

LOUIS SARNO
Okay.

11:30:10:08 11:30:11:22

TAXI DRIVER
Probably better in the front.

11:30:22:02 11:30:26:05

MAN:
The Moaka was dead, and then he
came back and his skin was white.

11:30:27:04 11:30:31:08

MAN:
The Moaka came back.

11:30:31:12 11:30:34:18

MAN:
And his skin was white.

11:30:35:24 11:30:40:10

MAN
And so it was, the Moaka came back
- and his skin was white.