MovieChat Forums > Jeder für sich und Gott gegen alle (1974) Discussion > What's with the Filipino Indian?

What's with the Filipino Indian?

posted 13 years ago by TheAntiJohn
6 replies | jump to latest

for those of you who didnt know, the language that that "Indian" in the freak show was speaking was tagalog (a dialect of filipino.) what i dont' get is, why. Why was he a filipino indian from Spain that played the flute with his nose? Nothing about the indian, not his background, his clothes, or anything, resemble anything related to the filipino people. At least, nothing that i know of (im a filipino-american but ive lived in the philippines for 6 years now) It's a bit insulting to be honest. Because they portrayed him as being some kind of savage or something, i don't know. I just don't get it. Was Herzog trying to say something about filipinos?

[–] berzelmayr 13 years ago

He was just meant to be an "exotic guy". This circus director made a living by presenting the naive towns-people (who would hardly leave their home region at all) individuals that seem to be somewhat weird or exotic to them. It doesn't really say anything about the Philippines, neither good or bad.

[–] MisterGumby 13 years ago

David Lynch owes a great deal to Werner Herzog. That's all that needs to be said about the strange Indian.

www.imdb.com/list/TNxI-Raigt0/ My changing Top 100, suggestions and comments welcome.

[–] YesYesNo 12 years ago

That's not just some random Filipino Indian that Herzog procured, it's Kidlat Tahimik, a talented filmmaker and actor whose brilliant narrative essay Perfumed Nightmare was made possible with the support of Werner Herzog and Francis Ford Coppola. If you see Perfumed Nightmare you'll get an idea of how goofy and self effacing he is, but the brief portion of the film set in Germany presents an incredibly sharp (and humorous) critique of the German celebration of progress and development.

[–] TheAntiJohn 12 years ago

Oh wow, I can't believe I didn't recognize him. I had no idea they knew each other. Very interesting.

[–] 12 years ago

[deleted]

[–] chuck-526 11 years ago

As I remember it, the circus M.C. presented him as a Quechua Indian from both Brazil and India, who spoke some foreign language nobody understood. That explains the nose flute, but otherwise already doesn't make sense in several ways (Quechua in Brazil? South America in India?). I think the point was simply that a questionable circus man was presenting "strangeness" with very little concern for accuracy. None of the people inside the film, and only a few film viewers, would recognize Tagalog and make any association at all with the Philippines.