In a Savage Land

views updated

In a Savage Land ★½ 1999

Interesting premise gets a laughable execution. Prim married anthropologists Philip (Donovan) and Evelyn (Stange) Spence travel to the South Seas in the late 1930s to study native society and find their marriage quickly unraveling. Philip refuses to acknowledge the sexuality and importance of the tribe's women, so Evelyn decides to take advantage (in more than one way) of pearl merchant Mick (Sewell) to continue her studies in another village. Pretty scenery courtesy of the Trobriand Islands is the only high point. 116m/C VHS . AU Martin Donovan, Rufus Sewell, Maya Stange; D: Bill Bennett; W: Bill Bennett, Jennifer Bennett; C: Danny Ruhlmann; M: David Bridie. Australian Film Inst. ‘99: Sound, Score.