Since the 19th century, Melanesia has been seized by the cult of cargo - the belief that the goods brought by Westerners were made by the souls of ancestors and meant as gifts for local inhabitants. This syncretic approach, uniting elements of the Christian teaching of missionaries and local religions, and which largely reduced the meaning and aim of existence to trade, has earned a lot of ridicule... In Estonia as well. However, are we in fact better than those distant peoples of nature who were so taken with glittering shards of mirror and glass beads?

from storyboard to film. the pearl man

This issue is indirectly tackled by Rao Heidmets in his new puppet film, The Pearl Man. Rao's drawing is not the best in the world - not at least in the classical sense -, proved here by the map - storyboard - that leads from idea to film, but he has a sharp eye for the global problems.
The Pearl Man is concerned with identity, the ability to be culturally independent, which can easily dissolve if people lack the mental focus to help them oppose the world's commercialisation - the pressure for standardisation. This focus in the film is personified by the local shaman who, with the help of drums and a totem, can bring back dead souls, rejuvenate the spirit of his people and, at least for a while, defy strangers from afar who are full of promises. But for how long? The lure of shining pearls is naturally much stronger, even more palpable, than the shaman's boringly routine work of preserving the fragile human community and the balance in the surrounding environment...

The end of The Pearl Man is happy: the balance between man and nature is restored, because primeval forces awaken in order to avenge the materialistic Pearl Men, who do not care for tradition and who regard the shaman merely as an object of modern science.
Heidmets is actually not directly referring to Estonian or European attitudes, or their (possible) conflict. The message is however quite familiar, to Estonians as well as, hopefully, other Europeans. This is not just a question of ecological perception, but of understanding and respecting tradition. Magical powers do exist, but they are not revealed to the eye of a laboratory scientist. They function in everyday life, as if the ball-point pen scribbling of Rao Heidmets were turned by the puppeteers into a colourful, exuberant and truly vast world, where everyone can hopefully learn something useful. Perception of connection, for instance...

The Pearl Man, a classical puppet animation, 2006, 12 minutes, premiere: 20.04.2006 cinema, original 35 mm, Beta SP, 1:1,66, Dolby SR, colour author's film. Scriptwriter: Rao Heidmets; director: Rao Heidmets; cameraman: Kristjan-Jaak Nuudi; artists: Liina Keevallik, Rao Heidmets, Keesi Kapsta; animators: Märt Kivi, Andres Tenusaar, Marili Sokk, Niina Suominen; composer: Sven Grünberg.