MANA - BEYOND
BELIEF
A film by Peter Friedman
& Roger Manley
Year of production :
2004
Running Time: 90 Minutes
Language: English
Country: USA
All over the world, in every
society, there are objects that have special
power over people. People climb mountains or make
pilgrimages just to see or touch them. They
prostrate themselves or engage in rituals in
their presence, caress them in the hopes of
absorbing some of their magic, they enshrine them
in temples or pass them on to descendants; wear
them or store them in treasure houses or
sometimes burn them. An individual object might
hold power over only one group or even just one
person, but the phenomenon of "power objects" is
universal.
The central idea behind the new motion picture
"MANA-beyond belief" is that the way people
behave in the presence of these power objects
reveals a process of the human mind which is
fundamental and universal: belief. By filming
power objects around the world-things that are
precious because people believe they are-and
revealing the myriad activities and behaviors
that take place around them, this new feature
film presents an exciting new way of looking at
what is happening all around us, all the time.
Belief is not just religion; it drives the stock
market, it determines how we deal with history
and our personal memories, it underlies racism
and war. Bringing together diverse cultures,
characters, visual styles, music and fascinating
objects, MANA helps us see the essential,
invisible element underlying them all.
Mana is the Polynesian word for the power that
resides in things. Appropriately, a Maori priest
filmed in a New Zealand rainforest sets the stage
for an odyssey which takes us from the Arizona
deserts through Asia, Africa and Europe and
finally to a real-life time machine-with stops
along the way at nuclear reactors, art museums,
Burmese temples, Elvisland, relic smugglers,
voodoo ceremonies and the halls of Congress. Shot
in crisp, state-of-the-art High Definition video
transferred to 35mm, "MANA-beyond belief" is an
adventure, both across the globe and into the
human mind.
