FILM REVIEWS 771

the arid Sahelian zones of West Africa. This technology is clever but is probably inacces- sible to many smallholders who engage in ir- rigated gardening of vegetables as cash crops. The film can be used to good advantage both within and outside the classroom to examine the impact and the often unannounced agen- das that may underlie international develop- ment assistance. A longer look at additional concrete alternatives would improve the film, as would greater attention to needed changes in government policies, both within the indus- trialized countries that provide food aid as a means of placating powerful agricultural and agribusiness interests, and within the African governments that avidly accept it.

Kicking High. . . in the Golden Years. 1986. A film by Crania Curievitch. 58 minutes, color. Purchase $600 (16mm), $325 (video); rental $75 from New Day Films, 121 West 27th Street, Suite 902, New York, NY 10001

Black Mother, Black Daughter. 1989. A film by the National Film Board of Canada. 29 min- utes, color. Purchase $550 ( I smm), $250 (video); rental $30 from Indiana University Audio-Visual Center, Bloomington, IN 47405-590 1 (8 121855-8087; Fax 81 21855- 8404). Older, Stronger, Wiser. 1989. A film by the National Film Board of Canada. 28 minutes, color. Purchase 3550 (16mm), $160 (video); rental $30 from Indiana University Audio-Vi- sual Center.

(2121645-8210).

COLLEEN JOHNSON Universio of California, San Francisco

Among anthropologists, there is a growing interest in the aging process and older people themselves. Researchers have become increas- ingly active in the Gerontological Society of America, which, like the American Anthro- pological Association, is a collection of mem- bers with diverse interests ranging from bio- logical research to the design of social service programs. One view held in common among the members, however, is the rejection of a problem-oriented view of aging and the em- phasis on successful aging.

“Aging as a triumph” is the common theme in these three films on Black elderly, most of whom are active members of stable Black communities. While there are recurrent allu- sions to difficult lives in the past, the older Blacks in these films convey a sense of con- tentment and mastery over their lives. In the

largely middle-class or stable working-class environments of these three communities, the problems of poorer Blacks in deteriorating ur- ban environments seem to be in another world.

Kicking High is a particularly good example of the emphasis on the positive rather than negative aspects ofaging among minorities. In fact, the study guide accompanying it de- scribes the Blacks in the film as “growing old with dignity and joy.” The setting of this 58- minute movie is a senior center in Queens, New York, and the filming takes place as its members prepare for an amateur production consisting of singing and dancing. In between these activities, six Black participants discuss the meaning of being old. Settings also switch to other aspects of their lives, such as a 50th wedding anniversary party, and a family re- union in rural Virginia. Most participants ap- pear to be homeowners with adequate eco- nomic resources.

Issues of Black culture are also highlighted: lives of hard work, supportive families, reli- giosity, and the creation of fictive kin where family is absent. Essentially this film is a pot- pourri of reminiscences interspersed with the rehearsals, and it eventually culminates in a long stage production attended by an enthu- siastic audience. This overly sentimental but sometimes inspirational film has little appar- ent organization. Important issues facing older Blacks are referred to but never followed up systematically. For example, the effects of prejudice and discrimination are a recurrent theme alluded to but never tackled directly. There is the inference that it was terrible in the past but that things are better now. While learning about their lives in the participants’ own words is useful, this film needs a narrator with a good social science perspective who can interpret and explain the realities in the lives of the elderly among minority groups.

The study guide accompanying this film in- cludes four categories of questions: for a gen- eral audience; for those over age 60; for stu- dents in gerontology, psychology, and social work; and for students in anthropology, soci- ology, and Black studies. Thus, the filmmak- ers are casting a wide net and are attempting to attract the interests of diverse groups.

The other two films, both produced by the National Film Board ofcanada, are each one- half the length of Kicking High and technically superior. They likewise emphasize the positive aspects of the lives of Black elderly, in this case those of women who are successfully aging. Black Mothr, Black Daughter portrays women who have been long-term residents of a beau- tiful agricultural area of Nova Scotia. The

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mothers use reminiscence to recount the past to their daughters, while the daughters speak admiringly of the heritage their mothers have provided them with. Interestingly enough, some of the women’s ancestors came to Nova Scotia as loyalists following the American Revolution. Each daughter has gone on to re- ceive an education, and one is now mayor of a mostly White community. One daughter is the narrator of the film, which provides some con- tinuity. The film intends to illustrate the inter- dependence of family, church, and commu- nity, but one wishes that the history of this in- teresting community had been better detailed.

Older, Stronger, Wiser also intends to identify the strengths of Black women, and again, men are barely visible. This film describes the lives of six successful women who range from a farmer, a union activist, an owner of a Third World bookstore, a Methodist minister, a community organizer, and a Black history teacher. Several were recruited in their youth to work as domestics in situations that bor- dered on indentured servitude, and all of them have had to deal with racism. Like the other films, this one espouses an upbeat philosophy, but unlike the others, it has a coherent orga- nization that combines elements of life histo- ries with views of the contemporary lives of these interesting women.

These films can be used in anthropology courses only if the intention is to challenge biased views of Blacks as an underclass or to portray elements of successful aging in North American society. They are more appropri- ately directed toward older people or to those in the helping professions. However, they do raise some questions of interest to anthropol- ogists. First, where do we draw the boundary between oral or folk histories and systematic social science? Second, in recording oral his- tories is it valid to use nonrepresentative, mostly middle-class members of a n ethnic group, as depicted in these films? Understand- ably, the preservation of ethnic heritage is im- portant. Because most ethnic groups are over- looked in history texts, efforts such as these films are most welcome.

La Ofrenda: The Days of the Dead. 1989. Produced by Lourdes Portillo and Susana Murioz. 50 minutes, color. Purchase $895 (16mm), $250 (video); rental $85/$75 from Direct Cin- ema Ltd., P.O. Box 10003, Santa Monica, CA 90410 (800/525-0000; Fax 213/396-3233).

HUGO G. NUTINI UniversiQ of Pittsburgh

The cult of the dead in Mexican Indian and mestizo culture and society is the third most important annual celebration after the Christ- mas cycle (December 16-January 6) and Holy Week (Palm Sunday to the Octave of Easter). From a week or so before All Saints Day (No- vember 1) until the Octave of All Souls Day (November 2) most Indian and Mestizo com- munities throughout Mexico honor the dead in a variety of ways.

Todos Santos, the most common name for the combined celebration of All Saints Day and All Souls Day, exhibits a significant degree of regional variation, but the ritual and cere- monial activities center on the belief that on November 1 and 2 the souls of the dead return to visit those who were left behind. The two most outstanding features of Todos Santos are the offerings (ofrendu) to the dead in the house- hold and the decoration of tombs in the cem- etery. In addition, there are many ancillary ritual activities that make Todos Santos a richly complex ideological and sociological institu- tion in the life of the community. Historically, Todos Santos is a syncretic entity that achieved maturity by the end of the 17th century and entails a fairly symmetrical confluence of be- liefs and practices of pre-Hispanic polytheistic origin and 16th-century Spanish Catholic or- igin. Sociologically, Todos Santos today is a time of homecoming, when the dead return to their ancestral abodes, and urbanites to their ancestral villages, and the living and the dead for a fleeting moment become a single com- munity.

The film under review “takes a nontradi- tional look at this tradition,” according to the filmmakers. La Ofrenda was filmed in Mexico City, Oaxaca, and California. I t explores the contemporary celebration of All Saints Day and All Souls Day in these widely different set- tings, some of its pre-Hispanic roots, and its divergent sociological implications. Cinemat- ically, the film succeeds in presenting some of the best-known aspects ofthe days ofthe dead. The photography and scenography are good, and the viewer experiences a sense of intimacy and rapport. The film, however, does not suc- ceed in two of its main objectives.

First, pre-Hispanic components of the cult of the dead are not meaningfully outlined. Rather, stereotypes are presented as being of pre-Hispanic origin when they were actually of 16th-century Catholic origin. The narrative that accompanies the part of the film shot in Mexico is obfuscating rather than illuminat- ing, and should have been used to verbally il- lustrate the pre-Hispanic components of the celebration. Second, the complexity and elab- oration of the celebration in Mexico City and