Virgins of Bali
Cast & Crew
Ni Wayan Tagel
Ni Wayan Grio
Ni Wayan Ugembon
T. Koler
I. Maria
Louis Betancourt's Marimba Orchestra
Film Details
Synopsis
The film follows the daily activities of two Balinese sisters, twelve-year-old Tagel and sixteen-year-old Grio, who live in the town of Bedula on the island of Bali. Their parents, the Wayans, own a rice field known as a sawah , which the neighbors help to harvest. The neighbors keep a portion of the crop as payment. The Wayan family participates in a bull race on their harvested rice field, and the eldest brother who drives the team wins. Among their many religious customs are rituals in which the family visits their temple every day and gives offerings, and cremation of the dead in a funeral pyre, which is usually followed by a feast. Grio has reached the marrying age and, following custom, places a flower over her right ear to signify that she is considering suitors. Koler, a dancer, meets with her approval, and they rendezvous secretly for some time. In accordance with custom, the families feign disapproval and attempt to prevent the couple from eloping, which is the standard method of marriage. The couple return after a few weeks, and a wedding ceremony is performed, which includes Koler's payment to Grio's father for the bride. A dance is performed in the temple to the accompaniment of a gamelan orchestra.
Crew
Film Details
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
According to copyright records, I. Maria was a renowned Balinese conductor of gamelan music. I. Maria is also credited with choreography in Goona-Goona, which also takes place in Bali. Special note was made in the reviews of the fact that the women appearing in the film are bare to the waist. VarB had the following comments: "Exploiting two pairs of shapely maiden breasts through nearly six reels of celluloid, if backed by a modern story, [this film] would undoubtedly prove very obnoxious, and probably never get by the censors." Variety, noting that an earlier Bali documentary Goona Goona played for nine weeks in a New York theater, speculated that the theater showing Virgins of Bali "figures the demand for bust pictures is still lively. At half past seven the opening day the house was nearly full and not a score of women in the 300-seater." They went on to reflect, "Story is inconsequential and what the picture has to offer is good photography and girls bare to the waist."
