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This unforgettable film chronicles one man’s fight against the ecological devastation of Malaysian Borneo’s ancient rain forest. Fourteen years ago Bruno Manser from Switzerland walked into the jungle to live with the Penan tribe, an indigenous isolated native people. He adopted their lifestyle and stayed with them for four years, keeping an illustrated diary. Bruno found them to be the paradigm of Rousseau’s Noble Savage: good people solving problems together in a social community where everything was shared and no antagonism existed between the members. The Penans are one of the last nomadic tribes on earth and have been living in this forest – said to be 160 million years old – for thousands of years. They are now struggling to survive amidst the destruction of the forest over the last ten years by Malaysian logging businesses. Ninety per cent of the trees have been stripped and the water supply is ruined. It is evident that the rituals and lifestyle of the tribe will not last long in the denuded forest. Deforestation has wiped out not only a way of life, but also Penan history. Over the past ten years in Switzerland Bruno worked to raise the world’s consciousness about the destruction. He returned when the Penans sent him a tape smuggled out of Borneo which said “Come back now if you want to see us alive. If you don’t come now there will be no Penan people or forest left.“ On his return, he resumed his place in Penan society, but was being hunted by Malaysian logging businesses and the government as a “trouble-maker.“ Since May 2000, Bruno has been missing. It is clear that his involvement gave the tribe the courage to stand up for their rights and fight back.
