Koriam's Law and the Dead who Govern

Overview

In ‘Koriam's Law’ Australian anthropologist Andrew Lattas meets his match in philosopher-informant Peter Avarea of Matong village, Pomio, Papua New Guinea. Motivated by their lively dialogue the film sets out to traverse that most misconstrued cultural phenomenon: the Melasanian ‘cargo-cult’. A local leader called Koriam founded the Pomio Kivung Movement in 1964. In the face of official condemnation its political and religious philosophy sought to uncover that path to a perfect existence which whites so convincingly seemed to have found and, so selfishly, monopolised. ‘Koriam’s Law’ concerns itself with the contemporary works and understanding of the Pomio Kivung. Its leader is keen to show that the movement has nothing to do with ‘waiting for cargo’. Rather, its mission is to prepare the way for the coming ‘change’ and, at the same time, to organise for a better society in the here and now.