• No results found

This closing chapter discusses the interviews I conducted with members of the Surinamese Diaspora in the Netherlands. These interviews aim to get an insight in the way Surinamese people in the Netherlands experience, imagined, and interpreted Wan Pipel. Because each of the interviewees has a unique background – differing in age, ethnicity, generation, and class – the results of the interviews generated a variety of perspectives. Moreover, this chapter also covers the interview done with director De la Parra, as he evaluated his own experiences with the creative process of the film, as well as with the screenings, and presentations following Wan Pipel ’s release and restoration.

When I started the interviews, I intended to get an insight into the different ways they experienced Wan Pipel. However, as I talked to the interviewees, they enriched and illustrated the issues tackled in Wan Pipel with their own experiences, also outside the film. While it gave me great insight into the socio-political and cultural history of Suriname, it was also challenge for me, as I could not lay out all their personal stories in this (academic thesis). I therefore tried to structure this chapter by

discussing each of interviewees thoughts and experiences along three lines, 1) their experience of watching Wan Pipel, whether in the cinema or online, 2) the cultural thematic and 3) political issues of Wan Pipel which interviewees remembered, and which marked their experience or memory of Wan Pipel.

37

4.1: Cultural and Cinematic accessibility: Representation, Cinema-going, and Narrative

For many of the people I interviewed, the way they experienced the film in and by itself, lied in their memory of going to the cinema in their younger years and the entertainment value of the film, which was encapsulated in a classic, universal narrative alike Romeo and Juliet – a romance about

forbidden love. In addition, as Roy and Rubia were specifically Surinamese, which was in most cases the first time Surinamese people saw themselves represented on screen. This narrative ensured a kind of accessibility that was vital for Wan Pipel’s ongoing significance, as it made the film easy to watch for a wider audience. I also found that Wan Pipel’s Surinamese audience, specifically, attached great value to the representation of both Surinamese, as well as distinct Hindustani and Afro-creole culture.

4.1.1: Representation: Expressions of Surinamese Culture

Wan Pipel showed different cultures as they were. Specifically for its Surinamese audience, this was a representation that was never shown before. This kind of representation was achieved through various cultural elements, such as language, music, fashion, locations, religions, and also the behavior of the actors.

First, through language. Wan Pipel is a multi-lingual film, including Hindustani (the Surinamese adaptation of Hindi), Sranan Tongo (Suriname’s lingua franca), and Dutch. While Dutch is the most spoken language in the film, the use of creole languages an important part of Wan Pipel. Most popular catchphrases are in Sranan Tongo and are widely known by Surinamese audiences. The spoken language are known by and resonate with the Surinamese audience. The multi-linguistic nature of Wan Pipel symbolizes the different social groups, while the consolidation of language in a Surinamese cultural product such as Wan Pipel, indicates the Surinamese-ness within language.

Blasini also describes the importance of creole language in Caribbean cinema in his discussion of Guadeloupian director Christian definition of Caribbean cinema, of which one criterion was the inclusion of a creole language. He further argues that:

“I suggest that Lara’s notion of “creole language” should be understood in a broader

perspective beyond the merely linguistic; that is in terms of the characterization of historical revisions, narrative constructions and cinematic representations which engage the social, political, and cultural processes of Caribbean syncretism. In this sense, the formation and constant transformation—in other words, the hybridity—of Caribbean cultures would be traced through different narrative and representational tactics of cinematic texts. Exploring cinematic creole languages (or créolité in general) provides an opportunity to rescue those

38

stories and cultural manifestations that have been suppressed, erased, or forgotten by Eurocentric versions of the area’s history (Blasini, 2009, 74).”

Furthermore, the audience can also hear Sranan Tongo, as well as traditional Surinamese music in the Wan Pipel’s soundtrack. For example, in the scene where Roy is visits the central market in Paramaribo, just after his arrival in Suriname. While the camera follows Roy to the various stalls at the market, indulging in typically Surinamese foods, drinks, and fashions, the audience hears Okrosoepoe, by Lieve Hugo. The song’s swinging rhythm and fun lyrics embody Surinamese popular culture, and this is enhanced by the location, and the foods, drinks, and fashions. During my

conversation with Hein, he put on Lieve Hugo’s album, to get into the ‘Wan Pipel spirit.’ Hein has a specific memory of Wan Pipel that he manifested through the soundtrack.

Another cultural element showcased in Wan Pipel that embodies this idea of Surinamese-ness, is location. The use of different locations throughout the film with integrity embodies the different landscapes of Suriname. The vibrant city of Paramaribo, the Surinamese interior, and the countryside of Nickerie all evoked memories and familiarity for different people within the Surinamese audience.

His perspective of the country as a native was not about showing ‘the wild,’ ‘the exotic,’ ‘the savage,’

as the Surinamese country was displayed in Dutch colonial films, but as an admiration for the diversity of the land. In this way, Wan Pipel encouraged Surinamese audiences to feel a sense of pride in their country.

Next, Wan Pipel also portrays the different religions in Suriname. There are several scenes, that elaborately display Catholic and Hindustani religious traditions. One is Mother Ferrol’s grand catholic funeral in one of the first scenes of the film. Further along in Wan Pipel, there is a portrayal of a traditional Hindustani (arranged) wedding, including expressions of song, fashion, dance, and music.

Besides Hindustani religion and Afro-Creole catholic religion, there is also a scene in Wan Pipel where Roy goes up to a Synagogue, representing the Jewish religion, which is also a large component in terms of Surinamese religions. The variety of religions that are expressed with integrity rather than mocking further convey the unified image that Wan Pipel tried to present.

These cultural practices and ideas gave Wan Pipel a specifically Surinamese character. Interestingly, this had a specific impact on the spectators. As Antoine-Dunne argued, this was a larger trend in Caribbean cinema. She explains this with the example of Jamaican classic The Harder they Come (1972):

“When it was released, audiences mobbed the cinema primarily to see themselves, as working class Jamaican people, on screen (Thelwell 177). It was the first presentation of

39

Jamaican life as an actual existence, different from the exoticized images of the Caribbean as film location. (Antoine-Dunne, 2010, 97)”

De la Parra said of this cultural value:

“Martin Scorsese, Tarantino, Spielberg, are known globally for their work, but the love I feel when I am out and about and people come up to me because they recognize me or because they appreciate Wan Pipel, they smile and get a warm feeling. It is like a warm bath, and it sweetens the fact that the film was a complete flop.”

Therefore, for many of the people nowadays, Wan Pipel is a reminder of Suriname’s rich cultural composition, of the different foods, music, nature, fashion, religions, relationships, and friendships.

The expression of these cultural elements is capable of showing the diverse components that make up Surinamese society. Not only in Suriname, but also in the Caribbean these cultural elements resonated, which has resulted in that Caribbean audiences often enjoy Wan Pipel just as much as Surinamese.

40

4.1.2: Experiences of Cinema-Going and Online Accessibility

Most of the people I interviewed saw Wan Pipel for the first time in the cinema, in Suriname. The experience of going to the cinema itself, revealed ways in which the interviewees saw the film, and picked up several aspects of the film, which they recalled in our conversations. Sometimes, the act of going to the cinema to watch Wan Pipel, was in itself political, especially among the Hindustani-Surinamese. Additionally, because cinema-going in Suriname in the 1970s was still a leisure activity for people who both had the time and money, the experience of going to the cinema may reveal dynamics of class, and mobility, which was complexly connected to ethnicity and race.

For example, for Letiets, an older Jewish Surinamese woman, going to the cinema was a pleasant activity. Even though she was a young woman when Wan Pipel came out, her and her family often enjoyed the best seats of the cinema, on the balcony. She explained that her Jewish background and relative wealth in Suriname, gave her and her family a certain cultural status, which translated to the seats in the cinema as well. While she sat there, she could on the one hand, enjoy Wan Pipel in the best spot, but, on the other hand, the most interaction with the film came from the seats below, where people would react to the film and laugh or scream at something funny or scary. As a Jewish woman, Letiets did not feel particularly represented in Wan Pipel, but she attached great cultural and political value to the film because of its promotion and celebration of a unified Surinamese society.

For Roy, a middle-aged Creole man, his experience of Wan Pipel in the cinema (in the Star theater), was subsequently, a reintroduction of Suriname, as he had just emigrated to Suriname from the Netherlands, where he went to school. He went to see Wan Pipel with his wife, a Hindustani

Surinamese woman, so he connected to the story culturally. He was proud that he and his wife were the same couple as Roy and Rubia in Wan Pipel.

Nevertheless, for other Surinamese people, such as Shirley, cinemas were not easily accessible.

Shirley did not grow up in Paramaribo, but in a Surinamese village near the French Guyanese border.

There, she had no means or time to go to the cinema. She did not move to the city until she was a teenager, and therefore was not able to watch Wan Pipel in the cinema, prior to coming to the Netherlands. However, her half Hindustani half Creole husband Hein, on the other hand, grew up in Paramaribo and is still a major fan of Wan Pipel. When it was screened in the Surinamese cinemas, he saw Wan Pipel four times. Growing up with a mixed ethnicity, he experienced both sides of the spectrum, and was therefore familiar with the themes of Wan Pipel.

For others, as I already hinted at above, going to the cinema was a political act. For instance, Hindustani man Leilus was not allowed to go to Wan Pipel, because his parents had heard of it, and did not agree with the message of the film. Leilus still went to see the film with his friends and

41

explained that he even sneaked out the house to go to the cinema. He came from a strict Hindustani family that thought the way Hindustanis were portrayed in the film were a disgrace to their culture.

As I will further go into below, his reactions to the film and his and his friends’ interaction with the film reflect on the issues that many Hindustani Surinamese people had with Wan Pipel.

Other people I interviewed had seen the film either on tv or YouTube but were equally enthusiastic about Wan Pipel. Generally, the digitization and availability online have been instrumental to the further distribution of the film. The possibility of rewatching Wan Pipel online or on tv was for many Surinamese people a chance to relive – to re-imagine – Wan Pipel, as they had acquired a more political eye, for the sake of nostalgia, or to re-experience their existing memories of Suriname.

Furthermore, the distribution online also resulted in recognition of the film for younger generations.

Especially for members of the Surinamese Diaspora in the Netherlands, where the film is not shown or screened as much as in Suriname, these online platforms have resulted in the fact that more people outside Suriname can watch, share, and experience Wan Pipel. Two younger people I interviewed, Thurston and Preston, have only seen the film online. They had a dissimilar experience with the film because they did not grow up in Suriname. They had heard stories about Suriname from their friends and parents, but Wan Pipel gave them audiovisual images of the history and culture of Suriname. That history of Suriname, which is also embedded in Wan Pipel is a difficult, complex, and sometimes traumatic. Yet, as Preston and Thurston explained, they could learn a great deal about Suriname through Wan Pipel and watch how their grandparents and parents dealt with larger issues of becoming independent and learning to live and build something from scratch.

42

4.1.3: Accessibility Through Narrative

Because most interviewees were quite young, when they first saw Wan Pipel, they often did not have a certain political awareness to look through the nationalist (idealist) symbolism and allegories De la Parra had embedded into the film. Nevertheless, in this case, the elementary cinematography and the narrative of the film became the most memorable aspect of Wan Pipel. To preface, as the first Surinamese feature film, Wan Pipel’s narrative differed greatly from that of the often-distributed documentary films from Suriname. This narrative was, rather than a portrayal of the wild interior of Suriname, or its population dealing with poverty and unemployment, a love story.

Furthermore, The Romeo and Juliet-esque forbidden love storyline, embedded entertainment into Wan Pipel, which was familiar to the audience from the Hollywood, Bollywood, and European films that were distributed prior to Wan Pipel. Mostly for the women whom I interviewed, who saw Wan Pipel for the first time in Suriname, it made the film exciting to watch, and accessible to them as a younger generation. Oesha and Lila, both Hindustani women, loved to watch Bollywood films. For them, the dramatic narrative of Wan Pipel was familiar and entertaining. For Hein, Wan Pipel even was one of the most entertaining films he has ever seen.50 He admitted in our conversation that the only film he saw more than Wan Pipel, was Grease, which he saw fourteen times.

Through the accessibility of the universal theme, younger generations could also give meaning to Wan Pipel. However, they often attached a different value to the film, as some of the issues and themes are by now outdated or irrelevant. For example, Preston found humor in the drama depicted in Wan Pipel, since most of the elements the generations before them found controversial (aspects such as nudity, or ideas about dating), have more recently become normalized. For example, in an expressive scene in Wan Pipel, Roy and Rubia discuss their family’s discontent with their relationship.

Rubia expresses the concern that the Hindustani people cannot keep the strict traditional ways of living, which are keeping them locked into only their own community. She says, “we do not live in India anymore, in that age, this is a new land.” This conversation, wherein Rubia starts to distance herself from her family’s values happens, between Roy and Rubia in bed, both wrapped in a single

50 Lila even admitted she liked Wan Pipel because Roy was such a handsome man.

43

blanket (see image 1.3). Because of its then-provocative, controversial, and promiscuous nature, this specific scene was disputed, mainly among the Hindustani community. Yet, nowadays, this kind of mise-en-scene is more widely understood artistically, and the nudity is more normalized than in the 1970s.51 Thus, for both Preston and Thurston, the images were not precisely familiar, because of the time and place Wan Pipel was filmed, but they nevertheless understood its value as the first

Surinamese feature film. While some elements may not have a certain impact anymore, like the mise-en-scene I highlighted above, the overall image remained valuable and memorable for them.

It could be argued that for the Surinamese audience it was the combination of both the narrative, as well as the cultural elements that gave Wan Pipel meaning and significance. It spoke to Surinamese audiences because it was so similar to their own experiences. It is also in line with Gabriel’s argument that, often in Third World cinema, because a film frequently told a story that was at once fictional but also showed aspects of life that were so similar to the lived realities its people. In his discussion of third cinema, Gabriel also acknowledges this as a trend in cinema of the global south. He argued that:

“With fiction film showing in third world theatres, rejection on cultural grounds forces incomplete transmission of meaning. That is, the intended or inscribed meaning of the film is deflected and acquires a unique meaning of its own – the mode of address of the film and the spectator behavior undergo a radical alteration. Therefore, what has been presented as

“fiction” film is received as it were a “documentary.” The same fiction film screened in its own country of origin, however, claims ideal spectatorship because it is firmly anchored in its own cultural references, codes, and symbols” (Gabriel, 1995).

51 This is relative, because, for example, De la Parra’s earlier films were known for its nudity and promiscuity, but nevertheless attracted wide audiences.

Image 1.3: Rubia and Roy. Still from Wan Pipel

44

I think it can be observed that the classic narrative that is leading in Wan Pipel is a significant marker for the ongoing significance of the film, because it enables a wider audience, of different ages, generations, and ethnicities to enjoy the film. It led the people I interviewed to the cinema at an early age. Even if the Surinamese audience did not directly understand underlying meanings and symbolism in the film, the timeless, universal story was able to draw them in and entertain them.

45

4.2: Political issues and Postcolonial Ideals

While Wan Pipel shows provides a realistic and integer display of Surinamese culture and its varying components, it was also concerned with a political cause. The cultural elements of Wan Pipel are important in the sense that it displays the variety of cultural identities of Suriname. However, the relationship between culture and politics was also an important element of Wan Pipel. Mike Wayne referred to this relationship an important aspect of Third Cinema. He argues:

“Third Cinema is characterized by its intimacy and familiarity with culture – both in the specific sense of cultural production (for example, song, dance, theatre, rituals, cinema, literature) and in the broader sense of the word (the nuances of everyday living). Further Third Cinema explores how culture is a site of political struggle. History has shown that one of the first things which colonialism and imperialism attempt to control, in parallel with economic resources, is culture, where values and beliefs and identities are forged and re-forged (Wayne, 2001, 22).”

As curator Rechtsteiner argued, Wan Pipel asked the question “how do we create a postcolonial identity?” This question evokes issues of postcolonialism and nation building, and by setting this agenda, Wan Pipel encouraged unity in diversity, which is now Suriname’s national slogan.

4.2.1: The Fate of Rubia

One way in which Wan Pipel radically advocated for unity, was through the portrayal of the inter-ethnic relationship between Roy and Rubia. This relationship was one of the elements that most – if not all – of the interviewees recalled. The connection between the two was heavily disputed because of existing discrimination between the two ethnicities they represented. For many of the

interviewees personally, the relationship between Roy and Rubia in the film was no problem. But around them, it was especially frowned upon.

For many of the interviewees, the reason they responded to the relationship in Wan Pipel depended on how they were brought up. For example, Roy’s father was a teacher, and he had travelled with him through almost all districts where his father taught in school. As a child he had come across many different people in numerous Surinamese districts and was therefore used to seeing those people live together. When he went to school – then mainly reserved for more wealthy people – he played with friends who were more well-off and brought up differently than he was. He had

GERELATEERDE DOCUMENTEN