Jean Rouch and Ethno-Fiction - Jaguar

Jean Rouch's film Jaguar (1967) almost seamlessly blends the realms of ethnographic realism with a fictitious parable of boys leaving and returning home men. The film follows it three protagonists from their homes in a small village in Niger, across Africa and to the Gold Coast of Ghana. Courtesy of Rouch the audience is also along for the ride.

A key part in understanding Rouch's interest in the region in the first place reveals itself in an interview conducted by fellow filmmaker and anthropologist Lucien Taylor. In the interview Rouch is unexpectedly candid about his work and autobiography. The filming of this movie was certainly not the first time he had ever been to Africa or Niger. During the Second World War Rouch was studying there to avoid the chaos in Europe and had this to say about the country he so delicately depicts in Jaguar: "Niger was an awful country - the climate was dreadful, the quinine tablets had ran out, and the mosquito bites could be very dangerous... there was absolutely nothing there - no gas, no cars, no clothe..." (Rouch 133)

Quite a surprising response from the way the film is handled - with its rhythm of walking, and emphasis on the simple grandeur of this odyssey - There is also a strong emphasis on a collaborative effort with those he was shooting. This is evident in the commentary of the film being lively and allowing his informants/subjects voice their opinions on what has happened to them.

Rouch's explanation of the inherent condition of ethnographic film is also quite important, "The situation is clearly this: the anthropologist has at his disposal the only tool (the partisipating camera) that offers him the extraordinary possibility of direct communication of the group he studies - the film he has made about them." (Rouch 8) This symbiotic relationship is present in Jaguar where the subjects and their journey is documented and the represented to the public at large. Rouch is saying that he and them are bonded through this film and their mutual hope that it comes out as good as possible.

I enjoyed the film and its over-all understanding of the rite of passage it was filming. Rouch's "jump-cutting" technique is a great stamp of authenticty on the project and adds a feeling of other-worldly-ness to landscape, while the men's story is all too familiar. Universality really shines through his camera lens.