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PAGE 4 (Four panels)
(Note: The panels on this page should be sepia-toned, a visual indicator of the age of the photographic and cinematic material they are meant to represent.)
Panel 1: Two Italian men, ENZO SCELLERATINI (“Enzo”) and GUIDO SCELLERATINI (“Guido”) absurdly overdressed for their environment stand in coats, bow-ties, and bowler hats, posed on a beach with an old-fashioned, crank-operated movie camera. (Note: Both men have somewhat silly handlebar mustaches.)
CAPTION – PSEUDO-NARRATION (1): In 1905, Italian brothers Enzo and Guido Scelleratini, following up on sailors’ rumors of a strange native cult on the South Seas island of Motofupo, went there with a movie camera in hopes of finding something unusual.
Translation (1): Nel 1905, i fratelli italiani Enzo e Guido Scelleratini, seguendo le voci dei marinai su uno strano culto nativo sull’isola di Motofupo, nei mari del Sud, si recarono lì con una cinepresa nella speranza di trovare qualcosa di insolito.
Panel 2: A group of attractive young Polynesian-looking women dressed in muumuuu-like garments reaching into a sack together to draw something out.
CAPTION – PSEUDO-NARRATION (2): In spite of the fact that their rituals were rumored to include human sacrifice, the indigenous people proved friendly and allowed the Scelleratini brothers to film them and one of those very rituals.
Translation (2): Nonostante si dicesse che i loro rituali includessero il sacrificio umano, gli indigeni si dimostrarono amichevoli, si fecero riprendere dai fratelli Scelleratini e gli permisero di filmare uno di quei rituali.
Panel 3: Close up of two hands of different young women in the panel. One holds a white stone, another a black stone.
CAPTION – PSEUDO-NARRATION (3): The first part of the ritual was a selection process to pick specific young women to be given to a “God of the Deeps” in marriage.
Translation (3): ): La prima parte del rituale era un processo di selezione per scegliere specificamente delle giovani donne da dare in spose a un “Dio degli abissi”.
Panel 4: One young woman of the Motofupo people (“the Bride”), cradling a stone, a beatific expression.
CAPTION – PSEUDO-NARRATION (4): According to observers and apparent on the film was that the young women so selected did not seem distressed. They instead seemed pleased and honored.
Translation (4): Secondo gli osservatori e da quanto si può osservare nel film, le giovani donne così selezionate non sembravano angosciate. Al contrario, apparivano contente e onorate.
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