Distant Thud In The Jungle

In Papua New Guinea, Hides 4 is named after Jack Hides, the first white explorer to visit the region in 1935, searching for gold but instead discovering gas. From then on, priests and colonists settled there, imposing new laws, gods and languages. In 2009, ExxonMobil arrived to extract the gas. Together with the government, they privatised the valley, promising prosperity to the sixty thousand Hulis who live there. The Hulis gave up their land for shares, turning tribes into companies and dividing the land into parcels. Hides 4, or Lot 4, is now the permanent name of the village, nestling between forested mountains. Close to the factory, the Wabiria family lives on land parcelled out by ExxonMobil, still waiting for their “investment”. The siblings, mirroring the nation, are subjected to pressures reminiscent of Shakespearean dramas, with sibling rivalries and tribal resentments reminiscent of war.