Dead Birds (1963)

The films title is borrowed from a Dani fable that Gardner recounts in voiceover The Dani people whom Gardner identifies mysteriously as a mountain people believe that there was once a great race between a bird and a snake which was to determine the lives of human beings Should men shed their skins and live forever like snakes or die like birds The bird won the race dictating that man must die The films plot revolves around two characters Weyak and Pua Weyak is a warrior who guards the frontier between the land of his tribe and that of the neighboring tribe Pua is a young boy whom Gardner depicts as weak and inept