Chang (1927)

Nominated for 1 Academy Award:

Best Unique and Artistic Picture

Paramount Famous Lasky

It won 0 Oscars out of a total of 1 nomination in 1927-28.


Chang, or Chang: A Drama of the Wilderness, is a docudrama that was released amid the popularity of adventure films.  It follows a tribesman named Kru who has boldly hacked out a home for himself and his family deep within the jungle away from his village.  Our hero enters into survival mode as the audience is treated to a showdown of man versus beast.  Kru and his family are able to deal with a number of predators as they tend to their crops, but things suddenly take a drastic turn.  The entire village must band together when they are threatened by the return of a most feared adversary:  the chang.

This was the first documentary film to be nominated for “Best Picture.”  That is to say, for Best Unique and Artistic Picture.  It was also one of only three films to be nominated in this category before it would be consolidated with Best Production to create the Best Picture category the following year.

This film was from the collaborative team of Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack, best known for being the creative force behind the original King Kong (1933).  Years before they would bring the Eighth Wonder of the World to Hollywood, they ventured into the jungle to further push the envelope with film-making and return with footage of an exotic world that had remain unseen by American audiences.

The two filmmakers actually placed themselves in the middle of all the action, capturing groundbreaking shots of wild animals in their habitat.  One of the more famous shots that was executed was that of a tiger’s face barreling forth into the camera.  Undoubtedly, something for which they risked life and limb to get.

There is some issue with classifying this as a documentary, though.  It is, indeed, part documentary, but also part melodrama.  It has been reported that while all of the characters and the environment are real, the story-line was somewhat fabricated.  Or, at the very least, forced.  Some moments were even re-staged if they did not turn out the way the filmmakers had anticipated.  Their aim seems to have been to capture the way this tribe actually survived and the excitement of the wild animals in the jungle, but to also have a good story to present to the audience that seamed everything together.


Editorial:

This is actually a pretty exciting little movie.  It definitely captures the imagination of one’s inner child.  The fact that the two of them had been so enamored with adventure and exploration is both apparent and contagious.  It is hard to say how much of the story-line was fictionalized, but I am more than willing to forgive them of any misrepresentations.  They were obviously done for the purpose of narrative progression, and the final product delivers.

Score  |  08/10  |  This motion picture is essential viewing.