Angano...Angano

"Tales...tales..." says the opening interviewee, and our ears perk up, since a good story is one of life's grandest pleasures. And Angano...Angano offers plenty of good stories. Home to the Malagasy people, Madagascar, which lies off the southeastern coast of Africa, is the fourth largest island in the world. Inhabited by a people of mixed African and Malay-Polynesian ancestry, the country was a French territory until finally winning independence in 1960. The "tales" that the Malagasy have to tell begin with the beginning: their creation and early history myths mirror our own Judeo-Christian stories (though frankly the Malagasy stories are more imaginative). For example, in the original sin story, God gives man a choice for death: die like the moon or like the banana tree. If man chooses the moon-death, he will be reborn but have no issue; if he chooses the banana tree death, on the other hand, he will die only once but "leave little shoots behind." Director Cesar Paes' award-winning documentary is brimful of such tales, ranging from the story of the man who slept all day (which resulted in the rules regarding division of property between husband and wife) to the story of how sacrifice came into the world. While listening to the tales, we watch the daily lives of the Malagasy as they gather water, herd zebu, cultivate rice, and "turn" their dead (a unique practice of exhuming and rewrapping their ancestors in fresh silk shrouds). "Tales help to form the mind," says one Malagasy near the film's close. He adds: "tales are the ear's inheritance," a beautiful sentiment and a perfect close to an absorbing film. Highly recommended. Editor's Choice. [Note: If purchased with five or more titles from the other seven entries in California Newsreel's "Library of African Cinema" series, the price of each tape is $49.] (Available from: California Newsreel, 149 Ninth St./420, San Francisco, CA 94103.)