Sun Come Up

This brief HBO-aired documentary focuses on the Carteret Islanders, some of the world's first “climate change refugees.” The Carterets, located in the South Pacific near Papua New Guinea, are being threatened by surging, rising ocean tides that are slowly but surely making the place uninhabitable, as evidenced by the fact that saltwater from the surrounding sea is beginning to flood food crops. Unfortunately, relocation isn't as simple as packing up a U-Haul and heading for higher ground. Clan leaders decide to start transporting families by boat to the “mainland”—the Tinputz region on nearby Bougainville Island—but once there, the displaced have to go from one village to another and beg the not-always-welcoming inhabitants to allocate them a small plot of land on which to begin their new lives. To make matters worse, the Tinputz area was engaged in a civil war in the 1990s and still has a residual criminal element of armed and dangerous soldiers who don't like outsiders. Viewers will certainly sympathize with the islanders' plight, but it's a shame that filmmakers Jennifer Redfearn and Tim Metzger don't go deeper into the Carterets' history to offer a more detailed picture of the life these people are reluctantly giving up. Still, the production does capture some poignant observations from villagers, including a woman who says, “Most of our culture will have to live in memory.” Recommended. Aud: C, P. (M. Sandlin)