When the Man Went South (2014) watch online HD

Instructed to set out on a journey by his village chief, Flying Fox heads south to learn about his strengths as a man. During his journey he meets two warring villages and attempts to mediate their differences. Flying Fox applies the lessons he learned on his journey when he returns to his home village to find trouble.

When the Man Went South was filmed entirely on location in the Kingdom of Tonga.

Upon arrival in Tonga, the director and producers did not have a cast. Local villagers on the island of 'Eua were cast to play the roles of all parts in the film. Only Flying Fox was filled with someone with actual acting experience.

Producers touted this as the first narrative feature film to be shot in the Kingdom of Tonga. However, that distinction actually goes to Castaways: The Boy Chief of Tonga (1978).

While scouting down by the water's edge, the lead actor, Soane Prescott (Flying Fox) thought he saw signs of an approaching tsunami wave and told the director of photography, who was with him at the time, to run for high ground. The two came back and alerted the the other crew, only to find out soon after that there was no such seismic event. This earned Prescott the nickname "Tsunami", which was jokingly used for the duration of the shoot.

Within a day of scraping his wrist on the coral reef surrounding the island of 'Eua, one of the producers needed immediate medical attention. The abrasion resulted in long "tracks" under the skin that started at the point of contact down the length of his arm. On a second occasion, Alex Bernstein (writer/director) as well as Zach Heffner (director of photography) were pulled out to sea past the reef wall in a very strong cross rip-tide. The two remained approximately three hundred yards from shore, treading water, for more than twenty minutes. Agent Ogden (producer/editor) realized they were having trouble getting back in, and found a life-ring that he managed to float out to them. Heffner, a retired professional athlete, stated "I had about ten more minutes of fight and that was it." It is laughed about now, but was a pretty serious situation at the time. After the situation was resolved, Kamaloni Afu (Gecko Lizard) said, "Today is not a good day for swimming on this beach."

Equipment issues were plenty for the crew in the midst of tropical heat/humidity, monsoon-like downpours, and ever present ocean mist on a remote island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Several computers, hard drives, microphones, and all of the GoPro camera devices that were brought ceased functioning without notice. This caused the crew to get creative in how to solve these problems, including one of the producers contacting an acquaintance in New Zealand to pick up new GoPro cameras ordered online, passing them to a flight attendant on Air New Zealand, which was passed to a point of contact with the Ministry of Tourism on Tongatapu, then handed to a local contact to be brought to the island of 'Eua via the inter-island ferry.

There are several natural beauty landmarks on the island of 'Eua featured in the film such as the Lakufa'anga Cliffs, Li'angahuo 'a Maui - a giant limestone land bridge, and one of the island's Great Banyan trees. The crew was led by local guides to locations that were rarely visited and most likely never photographed.

The crew were invited to take part in a Tongan kava ceremony, a Pacific island tradition that dates back many centuries. There, the group assembles in a circle on woven palm mats, and the kava, a beverage prepared from the dried kava root, which produces a mild sedative effect, is passed around while the participants converse, discuss politics, and most importantly, laugh and joke with one another. Then traditional Tongan love songs are sung, usually with a accompanying guitars/ukuleles, and the cycle repeats. The action was summed up by one of the Tongan cast members as: sing, drink, sing, drink. The Kava Ceremonies are a daily occurrence and last for several hours.