Journey To Banana land 1950
Channel: Archives Cinema TV
Date: 2022-11-06

Journey To Banana land 1950

The main crucial stages of banana cultivation are illustrated via animations and still photographs.
The trip starts when the travelers depart from American soil and head towards the Caribbean. Some of the major cities in Middle America are marked, and their respective nations are labeled, on a map (Central America). Hot and humid lowlands, jungle-covered coasts, and volcanic mountains are all shown in this region, which stretches from Mexico to Colombia and the Dominican Republic to Guatemala. While in a normal city, the travelers see locals using public water fountains, selling goods in outdoor markets, going to church, hanging out with neighbors, and shopping. Mayan peoples' modern-day offspring cultivate maize, coffee beans, and cocoa plants in remote areas.
The trip ends at its intended goal, a banana plantation in the humid and sweltering lowlands of Central America. There is some explanation of how and why bananas became so popular around the world. In the footage, laborers are shown cutting down trees and removing brush to make way for the plantation. From the time the rootstock is planted until the plant is completely mature, fourteen months later, the entire process is animated and depicted in a sequence of diagrams.
Bananas are picked by a crew of three men: the cutter, who snips the stem just below the bunch of fruit; the backer, who snags the bananas and takes them to the toad; and the mule-man, who puts the fruit into a pack mule or cart. Picking the fruit while it's still in its green state.
Next, we see trains carrying loads of bananas to the port after they have been dipped in tanks of water several times. Here, conveyor belts move them into the climate-controlled holds of waiting ships that will take them to the United States. Bananas are transported across the nation on special trains and stored in refrigerated compartments until they are ready to be eaten. Once they have reached peak maturity, they are shipped to retailers for sale.
The last scenes depict individuals eating bananas for breakfast, lunch, supper, and snacks. In this scene, a young cook whips up a banana milk shake for an afternoon snack, and we get the recipe and instructions for creating one, too.
Explanations of Spanish terms, comments made to the camera, and informative pictures of people and places all serve to enrich the film's overall presentation. [June 1951 issue of the Educational Screen]
The journey of the "modern treasure" banana from the tropics to your breakfast table is chronicled in this documentary. A lot of effort is put into emphasizing that the Conquistadors stole from Central America, but the United Fruit Company "brought 20th-century lifestyle" and "increased purchasing power" to the jungle. The film purposefully mimics the style of a documentary on a journey. United Fruit's "Great White Way" premiered at sea on the S.S. Talamanca.