Lau Of Malaita, The: The Lau Of The Solomon Islands (1987) Rating: Starring: Lau of Malaita-Lau of the Solomon Islands Director: Leslie Woodhead Category: Documentary, Special Interest, Special Interest Studio: Shanachie Subtitles: Length: 60 mins     "A detailed and richly photographed documentary" -- TIME OUT The modern world is rapidly closing in on centuries old traditional cultures. The highly acclaimed Disappearing World series sought to capture on film ways of life which might not survive much longer, sending film crews to the remote corners of five continents to live with these endangered societies. The resulting portraits allow the people, their values and their behavior to speak for themselves. The extraordinary way of life of the Lau people, who live on manmade coral islands in an idyllic South Pacific lagoon, is being threatened by the dissemination of Christianity and by commerce with the outside world. Traditional culture, which they know as "life of Custom," is in jeopardy on the island of Malaita as only two aging spiritual leaders remain, while on a neighboring island, despairing over the rapid spread of Christianity in the lagoon, the last two "Custom Priests" committed ritual suicide. The haunting ethereal choral singing of the Lau has yet to show the influence of modern music, but one enterprising villager brought a battery operated VCR onto Malaita, and the first exposure to modern culture received by a hut crammed with transfixed islanders was the John Travolta film Grease. Nearby islands have already been converted to Christianity, and what remains of their old ways coexists with cassette recorders and tee-shirts.