Bali Tourism Board chief Ida Bagus Ngurah Wijaya said on Monday that “Cowboy’s Paradise,” a documentary focusing on Kuta Cowboys, or gigolos, had nothing to do with Bali’s reputation as the most sought-after tourism destination in the world.
“That documentary, I believe, was over the top. It in no way represents what Bali is truly about, which is a world-class cultural destination,” Ida Bagus said.
Bali’s chief of public relations, Putu Suardika, agreed: “I reject that documentary. It has nothing to do with what Balinese beauty and our culture is about.”
Singapore-based writer and director Amit Virmani told Twitchfilm.net that he had the idea for “Cowboy’s Paradise” after meeting a 12-year-old boy in Bali who confessed an eagerness “to grow up and be of sexual service to Japanese women.”
“Actually, I’d known about the cowboys and similar phenomena elsewhere long before that. But they were just fun facts to me. Women traveling for sex? Guys making money off it? Big deal. Happy for all, but not enough to make a film about it,” Virmani said in the interview. “Then I met this kid in Bali, all of 12 and eager to grow up and be of sexual service to Japanese women. Now there was a story.”
As news of the documentary spread across Web sites nationwide, the chief of Kuta Beach security operations, I Gusti Ngurah Tresna, said his officers had questioned 28 men with muscular bodies on the beach.
“They were working as [vendors]. We questioned them because they had no ID. They were mostly dark-skinned and had great bodies,” Tresna said. “This raid was no joke. We do take such allegations seriously and we do not legalize such activities.”
The movie trailer on Virmani’s Web site — which has been viewed almost 20,000 times since it was posted in December — profiles a number of tanned, muscular local surfer boys who speak candidly about their escapades with foreign women, including their stock pick-up lines in a number of foreign languages.
“Hi girls. I think I know you from last night. What are you doing tonight? If you don’t have any plans you can come with me tonight. I love you,” an unidentified male cowboy tells the camera.
Virmani says thousands of women travel to Bali each year in search of paradise, “and many find it in the arms of Kuta Cowboys. Masters at peddling holiday romances, these bronzed beach ambassadors have made Bali one of the world’s leading destinations for female sex tourists.”
The movie argues that the cowboys are not gigolos because they do not charge for sex.
“The film reveals some of the island’s most closely guarded secrets. Why don’t the boys charge for sex? How then do women compensate them? Where do time-management skills fit into all this? And how does a cowboy’s family feel about his errant ways?” Virmani asked.
The movie, completed in 2009 after two years in production, premiered at the DMZ Documentary Film Festival in South Korea last Wednesday.
http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/home/bali-authorities-take-dim-view-of-film-featuring-islands-cowboy-gigolos/371671
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