Oka means 'Listen' in the Pygmy language. Louis Sarno is an American author who in the mid 1980s spent time with Bayaka Pygmy tribe in the Central African Republic.
Sarno recorded their music and his experiences were published as Song From The Forest, which was included among the '99 books that capture the spirit of Africa' by Geoff Wisner.
If you want to know more about Sarno you will not find out from this curious film, it tells you little about him or what exactly he is dying off as the early scenes are with a doctor in the USA. Sarno is still alive and lives in CAR.
British actor Kriss Marshall plays the American author and throws himself in the role as he has to speak with an American accent as well as French and local dialect. There is plenty of scenes in the jungle which leads to some beautiful scenery and scenes with the local tribes as they stave off industrialisation. There is some colourful indigenous music but the plot is slight, in fact there really is not one.
The lack of a plot means the film gets dull very quickly from an interesting beginning. The film wants to give a message of conservation but it is muddled. The tribe does not view life with western eyes. The biggest failing is you do not get to learn about the man himself. An amiable diversion for people interested in Africa.