Birdwatchers (La Terra degli Uomini Rossi)
It’s difficult to find much that’s
life affirming or optimistic in this docu-drama about the plight of a native
forest-dwelling people, the Guaraní. Even though
the filmmakers try to leave us with an encouraging sign of resistance to the
status quo on the part of the natives, it’s not enough
to countermand all the instances of human foibles and deception that precede
it.
The root case of the contention
between the natives and the settlers
would seem to be land. “The jaguar is my brother, the cow is my enemy, it
occupies my land”, as the tribe’s shaman puts it. Some would have it that the
tree-felling for agricultural purposes has led to the annihilation of countless
tribes who had made the forest their home. Even at that, there is the further
suggestion that the tribespeople have not received “fair value” for their land.
This is just an undercurrent though, the main point of
interest for the filmmakers is to document the impact that displacement has had
on tribal morale, which ultimately means the morale and wellbeing of its
members.
By the look of the actors who
play the tribe members, we understand that they are ethnicallly Guaraní.
An italian writer and
post-film blurb giving background statistics and a website reference points to
the films educational remit and status as an international effort to raise the profile of the
management of the Brazilian rainforest. The term “management”
doesn’t do justice to the status
of the Guaraní, and other tribes, due to them as human beings. However, it
appears that this is exactly what is happening, insofar as the de facto “ethnic
cleansing” that we see has its roots in economic factors. This idea is
encapsulated in the exploitation of the Guaraní as tourist attractions. More directly,
the drive towards expansionist farming practices is itself economically
motivated. How it came to pass that the native tribes lost the title to their anestral
homeland is not explored, but the some of the repercussions of this fact are
central, including alcoholism, suicide, poverty and dispiritedness, which have
seen parallels in
In terms of craft, no-one is
vying for acting awards, but that’s not the point. The screenplay is well paced
and scenes are well constructed, often landing us in the middle of the action. A
soundtrack of European-sounding religious music contrasts with the setting and
counterpoints those parts of the screenplay without dialogue. The credits
inform us that it was composed in the 1700s. A little after