Brazil’s indigenous tribes have endured 500 years of slow genocide. Yet by opening this tract with a scene of some Guarani-Kaiowá tribes-people posing as Amazonian savages for the benefit of a boatload of tourists, director Marco Bechis hoists himself by his own petard. It’s thuddingly apparent that the non-professional performers are enacting caricatures assigned them by a conscience-stricken liberal. With a story that has his characters bent on reclaiming an ancestral burial ground, Bechis achieves a tangible sense of place and makes telling use of missionary composer Domenico Zipoli, but his story lacks nuance and emotional equilibrium.
Birdwatchers Review
A group of indigenous Brazilians, the Guarani, decide to make a stand to the landowners and large-scale farmers over a stretch of land with great cultural significance.
Release Date:
10 Jul 2009
Running Time:
NaN minutes
Certificate:
TBC
Original Title:
Birdwatchers
Having captured an authentic and compelling tone, the cliched story twists lets the film's down occasionally.
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