Birdwatchers

Birdwatchers could have been one of those terribly worthy, but terribly dull, films, centring as it does on a group of Guarani-Kaiowas to reclaim their ancestral land. The setting might be Brazil but its themes resonate wherever indigenous people clash with descendents of European settlers over land rights. The opening image is a typically exotic expanse of forest but the final image tracks to reveal how it dwarfs in comparison to the neighbouring farmland. This is the crux of the matter. The Guarani now live on a reservation, have nowhere to hunt, and earn money by either posing as "wild" Indians for tourists or working on the estates that now occupy what was their land. What lifts this above the usual liberal handwringing is the verve of the filmmaking and the sly humour. Subjective camerwork signals the presence of Angue, an evil spirit that drives people to commit suicide. Meanwhile, the conflict over the Indians' occupation of a strip of land escalates, though the women have much fun in teasing the guard left by the farmer. The film is certainly on the side of the Guarani and their predicament. Moreira might protest that the land has been in his family for three generations but that seems laughable when compared to the ancient claims of the tribe. The two viewpoints are mutually contradictory and as such, the film can't offer closure. The young would-be shaman might defeat Angue, but the farmers have killed the leader of the tribe. The tentative contacts made elsewhere in the film are all in shreds and noone really wins.