Environmental disaster stories are nothing new, but rarely have they been so diligently observed as this one which recounts the tragedy in both human and environmental terms of what happened from 19801986 in the Amazonian rain forest states of Rondonia and Acre when the World Bank helped to subsidize a plan to tarmac BR 364, a dirt highway. The idea was to help colonists migrate further into the forest in order to farm government granted land parcels. The idea was to have disastrous effect, as first the soil proved unresponsive (or simply destroyed in the wake of large scale burning) and then the indigenous peoples of the rain forest began to raid the settlers who were wiping out their homeland. Footage of people on both sides of the issue, including natives of the Urn Eu Wau Wau (filmed for the first time) and settlers such as Renato Ferreira (who turns up years later in the filming-in Acre) reveal simple, and honest emotions and aspirations floundering within political and ecological systems they can neither flourish under nor understand. In the final third of the film, efforts by the seringueiros (rubber plant growers) to stop the incursion of the road which will benefit the cattle growers, who will in turn burn larger sections of the rain forest, finally bring the problem (a second time) to the attention of the U.S. Senate; and, in particular, Senator Robert Kasten, who tries, unsuccessfully, to halt funding. Adrian Cowell's documentary is a powerful statement which picked up best documentary honors at the AFVA. Unfortunately, it is priced out of the range of most public libraries. Highly recommended for those who can afford it. (Available from: Bullfrog Films, Oley, PA 19547;1-800-543-FROG.)
Banking On Disaster
(1987) 78 m. $450. Bullfrog Films. Public performance rights included. Vol. 4, Issue 2
Banking On Disaster
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