Piripkura

Brazilian filmmakers Bruno Jorge, Mariana Oliva, and Renata Terra helmed this fascinating documentary on the last surviving members of the Piripkura nomadic tribe, who live in the rainforests of Brazil’s Mato Grasso region. Pakyî and Tamandua are two men who belong to a tribe that has existed for centuries without direct contact with modern society. Also profiled is a tribal woman named Rita, who fled the rainforest when the logging companies dispatched mercenaries to kill the remaining tribe members. The Brazilian government was unaware of the tribe until contact was made in 1998. But while the tribe now enjoys protected status, Brazilian law requires that this status be renewed every two years. Much of the film involves the effort of an officer with an indigenous affairs agency to determine whether tribal members are still living in the same location, which would thus offer official protection to their section of the rainforest. Piripkura disturbingly illustrates how corporate greed and governmental bureaucracy have worked to speed the extinction of this indigenous group of people. The cinematography is often breathtaking, and the surviving Piripkura tribal members offer an eloquent elegy to their destroyed way of life. Highly recommended. Aud: C, P. (P. Hall)