The Last of the Hiding Tribes

This compelling 3-part series, filmed over a 30 year period, presents the tragic story of three Brazilian indigenous tribes: the Panara, the Uru Eu Wau Wau, and the Ava-Canoeiro. As modern civilization encroaches upon their habitat, they lose land essential to their hunter/gatherer way of life and fall victim to violence and the ravages of diseases for which they have no defenses (in fact, only recently has the Brazilian government taken steps to safeguard these tribes and their culture). Each volume focuses on a tribe, with the second title, The Fate of the Kidnapper, following the true story of a sharecropper's family whose children are kidnapped and murdered by the Uru Eu Wau Wau because they settled in the tribe's hunting grounds. Over the ensuing years the tribe suffered near obliteration in both revenge massacres by the "whites" and through succumbing to disease. Producer Adrian Cowell does a terrific job of presenting the contrasting the modern and ancient cultures without bias, along the way raising many thought provoking questions about valuing diversity. Highly recommended. The other two titles in the series are: Return from Extinction and Fragments of a People. Aud: C, P. (L. Stevens)