A Última Floresta

After finding Under the Concrete (2020-also reviewed) to be an intriguing feature film debut by Roy Arida,I was excited to enter the forest and catch the third,and final title in the 2021 WOW Film Festival features line-up.

View on the film:

Going deep into the heart of the Yanomami community in the Amazon rainforest on the border between Venezuela and Brazil, director Luiz Bolognesi & cinematographer Pedro J. Marquez wise decision to not have an English language narration, allows for a rich, immerse atmosphere to grow, via Bolognesi's delicate, spectacular tracking shots and striking close-ups in natural light, capturing the untouched by industrialization balance of the practical daily routines, and the deep spiritualism that the Yanomami's hold dear.

Treating the beliefs of the Yanomami's with respect, Bolognesi inter-cuts the daily lives documentary footage with shimmering re-enactments, as the tribes-people play themselves in excellent sequences which dramatizes the mythology that they live their lives by.

Detailing during the end credits the horrific mistreatment and murder that have been committed by prospectors in recent years, Bolognesi fills the screen with the passionate voices of the Yanomami's , who detail the distraction which the brutal outsiders have brought with them,as the Yanomami fight to save the last forest.

A much needed documentary. The photography is insane, Pedro did a wonderful job. And I was amazed at the folklore tales, narrated and played by the natives themselves. I can't see anything that faults it, it's raw, it's pleasant, it's humanity at it's best and at it's worst.

Sadly documentaries on tribes (that are still around) don't seem to get much attention anymore. Most people see the photo and think "Eh, tribal people. Sounds boring!" But you would be wrong.

You are missing out. There is no narrator. No non-tribe people (well aside from the people filming). Just the tribe showing us how they live. And more importantly how modern man is killing them off but figuratively and literally at times.

Their lifestlye is well... tribal. But its almost peaceful and calm compared to how most people live today. It's ashame gold diggers and others get onto their land and put them at risk. Some from causing mercury to poisoning their waters from gold digging. Others literally trying to hurt them because they just want their land.

To note for those who all worried about "Is this some bashing you over the head thing about nature?" Well it is an issue of course, but this documentary is about more then that. It's about the tribes. Deforestation is another issue that affects them greatly.

I'm glad I checked this out. There's nothing really offensive in this for you to worry about. Unless your against nudity. But this isn't nudity as we see it today. This is just a tribe being a tribe. Remember, we modern people are the ones who see butts, breasts, genital's as sexual things that need to be covered up.

Seeing there are only five reviews for this makes me sad. I hope it get more exposure.

Understatements. Everything I could say about this powerful sharing would be an understatement. It is beautiful, devastating, poignant, hilarious, haunting. It is us. What we should be. I dare you not to see the world and your life differently after watching this.

Fantastic, perfect! Yanomami indigenous people tell their own tale about the arrival of gold diggers invading their territory.