Nearly all dialogue is written and spoken in the original native Brazilian Indian language Tupi, as translated by the celebrated Brazilian pioneer filmmaker Humberto Mauro.
The film was threatened to be vetoed by Brazilian censorship for depicting abundant full-frontal nudity, an issue which was laughed off by historians and researchers of native Brazilian peoples.
Official submission of Brazil to the 1973's Oscars in the best foreign language film category.
Director Nelson Pereira dos Santos based the script in several historical documents from the 1550's and 1560's made by french and portuguese authorities. Pereira dos Santos also used on loosely basis the experiences of german mercenary Hans Staden, who wrote an account about his captivity by a Tupinambá tribe while he was serving the portuguese in colonial Brazil.
The audience at the film's premiere rioted, so outraged were they by the full nudity and comic treatment of cannibalism and genocide.