The Last Forest

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.

There are several indigenous peoples in Brazil, each with its own peculiarities and characteristics. This documentary shows as the Yanomami see the issue of ore and "garimpeiros".

Deforestation starts with the gold prospector (garimpeiro), flowed to the wood seller and finally the big farmer, all on the same idea but at different scales of exploration of the Amazon.

Genocide against indigenous peoples has to stop!

It's important to give indigenous communities a voice. They are there lung of the world. They know how earth works as they in harmony with her. Modern men usually don't know the cycles of nature anymore. Hence they don't know the impact of their life style on the planet.

Watching this movie I learned that it is hard to understand the rituals and although I have had some education in regard to indigenous life.

I fear that the message of the movie will not be understood by those who should.

It would help to include in movies like this what rituals they are doing and for what reason.

Including their understanding of spirit and their communication with the other world.

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

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.