Venezuela
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AMERIKA: TERRA INCOGNITA (América, terra incógnita) (America: Unknown Land) Director: Diego Rísquez Writers: Diego Risquez, Luis Ángel Duque Cinematography: Andrés Agustí Music: Alejandro Blanco Uribe 1989. 95 minutes. PG-14. 1.37:1 Setting: conquista-era Spain Language: none Availability: VHS 
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This is an experimental film with almost no dialogue, except for a few words in Italian in the middle of the film. Conquistadors capture an Indian (Alberto Martín) and bring him back to Europe along with birds and other exotica. He is kept at court as a specimen to be displayed and looked at. A princess in the Italian begins a clandestine affair with him and has a child. Eventually, the Indian escapes the castle, but only goes to a small island where they can watch him with a telescope. Slow, symbolic, and dream-like, this fascinating experiment might have benefited from more rigorous cutting. But the contrast between indigenous harmony with nature and European estrangement from nature has never been expressed better. Rísquez also made Orinoko. |
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DESNUDO CON NARANJAS (Nude with Oranges) Director: Luis Alberto Lamata Writer: Laura Goldberg Cinematography: Andrés Agustí 1994. 110 minutes. Setting: various parts of the Caribbean, during the Guerra Federal (1959-1963) Language: Spanish Availability: none
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An Indian captain in the Federal Army discovers a mute woman adrift in a small town where the army is fighting. After a fierce battle, only the captain and the mute survive, and so she follows him around as he decides where to go. At first he tries to abandon her, but eventually they fall in love. In the course of their wanderings the captain is tricked into buying a bilongo, an amulet of Afro-Caribbean lore that gives the owner luck in gambling but also condemns the owner to hell if he cannot sell it to another poor soul for less than he bought it. This is a charming film, full of surprises and symbolism, and beautiful cinematography, but it does not show any Indian culture. The captain is constantly called an Indian by other characters, but the actor, Daniel Alvarado, does not look like an Indian. Based on a story by Robert Louis Stevenson. |
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LA DONCELLA DE PIEDRA (Stone Maiden) Director: Miguel M. Delgado Writers: Miguel M. Delgado, Rómulo Gallegos, Ramón Pérez Peláez Cinematography: Gabriel Figueroa Music: Gustavo César Carrión 1956. 95 minutes. 2.35:1 Setting: a slave farm in Venezuela Language: Spanish; with a few phrases in Guajira Availability: DVD (no subtitles; fullscreen)
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Remota Montiel (played by Elsa Aguirre) is the daughter of a Guajira woman who died in childbirth and a Venezuelan man whom she never knew, who sent her to school in the United States. As a woman she returns to Venezuela to live among and help the guajiros, who are enslaved by whites. One of the guajiros believes Remota to be the incarnation of the Doncella de Piedra, the stone maiden, who according to their beliefs would become flesh and save them. He also tells her the truth about her father, who is the co-owner of the slave-owning company. Remota is sold to the richest of the Guajira chiefs, a man she despises, but her estranged father learns of his daughter just in time and prevents the marriage. However, he dies a few months later, and Renata must form an alliance with a neighboring community of Uriana Indians in order to free the Guajira slaves. Based on the 1943 novel, Sobre la misma tierra, by Venezuelan writer Rómulo Gallegos (1884-1969). The film was made in Mexico while Gallegos was in exile, having been ousted from the presidency by a coup d'etat. |
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JERICÓ (Jericho) Director/writer: Luis Alberto Lamata Cinematography: Andrés Agustí Music: Federico Gattorno 1990. 89 minutes. 1.85:1 Setting: 16th century Venezuela Language: Spanish; with some Omagua and occasional Latin (only the Spanish is subtitled) Availability: VHS
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Fray Santiago is more comfortable with his Latin books and students, but
instead the church ships him off the New World to convert natives.
Disgusted by the brutality of the Spanish soldiers traveling with him,
Fray Santiago runs off with a small group of rebels, who are
later killed. The priest is eventually taken in by a village of Omagua Indians who
teach him their language and accept him as one of their own. As the priest learns
to stop converting and love the Omagua, he wrestles with the nature of faith
in philosophical voiceovers (which are oddly spoken in a woman's voice). Low budget but
captivating. Contains graphic violence and unabashed male and
female nudity.
Sinopsis en español:
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MBURUCUYÁ: Cuadros de la naturaleza (Mburucuyá: Portraits of Nature) Director/writer: Jorge Acha Cinematography: José Luis Celeiro, JOrge Acha 1991. 93 minutes. Setting: Santiago de Estero Language: Spanish, English Availability: none
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This unreleased experimental film is a dramatization of selected passages from the journals
of Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859), the great explorer and naturalist who studied the
Indians, plants and animals of the Amazon and other parts of the Americas. Most of the
passages read in the film are from Humboldt's 1799 travels in the Orinoco River basin, but
the last half-hour of the film includes some of his observations on the Incas. The
passages are read (by narrator Jorge Diez) first in Spanish, then in English, though
there is some of Humboldt's native German thrown in too, as well as some indigenous
language. Mburucuya has no plot. It is comprised of sounds and images of nature,
Humboldt's journals and drawings, an assortment of modern and indigenous music, and
minimalist dramatizations of Humboldt's time spent with Indians of the Orinoco. This is
truly an experimental film, perhaps even moreso than the works of Diego Risquez. In
fact, it would be surprising if Mburucuya were not inspired by Risquez's films,
which came out only a few years before this one. Jorge Acha stated that the film's
intention was to observe European culture through the lens of the Latin American.
Humboldt is played by Ariel Kupfer. His partner, the botanist Aimé Bonpland, is played by Patrick Liotta, while the actors playing the three or four Indians, and the Inca boy in the Peruvian digression, are uncredited. No credits are given in the extant film, which is essentially complete, but was left unedited when director Jorge Acha died in 1996. Acha made only two other feature-length films. For more information (in Spanish) on this fascinating but little-known director and painter, see geocities.com/CapitolHill/Lobby/5313/jorge-acha.htm Mburucuyá is the Guarani name for the passion flower.
Sinopsis en español:
En 1799 Friedrich Heinrich Alexander von Humboldt, en compañía del botánico Aimé Bonpland,
partió del puerto de Marsella rumbo a Sudamérica, donde permanecería cinco años. El
geógrafo y naturalista alemán no venía en busca de un conocimiento nuevo. Venía en
busca de nuevos objetos para integrar a su viejo y racionalista modelo de pensamiento.
El choque entre las dos culturas, entre los dos modos de pensamiento, era inevitable. La
descripción perfecta de las plumas del pato nos hace perder su esencia, su alma.
"Mburucuyá",
esa extraña flor latinoamericana que los españoles rebautizarán como "pasionaria" por sus
pistilos que recuerdan los tres clavos del Cristo en la cruz, es más que nada color y
movimiento. Es un aliento de Duración que escapa al racionalismo científico de Von
Humboldt, que da por concluida su misión después de haber "disecado más de mil seiscientas
plantas y recolectado más de seiscientas especies" y no haber podido acercarse ni un
milímetro a esa cualidad otra, a ese conocimiento distinto, que supone la mirada del
indígena Yancagua, "cazador de jaguares", que permanecerá por
siempre "atrapado en el sueño de Alexander olor a jabón".
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ORINOKO: NUEVO MUNDO Director: Diego Rísquez Writer: Luis Ángel Duque, Diego Risquez Cinematography: Andrés Agustí, Marieta Pérez Music: Alejandro Blanco Uribe 1984. 103 minutes. 1.37:1 Setting: Orinoco River, 15th century Language: none Availability: VHS
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Like other works by Diego Rísquez, this film dispenses with dialogue,
telling the story entirely through images, sounds, and music. The first
half of the film shows idyllic life on the Orinoco before the invasion
of the Europeans. Then a shaman has visions of the arrival of Christopher
Columbus and the Catholic mission of 1498.
Note: Risquez's Orinoko should not be confused with the made-for-TV film Orinoco directed by Julian Pastor. (Risquez likes to use K instead of C or QU; and W instead of HU, which some indigenistas prefer in order to unburden their names of Spanish spellings.) |
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RÍO NEGRO Director: Atahualpa Lichy Writer: Eduardo de Gregorio, Antonio Larreta, Atahualpa Lichy, Manolo Matji Cinematography: Mario García Joya 1990. 117 minutes. Setting: Amazonias, 1912 Language: Spanish Availability: VHS
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Indians are mostly background figures in this film about a struggle for political power in the "wild west" of a remote Venezuelan town. But there are two scenes with a shaman. In the first, the shaman gives advice to Funes, the newcomer in town. In the second, the shaman performs a blessing of some sort and paints a cross of blood on Funes' forehead while they are standing in the river. Rousing Venezuelan music (possibly anachronistic) spices up the film. |
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WHERE THE RIVER RUNS BLACK Director: Christopher Cain Writers: Neal Jimenez, Peter Silverman Cinematographer: Juan Ruiz Anchía Music: James Horner 1986. 100 minutes. Rated PG. 2.35:1 Setting: Waika region of the Amazon, near Rio Negro; then various towns in Venezuela Language: English Availability: VHS
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A missionary in the Amazon is seduced by a mysterious indigenous woman of the Waika tribe, and moments later he is killed by an anaconda. A blond boy is born of the union, and he grows up on the river with his mother, until she is killed by gold prospectors. The boy then lives on his own and befriends dolphins, who look after him. Years later, a colleague of the missionary who died searches for the boy and brings him to an orphanage. This priest names the boy Lazaro. At the orphanage Lazaro meets Segundo (Ajay Naidu), a handsome, rebellious boy who is assigned the task of civilizing Lazaro in order to keep both boys in line. One day a local politician visits the orphanage for a ballgame, and Lazaro recognizes him as the gold prospector who killed his mother. He vows revenge, escapes from the orphanage with Segundo, and hunts down the killer. Where the River Runs Black is a very good movie, but one feels it could have been better. The cinematography is excellent (though the Playhouse VHS reduces the 2.35:1 aspect ratio to full screen). But the plot seems forced, and the leading actor, Alessandro Rabelo, is too innocent-looking to convincingly convey Lazaro's feral nature and his wrath. No Native American customs or culture are shown in this film, though its similarity to Emerald Forest and Ele O Boto make it worth checking out for fans of those movies. Based on the 1983 novel, Lazaro, by English-Canadian writer David Kendall. |
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YAI YAWONABALEWA (The Enemy God) Director/writer: Christopher Bessette Cinematographer: John Petrella Music: Tim Alberts 2008. 100 minutes. Setting: Yanomami territory Language: English Availability: DVD
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The true story of Shake, a Yanomami who attained the highest power a shaman can reach, that of "Child-Killer," in which he spiritually travels to another village to unleash his demons. The film spans fifty years and examines how life has changed among the Yanomami people and how the "new ways" challenge their faith. The Enemy God delivers a decidedly Christian slant on the issue of assimilation, but it is still an effective drama. You can order the DVD from the official site: www.theenemygod.com |
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YA-KOO Director/writer/cinematographer: Franco Rubartelli Assistant: Christian Castañeda Music: Francisco Molo (composer), Esperanza Marquez (theme song vocal), Conchita Paquiño (theme song lyrics), Gerrit Peereboom (flute solo), Elaiza Romero (choir director) 1985. 105 minutes. Setting: Alto Orinoco river and forest Language: Spanish, some Tupi Availability: none
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Pepiwe (played by Jose Gregorio Payema) is a Yanomami boy living in a Catholic mission. After getting into an argument with
his teacher about the name of his river (she says Rio Siapa; he calls it Periquitos),
Pepiwe decides to return to the jungle to look for his family. He paddles down the Orinoco
with his dog and parrot, and during a stopover on land he meets yet another nun (Flor Núñez), but not one from his
mission. She pays the boy to show him the way to San Carlos de Rio Negro (by the Colombian
border). He reluctantly agrees, but after a day's journey the nun tries to sneak away and
loses the canoe. Ya-Koo has elements of a road movie with comically mismatched
traveling companions, and the two leads have great chemistry, but it is much more than
that. When we see Pepiwe in his own element, wise in his own jungle, feeding and caring
for both himself and the lost nun in the beautiful and deadly rain forest, we feel that an
entire culture and way of life is being celebrated. And also, perhaps, mourned. Ya-Koo
is the Tupi word for good-bye.
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