★ 7 / 10
What I rather appreciated about this documentary film
CinemaSerf
What I rather appreciated about this documentary film is that it presents us with a couple of perspectives to the dilemma faced by both the indigenous Uru Eu…
What I rather appreciated about this documentary film is that it presents us with a couple of perspectives to the dilemma faced by both the indigenous Uru Eu Wau Wau tribe and of the would-be farmers who are bent on deforestation in Brazil's remote Amazon rainforest. The former live on their ostensibly "protected" territory, constantly vigilant to the aspirations of the encroaching people who burn down and clear tracts of land for cattle farming. Illegal their behaviour may be, but the attitude of those loyal to the Bolsonara government in Brasilia do little to enforce the status of their reservation, and so it falls to themselves to try and police - at considerable risk to life and limb - their own land. The position of the farmers is also presented. These are people with little hope, a general resentment of the Indians whom they consider to have far too much land to live on, and who are also not remotely shy of putting in the hard graft to farm this territory for their own families. I suspect most of us will take a more favourable view on the former case, but the latter one is not without merit and Alex Pritz gives both sides ample opportunity to make their case and for us to evaluate for ourselves. It has it's fair share of incongruities. Whilst clinging, determinedly, to their traditions the native tribes-folk embrace technology in the form of bikes, digital watches and almost all are clad in football strips - this is not a documentary that depicts a backward looking society. Nor are the farmers, some of whom try to set up an association, entirely depicted as brutal land-grabbers. This has a degree of balance, offers us food for thought and a glimpse at the internecine politics that really fails to deliver for anyone in this most delicate of environmental scenarios. It is really well worth a watch. I saw it in a cinema, but I can't day that is really necessary - it'll be just as interestingly provocative on the telly.
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★ 4 / 10
Undeniably Urgent Cause But A Soulless Spectacle
Zack_Tu_Nan
The Territory is visually striking, with polished cinematography and high production value, yet it ultimately feels like a soulless spectacle. It relies on…
The Territory is visually striking, with polished cinematography and high production value, yet it ultimately feels like a soulless spectacle. It relies on familiar Western tropes; beauty shots, expert interviews, aestheticized destruction, and pushy sound design that dictates emotion. Even with Indigenous camera participation, most of the film, around 70%, still reflects an outsider gaze.The narrative feels fragmented, as if the filmmaker parachutes in for beautiful shots rather than building a complete, lived in story.The film ends abruptly, as if unsure of its direction, leaving me feeling abandoned as a viewer. I wanted to truly know the Indigenous people, but the film only skims the surface, never letting us into their lives beyond brief fragments.Perfectly packaged for Western funders, festivals, and their echo chamber of validation, the film checks every expected box; Indigenous struggle, climate change, Amazon deforestation, while fitting neatly into a digestible format.A more meaningful approach would involve deeper research and longer immersion, creating a film that reflects the community's ways of seeing and relating to their land. This does not mean handing authorship to untrained individuals; it means using cinematic craft to express a worldview rather than bending that worldview into a pre existing festival friendly arc.Honeyland demonstrates this alternative. With a fraction of the budget, it achieves intimacy and cultural authenticity without interviews, explanatory devices, or spectacle. It invites viewers to inhabit its characters' rhythms rather than observe them from afar.The filmmakers clearly have noble intentions and technical skill, yet the result feels designed to satisfy the Western gaze, a polished product made for festivals and funders, validated by the same systems that continue to gatekeep Indigenous storytellers. For all its urgency, it reinforces the very power structures that reward impact driven statement films while sidelining authentic Indigenous voices.
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· 50 ratings
7.5/10
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