We've seen it before. Films detailing the inevitable march of "progress" pushing into indigenous lands and the resulting clash of mainstream and minority cultures with direct and indirect repercussions. This is the premise underlying Xingu and its story of the three Villas-Bôas brothers, who initially looking for a life of adventure, joined a government war-time expedition both exploring and opening up areas of the Amazon forest.
The sub-text of the narrative is that the government wanted uneducated men on the expedition so that they would unquestionably follow instructions. The very well-educated brothers joined the expedition under subterfuge and later, out on the frontiers, their intelligence, humanity and collective initiative served them well as they evolved into successful, accidental intermediaries, between the first contact Indian tribes the expedition met and mainstream Brazilian society and government.
Xingu tries to have its cake and eat it too. It was apparently filmed as a 4 episode TV mini-series, with this 100 minute film released first, as the teaser so to speak. It shows. Xingu is neither fish, nor fowl. As a movie, director Cao Hamburger appears confused over whether he is making a documentary or drama. The result, certainly judged on this version we see, is a dramatic feature, but one almost totally lacking in character development and highlighted by a very confusing timeline of events.
The star of the show is undoubtedly the cinematography. The vistas of the landscapes surrounding the Amazonian tributaries are frequently stunning. But to say the story is lacking in background detail and interest is to drastically understate the situation.
We never really learn anything about the brothers' family and motivations apart from an occasional line of dialogue or narration. They came from a very large family which isn't mentioned. A fourth brother was instrumental in supporting their work but he never appears There is a falling out with one brother and he is sent away. But what that entails is never explained. Later he dies off screen we guess quite a few years later and one brother is almost comical in his grieving, given that the circumstances suggest they were estranged and had had no contact for years. The Indian characters are never developed at all and culturally we aren't shown much about their tribes apart from a couple of dancing scenes. A couple of the brothers appear to have had relationships with a couple of female Indians, but we never know for sure, as apart from some longing looks, there is virtually no dialogue passing between the characters. It's all very enigmatic.
On top of this, there is vey little action, though the film is promoted as an "action adventure". A clash between one armed white settler family and an angry tribe dissolves into black before a spear is thrown in anger. An aeroplane crash and its follow-up consequences for injured and stranded crew requiring rescuing, just ends abruptly before moving on to another scene and is almost antiseptic in its lack of suspense and tension.
As mentioned at the outset, this concept has been explored before. Might I suggest that the interested viewer may well find that a film such as The Emerald Forest, tells a similar story of first contact with an Amazonian tribe facing the same challengers as seen in this film, but with the story told in a far more engaging, exciting, cinematic fashion.
