Sunday, October 03, 2010

Rituaes e festas Borôro

[Rituals and Festivals of the Borôro] (Conselho Nacional de Proteção aos Índios, BR 1916) D, DP: Luiz Thomaz Reis; 35mm, 542m., 30' (16 fps); from: Cinemateca Brasileira, São Paulo / Museu do Índio, Rio de Janeiro. Portuguese intertitles. Viewed at Cinema Verdi, Pordenone (GCM) with e-subtitles in English and Italian and Donald Sosin on the grand piano, 3 Oct 2010.

From the GCM Catalogue: "This is one of the most important surviving Brazilian documentaries, showing indigenous rituals in their purest state. Images include fishing using timbó [plants with narcotic effects on fishes], part of the Jure (feast of joy), with preparations for the festival, decorations of straw and clay, the funeral rites with their dances, and the ritual ceremony of Marido and Aijê (with representations of the jaguar hunt). The funeral ceremonies of the Borôro, in the Mato Grosso region, are notable for the variety of dances and symbolic practices. All of the tribe participate in these festivals; it is forbidden for whites or civilized people to see an Indian dying. He ends his days in the mystery of tribal rites, and only after being wrapped in straw is he exposed in the yard of the village, to ward off evil spirits. – CARLOS ROBERTO DE SOUZA." - A variable but often beautiful visual quality in this amazing documentary film. The makers of this film have saved on film extremely valuable moments of ancient vanishing rites (a war dance) and fishing techniques, etc. - An anthropological film of the first rate.

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