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Birdwatchers review
:. Starring: Claudio Santamaria, Alicélia Batista Cabreira
:. Script: Marco Bechis, Luiz Bolognesi
:. Running Time: 1:48
:. Year: 2009
:. Country: Brazil, Italy
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Starting on a humorous note, poking fun at both tourists — in the movie — and what we — the audience — might expect, Birdwatchers is quite a singular film, mixing social commentary, ethnological study, irony, coming of age and … magic.
Set in Brazil, the film follows a little group of Guarani Indians that, after the suicide of two teenage girls from the tribe, decides to leave the village to go reclaim the land of their ancestors. As they set up their camp and start their new life, they realize that their presence isn't welcome, especially as their neighbor is a rich property owner.
While the film carries a humanitarian message, aiming at sensitizing us to the rights of indigenous people and features a couple engaging characters and some surprisingly amusing moments, it's hard not to notice that Birdwatchers lacks a strong sense of focus, going all the over map and trying to say too much.
While giving us a thorough study of indigenous life and their social struggle would have had a stronger impact on the audience and provided enough material as the core of this work, the screenwriter decided to stuff his story with as many underlying themes he could think of, from sexuality to coming of age and magic. As a result, not only does it create a cinematic patchwork whose narrative paths are mismatched and never fully explored, but it doesn't leave enough time to properly draw a portrait of the main protagonists of the story.
The most confusing thematic detours are undoubtedly the coming of age and magic subplots. Does seeing the romance between the indigenous kid and the rich girl bring anything to the story? Not really. The metaphor hinting at social equality through the innocence of kids has already been treated many times onscreen and I certainly prefer Larry Clark's more visceral approach in Wassup Rockers. And if it was to tell us that indigenous teenagers can be lustful, well we didn't really need a movie to figure that one out, especially as they wander barely clothed all day. As for the magic mystery that envelops this movie, I must admit it left me puzzled. Not only do the filmmakers never giving us the chance to understand the characters' mystic beliefs, preferring instead to envelop us in a mysterious atmosphere that is reminiscent of the series Lost, but they, in the process, undermine the effectiveness of the humanitarian message by corrupting the realism and the credibility of their endeavor.
But what probably is the most lethal flaw, which sinks this film despite its good efforts, is the fact that Birdwatchers features too many characters and doesn't take the time to brush a sufficient portrait of its protagonists in order to understand their motivations. If the filmmakers are able to divide their characters into two opposite camps, the poor victims on one side and their wealthy and cruel nemesis on the other, they fail at making us embrace the camp we are supposed to. Are we supposed to feel sorry for parents who reject their kids because they try to find work in the city? Not really … With an unsympathetic tribe leader who goes on a somewhat aimless crusade and a few other indigenous poeple who steal, betray or embrace vice without any visible motivation, it's hard to root for their cause, even though it's understood that nobody is flawless. More problematic is the fact that their enemy isn't given enough screen time to look evil enough to justify the decision he takes at the end.
Despite the director and screenwriter's good will, maybe the main issue here — and I might be wrong — was that such a subject should have been treated by somebody who knows and understands Brazil extensively, a native who grew up close enough to Indians to give us a realistic look at their situation. By looking at the filmmakers' bio, I somewhat doubt that, as Europeans (Italians), they had enough insight to tackle such a story. But then, sometimes there are exceptions when very high talent involved — look at what German director Werner Herzog did with Aguirre and Fitzcarraldo ...
Fred Thom
 Movie Reviews: 1998 - 2011
Movie Reviews: 2012 - present
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