News crews may drop catastrophes in search of the next apocalyptic story, but the people directly affected have to live with the consequences for many years. Ironland, premiering at IDFA, explores those consequences five years after the biggest iron ore mining disaster in Brazilian history. In 2015 the Mariana dam containing tons of toxic mineral waste collapsed, killing 19 people, and contaminating 660 kilometers of rivers and water reserves throughout Minas Gerais, one of the largest states in southeastern Brazil. The toxic sludge eventually reached the Atlantic Ocean, where it wreaked further havoc. We are now quite well-informed about the deforestation of the Amazon, but the film warns about the next string of calamities waiting to happen in Brazil, as more than 40 such dams are built alongside the same mountain ridge that witnessed the Mariana disaster.
Director Lucas Bambozzi is a multimedia artist who has produced experimental installations and performances all over the world. In Ironland he tells a linear story but has a keen eye for the absurd reality of the “new normal” after an environmental disaster that he rightly describes as a crime, not an accident. He deploys Camila Mota, a Brazilian stage actress born in the Minas Gerais region, to project the local story onto a larger world canvas. We follow her as she returns home to inspect the damage. She travels by train, which slithers along the tracks like a giant anaconda devouring the ravaged landscape. Along the way, Camila interacts with locals, and we begin to understand the human cost of mineral extraction on such a large scale. Farmers show rotting crops and survivors still wait for new homes to be built while they live in precarious tents. A whole town now depends on bottled water for its most basic needs, from cooking to laundry to bathing, as nobody knows when the ironically named Doce (“Sweet”) river will become usable again. Though Camila narrates the film in an earnest monotone that can become overbearing at times, the documentary gains emotional impact when we hear directly from the victims, who live in fear of the next dam collapse.
Cinematographer Bruno Risas’s close-ups capture the wounded earth like scars on human skin, and as the camera pulls back along the open-pit quarries, deep ravines and terraced ridges, we see the full, monstrous scale of the disaster unfolding in the name of “Ordem e Progreso” (Order and Progress), Brazil’s official motto displayed proudly on its flag. Large-scale extraction and export of minerals drive the world’s leading economies. The companies responsible for the Mariana mine disaster are BHP, an Anglo-Australian company, and Brazil’s Vale Co. In 2019, Vale was responsible for yet another dam collapse in neighboring Brumadinho, this time killing 270 of its own employees. The warning issued in Ironland applies to all of us as we continue to consume mining products and byproducts, and toxic air and contaminated water spread throughout the planet. This documentary has appeal beyond the festival circuit and as the climate crisis endangers an already fragile ecosystem, it becomes an urgent call to action.
The soundscape and music appear gradually, blending the screeching sounds of the train with percussion, strings, and ambient sounds, with some startling effects, like a soothing creek that we later realize is carrying dying, rotting fish and birds floating on its waters. The ominous details appear behind a seemingly placid surface, creating a sense of foreboding and doom. Brazil’s foremost poet Carlos Drummond de Andrade was born in the Minas Gerais region. His poem, “International Congress of Fear” eloquently warns about the enormity of “fear of the seas and of the deserts” and, most chillingly, fear of us all. Ironland asks us to overcome that fear and closes with a protest march demanding clean water and respect for the land that is facing such plunder and devastation.
Director: Lucas Bambozzi
Screenplay: Christiane Tassis
Cast: Camila Mota
Producers: André Hallak, Eder Santos
Cinematography: Bruno Risas
Editing: Fabian Remy
Music: O Grivo e Stephen Vitiello
Sound: Osvaldo Ferreira
Production companies: Trem Chic (Brazil)
World sales: Habanero Film Sales
Venue: IDFA (Frontlight)
In Portuguese
97 minutes
