On a dirt road, a group of people walks towards the camera, the sun and the heat making them look like a mirage. As they get closer, we see details: most of them are men, and they are carrying pots and fruit, bows and arrows. Is it a pilgrimage? Their pace is more like that of army troops, although they sing songs that resemble bird sounds. Getting closer we see that although most of them are bare-chested, there is a young man wearing a Gucci t-shirt. Later, in a close-up, we see the group leader, an older man who carries a shotgun on his shoulder and gives the camera a defiant look.
Between the mirage and the defiance is The Falling Sky (A Queda do Céu), a documentary directed by Eryk Rocha and Gabriela Carneiro da Cunha, which premieres in the Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes.
The group, of the Yanomami tribe, heads to a Reahu party, which brings together several communities in commemoration of the deceased father-in-law and mentor of Davi Kopenawa Yanomami, the group’s leader and shaman. The audience is invited to watch, on the condition of having an open mind; not thinking about what we Napë (whites, outsiders) consider economic limitations. There is an appeal for empathy: the struggle of the Yanomami is the same as all humanity, the same as what we hear in the speeches of the Paris Agreement: stop the overexploitation of the earth and save the planet.
The name of the film is a Yanomami prophecy that says that the sky can fall and unleash evil on Earth. For this reason, Xapiri spirits are invoked in shamanic sessions with yakoana. The word superstition comes to mind until we hear the signs of the prophecy: increasingly stronger storms; unknown epidemics, lack of water, mercury poisoning.
The filmmakers worked for seven years with the Waitoriki community, and in addition to the 10 years that Gabriela Carneiro da Cunha spent as an activist in the Amazon, they had the advice of anthropologists María Luisa Machado and Bruce Albert. You couldn’t ask for more knowledge and respect in their approach. But trust towards the Napë has limits. The camera and spectators face the shaman’s demand: “Today you are filming me, but are you true allies? My grandchildren were born here, will you protect their land?”
With very precise editing, the documentary wastes no time on explanations. If we want to know what yakoana is or where the Yanomami territory is, we will have to Google it, or even better, head to the website of the Hutukara Yanomami Association. The Falling Sky is not intended to provide information, or even knowledge. It aims to raise awareness and inspire environmental conservation movements. The documentary tries to do it with images which are bright by day, oneiric by night. It shows us the beauty of the faces, the careful application of the festive makeup, the rhythmic songs, the mental acuity necessary for the verbal duels between shamans which can last all night. They tell us (but there are no images) of meetings between men who shout harsh threats at each other — not unlike a lively cantina or bar on a weekend.
In addition to being a shaman and community leader, Davi Kopenawa Yanomami is well-known throughout the world as an activist. His speech is very structured, he knows where and who to attack, he knows the right words: “agrobusiness” and “merchandise people”. His words are very effective, but it is more moving to hear a mother talk about how terrified she is that miners would rape her daughters, or a grandmother who fears that she will not leave her grandchildren a place to live. In those moments the camera remains appropriately paralyzed.
Eryk Rocha exercises his right as a renowned documentary filmmaker (he won the L’Oeil d’Or award with Cinema Novo at Cannes) to use images from Artavazd Pelechian’s La Nature, although the relationship with the documentary is forced. Do we need to see more images of destroyed buildings as a metaphor for the fall of civilization? What we need is for the voice of the Yanomami and other groups fighting for their survival to be heard in the world. The filmmakers are achieving it with this documentary.
Directors: Eryk Rocha, Gabriela Carneiro da Cunha
With: Davi Kopenawa, Justino, Givaldo, Raimundo, Dinarte Yanomami, Guiomar Kopenawa, Roseane Yariana, Watoriki Community
Screenplay: Eryk Rocha, Gabriela Carneiro da Cunha based on the book The Falling Sky by Davi Kopenawa Yanomami and Bruce Albert
Producers: Eryk Rocha, Gabriela Carneiro da Cunha, Donatella Palermo
Cinematography: Eryk Rocha, Bernard Machado
Editing: Renato Vallone
Sound: Guile Martins, Marcos Lopes
Music: Watoriki Community
Production Companies: Aruac Filmes (Brazil); Les Films d’ici (France) in coproduction with Stemal Entertainment (Italy), Rai Cinema and Hutukara Associacao Yanomami (Brazil)
World sales: Rediance
Venue: Cannes Film Festival (Directors Fortnight)
In Yanomami, Portuguese
110 minutes
