THE KAYAPO

51 minutes Colour 1987 
Film maker: Michael Beckham
Anthropologist: Terence Turner

Professor Terry Turner explained this truly extraordinary situation in a lucid, intelligent and unpatronizing commentary ... Mike Beckham directed this splendid film with great pace. The result is an important and accurate picture of two contrasting essays in acculturation. It was also gripping television for a prime-time audience. J. Hemming

51 minutes Colour 1987

Film-maker: Michael Beckham

Anthropologist: Terence Turner

This film, made for Granada Television's Disappearing World series, focuses on the conflicts and determination of a group of people trying to survive and maintain their ethnic identity in the face of almost overpowering odds. The film contrasts the reactions of two groups of Kayapo to outside influence. The Kapot have opposed contact and resisted both non-indigenous Brazilian settlers and gold miners. The Gorotire, by contrast, were invaded by gold miners who strip-mined their land and polluted their rivers. The miners paid the Gorotire very little for the destruction until 1985 when the Gorotire forced the miners to raise the commission to 5% when 200 warriors seized the airstrip. This commission amounts to two million dollars per year for the tribe and the tribe is learning to cope with the money, both with the problems it brings and the power it gives. They have trained several of their number to deal effectively with the outside world on behalf of the rest of the tribe and they now run a plane (and hire a pilot) to patrol their land against intruders.

The Kapot, in their own way, are also trying to assert their identity and independence. This portion of the film shows the Kapot in the traditional activities of building and dismantling a hunting camp. The hunters returning with the tortoises they have caught are a particularly impressive sight. The now famous Chief Rop-ni is featured as a leader of the Kapot and he states eloquently his opposition to the Gorotire's acceptance of the gold miners. Despite their adherence to tradition, however, the Kapot use modern technology-video, radios, etc.-to protect their interests and record their rituals.

This is a political film and would be excellent for courses in anthropology, Latin American studies, ecology, development, and international politics. Catalogue number (VHS): RA/VHS189 £8.

[See Kayapo-Out of the Forest for full bibliography.]

J. Hemming, 1987. Review of the film. Anthropology Today, Vol. 3, No. 4, p. 20.

P. Riviere 1989. Review of the film in Anthropology Today, Vol.2, No. 2, pp.213-15