This review originally ran on January 26, 2022, during the Sundance Film Festival
Where to watch: The Territory opens this Friday at the Laemmle Monica Film Center and AMC Burbank 16
Director Alex Pritz is a name you should familiarize yourself with because his film, The Territory, is one that you’ll be hearing about throughout the year (it is, hands down, the strongest entry I’ve seen so far at this year’s Sundance Film Festival). Equal parts heart-wrenching and poignant, The Territory uncovers the horrible reality and unjust hardships faced by the indigenous Uru-eu-wau-wau tribe as they fight to save their livelihood deep within the Brazilian rainforest.
The level of access that Pritz has within the tribe is paramount to telling their story. The bond of trust between the Western film crew and indigenous people is deeply felt, as evidenced by how emotionally invested we become throughout the film.
When we first meet the Uru-eu-wau-wau community, they are desperate for help. The recent public support of land-grabbing by right-wing politician President Jair Bolsonaro puts their land, their homes, and their livelihood at risk of complete collapse. Deforestation at the hands of non-Native Brazilians, who equally feel as if they have a right to claim the land for their own endeavors, is proving to have environmentally and politically devastating results.
Helping represent the Uru-eu-wau-wau community in their fight for protection is environmental activist Neidinha. Her strength is unwavering, even when faced with death threats targeted at her and her daughter. Neidinha acts as a team of one serving one purpose: preserve the rainforest to keep the Uru-eu-wau-wau community safe.
Like any good investigative work, we’re also given a countering perspective on the territory debate by a man who claims the land is his livelihood, too. Sergio is a farmer who dreams of owning and operating his own plot of land. His intentions are good, he plays by the rules, but that can’t be said for everyone he associates with in his newly formed fraternity called “The Association of Indigent Farmers.” While Sergio understands the territory divide, other men brazenly encroach into Uru-eu-wau-wau territory, setting fire to the wildlife without care or concern.
Co-produced by the Uru-eu-wau-wau community (and Darren Aronofsky, among others), The Territory is a masterful output from all involved. Staying true to Alex Pritz’s participatory filmmaking model, he literally gives cameras to members in the tribe to document their experience on the frontlines, which he edits into his own footage. It’s this unique, otherwise unattainable, point of view that gives the film its power, never once feeling exploitive or overdramatized.
The most powerful weapon here is the camera. Both Pritz and the Uru-eu-wau-wau community agree that the government’s failure to intervene early on has caused irrevocable damage, and it is up to them to get their story told. The media attention from this story has already started to create a buzz in their native Brazil–as seen in the film–but the struggle is far from over.
The Territory, which was acquired by National Geographic during the festival, is an urgent call to action and the least we can do to raise awareness about this ongoing, deadly conflict is to talk about it, recommend it, and watch it. The future of the Uru-eu-wau-wau community, and the natural world, depends on it.
86 min.
