AllMovie

Narrated by Yanomami shaman and leader Davi Kopenawa, this breathtaking documentary traces his Indigenous Amazonian community’s preparations for a time-worn funeral rite said to hold up the sky – a ceremony that also galvanizes them in the battle to defend their homeland from illegal gold mining. The Yanomami had lived in relative isolation until the 1970s when a highway built under Brazil’s dictatorship exposed them to the ravages of those they call the “merchandise people”: outsiders exploiting nature for financial gain. With a sensitivity to their own status as interlopers and taking inspiration from Kopenawa’s 2010 book of the same name, directors Eryk Rocha and Gabriela Carneiro da Cunha let the Yanomami tell the story in their own words, highlighting the resilience of this ancient community and showcasing the natural wonder of the world they are fighting to protect.