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4.0 out of 5 stars
Some of the culture of the Yanomami culture, December 29, 2004
This review is from: Nova: Warriors of the Amazon [VHS] (VHS Tape)
The Yanomami are a tribe of people indigenous to the Amazon rain forest area of Brazil and Venezuela. Their cultures are centuries old and based on loyalties to villages and family. However, it is also based on a state of near continuous warfare with neighboring villages. In this video, a film crew gives one village some manufactured goods in exchange for the opportunity to film them in their daily life. This is also a time of change in the village. After years of fighting with a neighboring village, the chief has decided that it is best to make peace with them.
This involves a great deal of preparation and ritual. Years ago, the daughter of one of the village men had run away to the rival village, so the attempt to make peace is also an attempt to restore some family ties. The crew films most of the customs of the Yanomami, how they gather and prepare their food, how they eat, educate their children, paint their bodies, take drugs, cure their sick and unfortunately, how they conduct their funerals. As the film crew was there one of the women in the village gave birth, but shortly after that she died.
This has become all too common among the Yanomami, as they are extremely susceptible to many of the diseases that the rest of the world has long since become immune to. Their numbers are slowly declining, shortly after the crew completed their assignment, the village chief died of an unknown ailment. It is sad to think that the film crew that tried to help them by documenting their lives may have brought the disease that killed the leader.
It is probably inevitable that the Yanomami culture will no longer exist in its current form after another ten years. Hopefully, enough of it will be preserved so that future generations will understand their heritage. This tape is a part of that record, let us hope that more concerted efforts are being made.
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