tue 08/10/2024

Film: Birdwatchers | reviews, news & interviews

Film: Birdwatchers

Film: Birdwatchers

Love and death in the Amazon rainforest

The tourist cruise boat chugging up the Amazon pauses for another photo opportunity. A dozen or so tribesman with clay-daubed faces and loincloths are discovered posed like a tableau: a colourful addition to the rainforest fauna. The boat marks time for a beat till the natives, glowering resentfully, fire off a stream of half-hearted arrows. Then it quickly revs up and motors on. But wait: a reverse angle shot shows the action from another perspective. The rubberneckers barely out of sight, the naked savages hurriedly swop their loin cloths for t-shirts and trainers, and flock to collect their commission from the tour operator who has ferried them there.
The tourist cruise boat chugging up the Amazon pauses for another photo opportunity. A dozen or so tribesman with clay-daubed faces and loincloths are discovered posed like a tableau: a colourful addition to the rainforest fauna. The boat marks time for a beat till the natives, glowering resentfully, fire off a stream of half-hearted arrows. Then it quickly revs up and motors on. But wait: a reverse angle shot shows the action from another perspective. The rubberneckers barely out of sight, the naked savages hurriedly swop their loin cloths for t-shirts and trainers, and flock to collect their commission from the tour operator who has ferried them there.

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