THE STORY – Indigenous chief Juma Xipaia fights to protect tribal lands despite assassination attempts. Her struggle intensifies after learning she’s pregnant, while her husband, Special Forces ranger Hugo Loss, stands by her side.
THE CAST – Juma Xipaia & Hugo Loss
THE TEAM – Richard Ladkani (Director/Writer)
THE RUNNING TIME – 112 Minutes
There’s no escaping the unrest the world has been subjected to these last few years. It often can feel as if things have intensified only recently, bringing more horrors to our doorsteps with every passing day. However, the truth is that the global stage has endured systemic trauma for some time now. Antagonistic forces continually look to exploit the marginalized and crush any opposition to an agenda that aims to suppress. It’s why many have rushed to document such monumental events, and those out of Brazil have seen their fair share. It’s a large country that has suffered through a cycle of abuse from its government and has a habit of reflecting back onto surrounding nations. Perhaps that is why movies like “Yanuni” look to expose these dangers and bring light to an important topic. This film does indeed provide an intriguing perspective, even if its ultimate presentation is one that carries more thematic weight than it does narratively.
The fight for Indigenous rights is a struggle that nearly every country finds itself taking up. Brazil’s long history of mining resources from the Amazon has seen strong opposition from the native inhabitants, who are determined to preserve their way of life. One of these soldiers in this struggle is Juma Xipaia, who has recently become the first woman to be chosen as the head chief of her tribe. With this responsibility, she leads the effort to push back against the hard-right administration that poisons the land with unrelenting mining efforts. Despite the violent resistance, some progress is made when a more left-leaning political movement takes hold. However, there are still illegal mining operations happening, which need to be destroyed. But these efforts take a significant toll on Xipaia, threatening to fracture her personal life. It’s a daunting task but one that she sees as being of great importance.
There is an intriguing portrait being crafted by director Richard Ladkani to showcase a woman who is tireless in her pursuit of justice but never falls victim to hagiography. Xipaia’s assent is groundbreaking, as is her determined spirit to see her community live a peaceful life that is free from governmental tyranny. Yet, the mounting pressures expose the fragile emotions that can lurk beneath the hardened exterior she attempts to convey. Her activism pulls her away from the home she’s built in the Amazon, creating distance from her cultural background while an ironic conflict is underway to preserve it.
Sometimes, this is meant to display the domestic turmoil she is wrestling with, like the strain put on the relationship between her son and husband or the stresses of her pregnancy. These issues, while important, don’t convey the same impact as the activism work, which powerfully captures violent resistance to protests in a chilling manner. Ladkani utilizes a heightened cinematic perspective, with striking framing and immersive sound design, to demonstrate the real damage this region is undergoing. The physical and psychological afflictions are painfully realized, and it is inspiring to watch Xipaia persevere through this endeavor.
However, the narrative doesn’t wholly belong to her. At several points, we are treated to a tangent involving her husband, Hugo Loss, a political figure within the new administration who is tasked with locating and destroying the makeshift illegal mining operations that continually pop up. On the one hand, these are daring raids that are invigorating to watch unfold, playing with sensibilities of the action genre that are effectively tense. At the same time, these scenes do pull focus away from the central figure of this story. It’s not that what’s depicted here isn’t of vital importance. In fact, in a vacuum, they would be considered the most captivating aspects of the film due to the intense drama being witnessed. But their inclusion can’t help but muddy the ultimate intentions of the storytelling. While thrilling on the surface, these sequences do contribute to the uneven pacing, which can quickly turn tedious following these moments and come across as too superfluous to be completely justified.
What these moments do communicate on a larger scale is how each new progression never really advances the cause in a meaningful way. The efforts to snuff out these mining encampments don’t sufficiently stifle the issue, with too many popping up to stem the bleeding entirely. It’s a metaphorical gesture towards the inefficiencies that the new liberal administration has unleashed. While the hostility may have dampened, it has been replaced with apathy and inaction. The bureaucratic decisions are dressed up to give the appearance of progressive policy but offer too little to be meaningful. This is the combat that Xipaia finds herself in every day. The pleas from her people to demand true recognition of their strife while condemning any authority that doesn’t take their call to action with genuine sincerity is a powerful statement. Despite the focus sometimes meandering from that point, there is still a necessary dialogue being provided.
The name “Yanuni” is a reference to Xipaia’s unborn daughter, a new life soon to be brought into a chaotic world that will find adversity at every turn. However, her life also welcomes a beam of optimism, cementing the stakes of what this fight is trying to accomplish and who will reap those benefits. It’s not difficult to understand why that perfectly encapsulates why Xipaia continues to advocate for her people and rid the natural land of these invaders who seek to destroy the natural balance that must be protected. While one wishes this perspective was more streamlined to further emphasize this central figure’s plight, what is presented still remains engrossing. It is one of several stories to come from this region, but one that also relates to similar demonstrations happening around the world. The war against insidious forces that thrive on exploitation has not ceased, but stories like this one are essential reminders of the brave soldiers who march on with victory in sight.
