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BirdWatchers

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BirdWatchers (2009)

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94 %
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Reviews Counted:16

Fresh:15

Rotten:1

Average Rating:7/10

Genre: Dramas

US Box Office: $0

Synopsis: In Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil, the farmers lead a wealthy and leisurely existence. They own huge fields with transgenic plantations and they spend their nights with tourists who come bird... In Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil, the farmers lead a wealthy and leisurely existence. They own huge fields with transgenic plantations and they spend their nights with tourists who come bird watching.

Meanwhile, at the borders of their lands, the uneasiness of the natives, who were the legitimate inhabitants of those lands, is rapidly growing.

Enclosed in reserves, with no other perspective except that of working as semi-slaves in sugar beet plantations, many young people commit suicide. It is such a suicide that stirs up a rebellion. Led by Nadio, and by a shaman, a group of native Guarani-Kaiowà starts camping outside one of the properties to claim their land back.

The two opposing worlds face each other, engaging in a metaphorical as well as a real war. But as well as anger, both sides are also fascinated and curious about “the other”. A curiosity that will create a deep bond between the young shaman apprentice Osvaldo, and a farmer’s daughter... --© IFC Films [More]

Starring: Claudio Santamaria, Chiara Caselli, Matheus Nachtergaele

Starring: Claudio Santamaria, Chiara Caselli, Matheus Nachtergaele

Director: Marco Bechis

Director: Marco Bechis
Screenwriter: Marco Bechis, Luiz Bolognesi

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Reviews for BirdWatchers

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1 - 16 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
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Momentarily, it feels as if the Guarani could win this fight and maybe give it to globalization on the shins.

Full Review Source: San Francisco Chronicle | comment Comment
10/16/09
Justin Berton
Justin Berton
San Francisco Chronicle

Birdwatchers is an unusual and sympathetic exploration of a diminishing society driven to near extinction by capitalism and colonialism. And if it provokes action, then it’s a job well done.

Full Review Source: Little White Lies | comment Comment
09/18/09
Lee Griffiths
Lee Griffiths
Little White Lies

Writer-director-producer Marco Bechis’s absorbing story of struggle and survival carries its committed ethnographic and political passions lightly.

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
09/18/09
Wally Hammond
Wally Hammond
Time Out

Makes its point very effectively in the first 10 minutes and has subsequent difficulties convincing as a full-length narrative feature; a documentary treatment could have been more illuminating.

Full Review Source: Channel 4 Film | comment Comment
09/18/09
Catherine Bray
Catherine Bray
Channel 4 Film

BirdWatchers just about manages to hold your interest, but it can’t seem to decide whether it’s a contemporary western or a retelling of Romeo and Juliet.

Full Review Source: Times [UK] | comment Comment
09/18/09
Toby Young
Toby Young
Times [UK]
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Bechis may not be the greatest cinematic stylist around, but his heartfelt purpose is there for all to see.

Full Review Source: Guardian [UK] | comment Comment
09/18/09
Andrew Pulver
Andrew Pulver
Guardian [UK]
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

A timely and subtly powerful piece of film-making.

Full Review Source: Sky Movies | comment Comment
09/18/09
Tim Evans
Tim Evans
Sky Movies

Marco Bechis’ crusading film sets up some fairly predictable clashes. But it’s redeemed by the casting of actual Guarani tribespeople in the lead roles – and as actors, the Guarani prove themselves superb naturals.

Full Review Source: Total Film | comment Comment
09/18/09
Philip Kemp
Philip Kemp
Total Film

Bechis bequeaths us a landscape scattered with enigmas, jigsaw pieces for us to complete our own picture.

Full Review Source: Financial Times | comment Comment
09/18/09
Nigel Andrews
Nigel Andrews
Financial Times

The devastating effects of European colonialism are confronted head on in this thoughtful, crusading film.

Full Review Source: Daily Express | comment Comment
09/18/09
Allan Hunter
Allan Hunter
Daily Express

Birdwatchers is dark, but it’s important, too, and both artistically and politically compelling.

Full Review Source: Daily Telegraph | comment Comment
09/18/09
Daily Telegraph

By the end, it is leaning towards melodramatic simplification; but its broad sympathies, startling landscapes and non-professional cast make up for that.

Full Review Source: Independent | comment Comment
09/18/09
Robert Hanks
Robert Hanks
Independent

The script resonates with strong themes that address social and ecological issues regarding the environment versus the pressures of a global economy.

Full Review Source: ViewLondon | comment Comment
09/18/09
Matthew Turner
Matthew Turner
ViewLondon

Beautifully shot and performed with the authenticity of a documentary, this involving drama has a lot to say about human progress in rural Brazil, although its off-handed story and slow pace might alienate some audiences.

Full Review Source: Shadows on the Wall | comment Comment
09/18/09
Rich Cline
Rich Cline
Shadows on the Wall

Having captured an authentic and compelling tone, the cliched story twists lets the film's down occasionally.

Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
07/10/09
Patrick Peters
Patrick Peters
Empire Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Convincingly portrays the plight of the Guarani Indians of Brazil as they struggle to survive in the midst of poverty, displacement from their forest home, and their young people's lack of interest in tribal tradition and religion.

Full Review Source: Spirituality and Practice | comment Comment
03/30/09
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
Spirituality and Practice
 
 
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