L’ETHNOGRAPHE / THE ETNOGRAPHER

With Bonanza (FID 2002), his first film, Ulisses Rosell took us on a journey
to meet a tribe of extremely colourful Argentinian poachers. This new dive
into exotica takes us to the Wichi Indians in Chaco, Argentina, who have not
long been sedentary, with an American ethnologist as our guide. To some
degree a repentant ethnologist, John Palmer, rather than finishing his thesis,
married a native and had a large family. Rather than observing it from
a distance, he chose to become part of this discreet and beleaguered
community. He strives to support their cause, getting involved in law suits
and confronting companies which pillage land that belongs to the Indians
with complete impunity. However, don’t think you’re in for a social documentary,
because Rosell seeks first and foremost to conjure up languor, creating
a quasi romanesque atmosphere and a portrait of this man and his family,
their gentleness and the way all of them are somehow exiles in another
world. The tempo of the film lends itself to this delicate viewpoint, giving
each and every scene the slow and rounded fullness of an affectionate
analysis in which the sense of being uprooted is so subtly expressed. (JPR)