This amazing documentary on Chico Mendes was a joint venture between UK and Brazil (but it's mostly a Brit production) that covered the final years
of the man's life, his work and his tragic killing while defending the preservation of the Amazon forests and better life and working conditions to those who
lived from the forest proceedings, such as the rubber extraction. With his death, his voice was heard by the worldwide community, and the fight for the nature
and its elements grew stronger and stronger, and the culprits for his death were sent to prison.
For those who had the chance to see HBO's amazing "The Burning Season" starring Raul Julia as Mendes, the director character played by Nigel Havers is in
fact the director of this piece, Adrian Cowell. As depicted in the movie, he covered Mendes fights against local farmers in Acre who used the land to raise cattle,
destroy forests and built roads with the help of the BID, a powerful international bank. But more than that, Cowell stayed in Brazil after Mendes death and
even covered a great part of the aftermath in such situation, to follow the Alves family trial (the ones who killed the activist), and how the new federal
government administration - the first elected democratically in more than 20 years - were conducting the programs in defense of preserving the Amazon.
It's a marvelous educational project, very informative and one where we had the opportunity to see Chico Mendes talking about the importance of his work and
why he felt important to fight for such cause even that if meant his death (of which he predicted several times in 1988 after receiving many death threats). And
in the end, he became a martyr for a cause that even many decades later, the Amazon people still struggle with forest devastation, illegal extraction of minerals
and gold, and natives being killed to the point of extinction. Most people know about his name but hardly ever had the chance to see him speak and this is a great
chance for it.
I also recommend "Voice of the Amazon", also has many great insights and interviews with him and the people who knew him, though it doesn't go as far
as this film in showing the aftermath of things. Mr. Cowell in this one waited a little longer to see if there was improvement for all the things he followed
along with Chico, travelling around the world in social-economical forums, to tell the world how dire the situation was in Amazon region. More than ever it's
important to keep his name alive. 9/10.
