THE LAST FOREST PREDICTS AN END TO THE AMAZON FOREST
The point of The Last Forest (Ostatnia Puszcza) appears in titles at the end, which point out that gold prospecting and ore mining are driving the Indigenous population from ancestral lands in Brazil near the border with Venezuela. Although their land was protected by the government in 1992 following massacres involving at least 15,000 Yanomami, prospecting resumed after the election of President Jair Bolsanaro elected in 2019.
Directed by Luiz Bolognesi, the film focuses on an older shaman, Davi Kopenawa (playing himself), who spends time reminding the few surviving members of his Yanomami nation of the myth of the origin of Yanomanis and how much freer his people are compared to those who live in the consumeristic world of White people. He notes that areas of the Amazon are drying up, streams and their livestock are being poisoned with mercury by invaders, and armed clashes often occur with the local population outnumbered. He even delivers his message in a talk at Harvard University. Much of the film provides images of the forest and how the Yanomani live their lives by hunting and enjoying a peaceful life. Women making baskets, however, seem alienated. Largely absent from the cast of characters are men in the prime of their lives; according to Kopenawa, they are surrendering to a life of exploitation that resembles slavery, something that Kopenawa experienced personally when he was younger.
The Political Film Society has nominated The Last Forest as the best film of 2021 on human rights as well as best film exposé of 2021. MH