Amazon Planet (full documentary)
Amazon Planet (full documentary)
Transcript
00:30The Amazon, the last call.
01:00Born in the Andes, this giant of giants, the Amazon River, is 6,880 km long, the distance
01:25between New York and Berlin.
01:27We have chosen this incredible place, unique, this Amazonian trapeze, as the starting point
01:32for this series.
01:34Right here, in Tabatinga, my back is facing Peru, Colombia is to my left, and the ground
01:39I stand on is Brazilian.
01:41We will discover throughout our series that quite like this market here in Tabatinga,
01:45the Amazon River not only carries water, it also carries the blood of the men and women
01:49that inhabit the Amazon planet.
02:20Earth is inhabited water, water in movement, a sidereal teardrop that fell from the universe.
02:29Because we live on a blue-green colored planet, let's choose an emerald from it, the Amazonia,
02:35its capital, to bathe in nature and delve into a beautiful and gratifying journey.
02:41Even if just for one day, let's leave our condition of mere earth-dwellers behind and
02:46give in to the flow of an important river, the Amazon River.
02:51It's not the largest river in the world.
02:53The Nile is even longer, exactly 200 meters longer.
02:57But what is that between giants?
03:00At any rate, where Father Amazon begins is a basin that is actually the largest continental
03:05hydric system in the world, 6,436 km of sweet power, a river full of life that governs the
03:13extense territory that goes from the Andes to the Atlantic Ocean, more or less the distance
03:18between New York and Berlin.
03:22These waters irrigate various countries that are located in the heart of South America.
03:28But it is in Brazil where the Amazon becomes a vital life support for the Earth's organism.
03:33And there is where we travel during the six months of this filming, drinking and living.
03:41All this exuberance, all this bold nature is not here by chance.
03:46The Amazonia is a powerful laboratory in which the Earth carries out its experiments.
03:53This giant has only been flowing into the Atlantic Ocean over the past 15 million years.
03:59Before that, it passed through the other side of the American continent, looking towards
04:03Asia, into the warm waters of the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea.
04:11As an Atelieric childbirth, out of the tremble of an entire continent, the youngest mountain
04:16range that our eyes can admire was born, the Andes.
04:23With heights of over 5,000 km, these mountains came to this world to change the course of
04:28the Amazon River, and indeed, the course of history.
04:34With its natural salient to the Pacific Ocean blocked by the new mountains, the Amazon became
04:40the most productive river on Earth, during thousands of years flooding a vast extension
04:45that is today the configuration of nine different nations, and seeking the outlet it has today,
04:52the Atlantic Ocean.
05:11That tremble changed its features, and today the river has a thousand faces, a thousand
05:22consorts that accompany it, and some of them bigger than the Mississippi.
05:29The great Amazon has exactly 100,000 fluents, and all of them multiply by ten the channels
05:36of the Guadalquivir or the Ebro. A fifth of the world's fresh water flows through this
05:44arterial system.
05:52The Rio Negro, for example, is the fourth biggest river on the planet, and a faithful
06:06tributary to the Amazon. Brave and violent, still young here, in San Gabriel de Cachoeira,
06:14a youth that must be approached with respect.
06:19Here the river reaches a depth of 100 meters, or Rio Mar, as the Brazilians would say.
06:27The liquid element, besides not being tasteless as we were told in school, is also not colorless.
06:35This river water is as black as tar. Its composition, a mixture of mineral acids and vegetable
06:42matter in suspension, tinges it, but it doesn't make it lose an iota of its purity.
06:50The two rivers do not seem to want to lose their independence, and the chromatic frontier
06:55that remains in front of our ship's bow during a long distance is proof of this.
07:03Ten kilometers away from Manaus, in a place known as the Meeting of the Waters, this peculiar
07:16tributary will blend with the brown waters of the Amazon, here called the Solimoes.
07:22We have learned that there are white rivers and black rivers in the Amazon, some with
07:27dark waters such as the Urubu, or the very Rio Negro, Black River, an unmistakable name,
07:33and others with crystal clear waters such as the Tapajós, but they are all the barriers
07:37of a most encouraging message, there is food for all here.
07:57Halfway through the route of this green galaxy, in Mamirauá, the herons and jacarés forget
08:06their differences when seated at the same table. With different styles, but with the
08:16same purpose, the fellow diners fill their crops with river life, tolerant and content.
08:24There is so much food, and so many opportunities, that this heron affords itself the luxury
08:31of choosing the menu. The river spoils its children.
08:54This is an Eden where everything functions perfectly. The Amazon is harmonic, organized, and precious.
09:02Only the Amazon River, in a secret meander, can feed an entire family of 11 otters without
09:10running out of supplies. Animal life is as healthy and as vigorous as seen in these images,
09:17only under ideal environmental conditions. If the Amazon otters are here, it's because
09:24all is well in this fluvial system.
09:48The ariranhas, which is how these precious animals are called in Brazil, are giant otters
09:54that can reach a length of two meters, and who, as we can see, use the river as a pantry
09:59and also as a beauty salon.
10:07Each specimen needs a daily two kilos of fish in order to sustain all this vigor.
10:17They rule here, with no natural enemies to make them hesitate, and only human beings
10:24can kill them. That's why filming these images wasn't a simple task.
10:32For them, there isn't much of a difference between a rifle and a camera.
10:48They dwell in a community nest, built in the sandy shore of the river.
11:02Theirs is a community burrow, and where they go when they want to become invisible, manipulating
11:09from the peace of their home the pulse of the big heart they live in.
11:16The Amazon and they are one and the same.
11:32It's not easy to observe such a large group, and much less film it, but here we have that
11:39family portrait by the Amazon, because we can still enjoy the pleasant company of good
11:44people like this fauna, discreet and beautiful.
12:02The fisher bat also lives off the river, as do all hereabouts, and feeds only on fresh
12:09fish.
12:14This creature seems even stranger to us now, wet and protected by the darkness of the night,
12:21but it's the same creature that lives here.
12:31A specialist in capturing absent-minded fish.
12:53This female gave birth 20 days ago, and finds the energy it needs in each fry, in each small
13:00fish that it eats, to produce the milk, sweet caramel, white gold.
13:12And it will be this way during the first year of life, on the mother's back, like a shadow,
13:19in search of the nipple that best nourishes.
13:31Of the 140 types of bats that exist in the Amazonia, this is precisely the one that owes
13:38its existence directly to the river.
13:41Its diet is composed exclusively of Amazonic fish.
13:47Next to it, another unique in the world, is the only representative of such an unusual
13:52group of bats.
13:56It has a labyrinth-like nozzle, a morphological adaptation ideal for jungle night fishing,
14:02so that the fish, with their patent leather skin, cannot slip through their teeth, especially
14:08when living and eating is done upside down.
14:15At sundown, the river lights up.
14:19Venetian images slip through the tropical rifts, and our eyes and the oil lamps contribute
14:24in making the mirage possible.
14:27No, we're not in the land of Marco Polo, and this is not a Venetian night.
14:34We're in Manaus, witnessing the arrival of the fishing boats and the fishermen's toil,
14:39the preparing of the day's catch.
14:42Tonight, the river has once more subsidized the existence of many human beings, letting
14:47the richest of bites be taken.
14:55Ships and boats filled with fish and food, a fishing industry not too well controlled,
15:02and with a larger amount of shady situations than clear ones, in spite of the lights that
15:07illuminate the river's surface today.
15:25The word tomorrow does not exist for these people of the night and the market.
15:32They are the people of the water, and they believe that the pantry will never drain out.
15:55200,000 tons of fish come out of the Amazon river basin each year.
16:00The annual disembarkation volume in Manaus is at an average of 30,000 tons.
16:06Here in this market, over 30 different types of Amazonic fish are sold.
16:11Of all this variety, the pirarucu is perhaps the favorite, and has filled many stomachs
16:18and has eliminated a lot of hunger in this part of the world.
16:23As big as a shark, this fish, that can reach a weight of over 200 kilos, is a colossus
16:30that is increasingly threatened by the fishing industry.
16:34Its majestic figure is one of over 3,000 species that is estimated to live in these tropical
16:39waters.
16:49Up until now, only a small amount of the variety of fish found here has been catalogued, but
17:01for the moment, science studies assure us that this aquatic planet has over 15 times
17:07the freshwater species that exist in all of the European rivers combined.
17:14Colors, forms, behaviors, that besides feeding thousands of people, move us.
17:24Fish that you are surely seeing for the first time.
17:29A world heritage beneath this chocolate-colored water, that lets itself be illuminated by
17:36the rays of the sun.
17:43The shores of the Amazonian rivers are also food reserves for the smallest.
18:11A territory where interesting things occur, which our cameras have not stopped recording.
18:18The river here provides mineral salts, enough nutrition to delight even the most delicate
18:23of the armies of starlets.
18:26The butterflies, with their apparent fragility, lick the banks of the river, next to other
18:32animals less well-mannered.
18:35There are a countless number of various types of bumblebees that are attracted by the kiss
18:39of the river.
18:42Each grain of sand from these shores has been bathed by the blessed water of this live basin,
18:48and the mineral salts are reason enough to stick out a tongue to surprising limits.
18:56Each grain of sand from these shores has been bathed by the blessed water of this live basin,
19:03and the mineral salts are reason enough to stick out a tongue to surprising limits.
19:19It is a daily struggle, and thousands of licking apparati come together in this miraculous basin
19:24to feed and to delight us.
19:28Once again, we are bewitched by the river and its mysterious virtues.
19:47But the river is also hungry.
19:49It is always hungry, in spite of feeding so many millions of souls.
19:54In order to feed, the Amazon must itself eat, and eat well.
20:00This is the place where it feeds itself, and our cameras were also here.
20:08With its powerful tongue of wild water, its rushing movements, the Amazon gobbles up millions
20:14of tons of earth and trees, making itself useful.
20:19The beauty of these images resides precisely in that mankind does not intervene at all
20:24in this essential process.
20:26We are simply recording the image of a river in its privacy.
20:48The mechanics of life in this humid jungle is not limited to the human body.
20:52The human body is also a part of the human mind.
20:55It is a part of the human mind.
20:57It is a part of the human mind.
20:59It is a part of the human mind.
21:01It is a part of the human mind.
21:03It is a part of the human mind.
21:05It is a part of the human mind.
21:07It is a part of the human mind.
21:09It is a part of the human mind.
21:11It is a part of the human mind.
21:13It is a part of the human mind.
21:15The mechanics of life in this humid jungle is well-oiled.
21:19It functions perfectly.
21:22The jungle is very well made,
21:24renovating the design of its basin each year to give everyone an equal opportunity.
21:36Sand, dead leaves and trees.
21:40Millions of trees are swallowed by the live waters of the Amazon rivers during each flood
21:45so that everything else can be possible.
21:52The logs wander like unsteered ships
21:55but with a destiny previously marked by the water cycles.
22:00Rot to feed.
22:04The river becomes a predator.
22:06It feeds on the ripe corpses that derive from the jungle
22:10in order to fabricate a new jungle.
22:30These turbulent waters also drag young soil,
22:33Andean soil,
22:34that provides the earthy color and the mineral wealth that the grove soil lacks.
22:40The waters, aside from traveling their course,
22:43go chaotic each year,
22:45inundating and fertilizing 12 million hectares of lowlands.
22:50And the true miracle occurs with this passing,
22:53unlike any other place on earth.
22:57Brazil owns the largest extension of tropical jungle in the world.
23:0130% of these forests survive within its frontiers.
23:06The Brazilian Amazonia extends over a distance equivalent to one half of Europe.
23:12Countries such as France, Germany, Italy and Spain
23:16all fit inside its contours.
23:27A green and enormous laboratory of over 5 million square kilometers,
23:32which occupies 60% of Brazilian territory.
23:44An inferno in which it is not difficult to get lost.
23:48This is what happened to a plane that was covering the distance
23:51between the cities of Santarém and Boa Vista in 1989.
23:56The expert pilot Francisco Vasconcelos de Oliveira
23:59saved his life and that of his passengers in the impact.
24:02Afterwards, they were forced to wander,
24:05eating raw animals during three months in the green inferno,
24:08until they were accidentally found on the verge of a sure death.
24:15I lost nearly 20 kilos while I was there.
24:18The others, the other people, did also.
24:22We were all very weak on the verge of death.
24:25It was fundamental, almost providential, divine providence
24:30finding those people there on the riverbank.
24:34The people that found us, they were afraid of getting close
24:38because we were all bearded
24:41and they thought that we could be escaped prisoners
24:45that had suffered an attack by the Indians or something like that,
24:49not trustworthy.
24:51They only got close after some of us screamed airplane.
24:56We're the survivors of the plane crash.
25:06The jungle in which Francisco was lost is a green trap
25:10in which the Brazilian government admits the loss
25:12of a large number of planes over the last few years.
25:17A woodland inferno of gigantic proportions
25:21that it would be best not to underestimate.
25:25But pretty, very pretty.
25:31There are at least 3,000 different types of trees classified
25:35that with their tops not only provide beauty and shade
25:38but also 90% of the calcium that the Amazonia needs
25:42to maintain its skeleton intact.
25:45Big trees and little trees, florid or scant,
25:49a vegetable kingdom to one's fill.
26:09Exactly 500 billion square meters of old wood
26:13that we had no idea as to how old it was
26:16until in 1999 Jeff Chambers,
26:19an American botanist living in Brazil,
26:22using carbon-14 discovered that a macaco chestnut
26:26was 1,400 years old,
26:29thus demonstrating that many of the trees we still see standing
26:33already existed before Columbus and the Portuguese
26:36arrived to these tropical jungles.
26:40This tree has a diameter of more or less 1 meter 20.
26:45A long time ago I had already discovered another one
26:48that had more or less the same size
26:51and was 1,000 years old.
26:54This is the part that interests us,
26:56the center of the tree.
27:01Jeff is one of the men of science
27:03who we will meet in this series.
27:05His novel work helps us to better understand
27:08the antiquity of this unique ecosystem.
27:13We can see the first ring here right in the center.
27:17The carbon that is here marks the oldest part of the tree.
27:22All this carbon was created when the tree was very, very small,
27:27when it was only a young tree.
27:30Only 4 milligrams are needed to make the carbon-14 test.
27:35That's really enough to find out how old it is.
27:38Just this small part, exactly the part from the center.
27:42This tree here is probably between 700 and 1,200 years old.
27:49For this being, modern science still has no name,
27:53another eccentricity of the Amazon jungle,
27:56accommodating thousands of anonymous children
27:59without discovering or describing itself for science.
28:05The Amazon jungle is the largest jungle in the world.
28:09It is the largest jungle in the world.
28:12It is the largest jungle in the world.
28:15But where is our real self for science?
28:19Two million animal and plant species
28:21determined in making this corner of the world
28:24the liveliest and most extraordinary art gallery.
28:28Only 30% of the live beings in the Amazon
28:31are classified and catalogued.
28:33But the beauty of it all is knowing there are still more
28:36that are hidden from our sight
28:38from the cages and magnifying glasses of western science.
28:45Every small leaf has its heart in these jungles.
28:49They all mark the same base, and its waters have eyes,
28:53prehistoric eyes that look so as not to be seen.
28:59What countless beauties the white man is missing out on
29:02by turning his back on the Amazonia.
29:15For the natives, this caterpillar with the aspect of a trinket is a beehit.
29:30Scientific entomology is unfamiliar with the genus to which it belongs.
29:34It looks like it's made of silicone.
29:40The kuati, as does the rest of his neighbors, lives in the shade,
29:45eating termites and at peace.
30:04As insignificant as they may seem to us,
30:06even when we find some of these living creatures repulsive
30:09and think that they can be done without,
30:12we should not forget that they all serve a function,
30:15and all they need now is our awareness to continue existing.
30:45Dr. Marlucia Martins is an entomologist
30:48who has just returned from a three-day journey,
30:50just three days in which she has discovered for science
30:53the existence of 34 new kinds of insect species,
30:56important keys to the Amazonian puzzle.
31:02All creatures have their history.
31:05This one in particular has a special one for me.
31:09I was one of the people that discovered its existence for science,
31:13so it's kind of like a son, or perhaps like a daughter.
31:19This particular group of flies is well known to science, the drosophilias.
31:28Life expresses itself in different forms,
31:31and insects are part of this life form.
31:35More concretely, we can be losing control of the functioning of the system,
31:40as in everything else,
31:48because it is the whole of all the species
31:51which makes everything that exists in the Amazonia function.
31:57The grandeur of the woodlands and everything else is like an organism that works,
32:03and each group, each species, is a part of that whole.
32:11In the Mocambo jungle, the giant ants are the masters.
32:17They are the biggest in the world,
32:19and this species only lives in the heart of the Amazonia.
32:23Two centimeters long, a sting like that of the bees, their kin,
32:28and jaws as sharp as razors,
32:30the ants of the Dinaporina genus here
32:33are not the innocent little bugs they are in Europe.
32:37Of less gregarious habits, but equally as active,
32:40these insects live with their large bodies close to the ground.
32:46It is estimated that the sting of ten of these insects
32:49can cause the death of an adult male.
32:57It doesn't quite fit in the palm of a hand,
33:00and it is only a beetle.
33:02The Titanus giganteus, 20 centimeters long,
33:06it is the largest in the world
33:08and only one example of the 300,000 Coleopteras
33:11that exist in the Amazonian system.
33:14Brazil is a big country with big surprises such as this one.
33:19The small Jacaré, only 6 meters long,
33:22captured in the Paraguay River in April of 1991,
33:25it had already eaten a human being.
33:28It also feels at ease in the water.
33:31That is how this 100-kilogram anaconda is,
33:34a creation of this laboratory
33:36with every right to hunt for its food,
33:39although sometimes the sucu-si,
33:41as it is called here by those who fear it,
33:44does not distinguish human meat
33:46from other types of meat while it's feeding,
33:49as occurred with the one in this photograph
33:52taken in Tabatinga,
33:54where a child of 13 was found inside its stomach.
33:58The jungle floorboards creak at its passing.
34:01It is an anta, don't be frightened,
34:04300 kilograms of muscle
34:06for an innocent ash-colored vegetarian.
34:09With its proboscis,
34:11the taper slightly reminds us of elephants,
34:14also very large African animals.
34:18Without any enemies,
34:20except for human beings that enjoy its lean meat,
34:23the tapers peacefully camp in the forests,
34:26yielding their throne
34:28to the third-largest feline in the cat universe,
34:31the jaguar,
34:33the painted onça, as it is called here,
34:36maximum in size,
34:38and the largest in size.
34:41The jaguar,
34:43the painted onça, as it is called here,
34:46maximum exponent of a powerful and vigorous zoology,
34:50although threatened.
34:53The Amazon felines will occupy a frame of honor
34:56in this traveler's series,
34:58where everyone has a place.
35:10There is a place here for everyone,
35:12the big and the little,
35:14powerful physiques and delicate ones.
35:16The saguis leoncinus
35:18is one of the 86 specimens of primates
35:20that inhabit the Amazonia,
35:22demonstrating this way that nature here
35:24is not only powerful,
35:26there is also a place for the smaller animals.
35:42Just like that of King Kong,
35:44the heart of our Kingi Kongi,
35:46our minute star,
35:48also belongs to someone.
35:50Rosana is an expert and defender
35:52of our closest relatives in the animal kingdom.
35:54She's their friend,
35:56a great expert in primates.
36:02She reluctantly keeps this Amazonic gem in her house,
36:05a gem that lost its shine
36:07the day it was kidnapped
36:09by a mafia of traders of free fauna.
36:11Kingi Kongi cannot go back to living in nature.
36:14It wouldn't survive,
36:16and now its existence depends on Rosana
36:18and her refrigerator.
36:22If it weren't for its long tail,
36:24this monkey would be smaller than a computer mouse.
36:27It's safe now,
36:29inside the home of the zoologist.
36:31But many are the saguis leoncinus
36:33that are captured every year to become a pet,
36:36and that has put them on the edge of extinction.
36:42Many people prefer seeing them
36:44perform their antics on a plastic tree
36:46instead of their natural jungle home,
36:48living room nature,
36:50a grotesque and ridiculous Amazonia.
37:07Of the 140 million people who inhabit Brazil,
37:1020 are in the water.
37:1220 are argonauts and good swimmers.
37:16Five million square kilometers for the people of the water.
37:22Look closely.
37:24Without television or video games,
37:26this group of riverside children
37:28get great enjoyment out of the river.
37:30There is not just fun in their movements.
37:33There's also technique,
37:35a knowledge acquired through their elders.
37:40Nothing is virtual here.
37:42Happiness is something that can be touched.
37:45A canoe full of water
37:47can weigh approximately 1,000 kilos.
37:50Emptying it is more a matter of skill than strength,
37:53and skill is an essential heritage
37:55that belongs to the children of the river.
38:03The Amazon is a humanized river.
38:07And this series is not going to ignore that.
38:10We are interested in its natural resources,
38:13its problems, and, above all, its people.
38:18The Amazon planet is full of kind and sociable natures.
38:37The pulleys of this shipyard in Manaus
38:40have been moving for 110 years.
38:43They get their strength from the river
38:46and return it modified and fertile.
39:07Propellers for boats are made here,
39:10as in the painting La Fragua.
39:13Energy is not destroyed
39:15by blows of mallets and sledgehammers,
39:18but rather it is transformed.
39:21Big ships and little boats
39:23caulk their hulls injured in 1,000 fluvial battles
39:27or renew their propellers
39:29in this factory of miles and melancholy.
39:32The small ships and boats
39:35The small boat is ready
39:37and leaves the dry dock,
39:39pushed by a stronger motor and a new propeller.
39:42The navigators are serious.
39:44If something breaks during the maneuvering,
39:47their lives will be distorted.
39:49They not only travel in this boat,
39:51they also live here,
39:53and they return serene to the river that carries them.
40:0580,000 kilometers of navigable rivers
40:08in this Amazonia that captivates us
40:11are reasons enough for thousands of boats
40:14to move here and there each day.
40:25Of the 113 trillion square meters
40:28of disposable water for terrestrial use,
40:3116 trillion are reserved by nature
40:34for the men and women of Amazonian Brazil,
40:37a gift that cannot be wasted,
40:4015% of the world's fresh water.
40:50Orellana entered Peru from the Atlantic Ocean.
40:54Let's imagine his feet
40:56in vessels similar to the ones
40:58that we have filmed
41:00in today's 21st century Brazil.
41:03What do you think?
41:22All intent on the conquer of the giant
41:25All intent on the conquer of the giant
41:28and its offspring,
41:30millions of lakes,
41:32and such that allow themselves
41:34to be cut through by the keels
41:36of small and large vessels.
41:39The river is a public square,
41:41highway, or market,
41:43and the boats, canoes, or rafts
41:45are the means to reach an end,
41:47to get everywhere in a geography
41:49where solid, bare ground is scarce.
41:52Family visits, attending funerals,
41:54or business meetings,
41:56can all involve various days
41:58of journey down the river.
42:00Many souls depend on the river
42:02for their living,
42:04and much is the country folk
42:06that grows around it.
42:08The Amazon planet also has its astronauts.
42:10If not, take a look at the clothing
42:12these stevedores are wearing.
42:16In the great Amazonia,
42:18one can go navigating anywhere,
42:20but indeed, without a watch,
42:22things have a different rhythm here,
42:25logical transportation in the land
42:27of calmness and slow pace
42:29on a human scale.
42:38The river sometimes defends itself.
42:41It wants to be alone.
42:43The more pessimistic say
42:45that there is no paradise
42:47without an inferno,
42:49malaria is the devil himself.
42:53This is a hospital where people come to
42:56and paying the price of living
42:58in the human jungle.
43:00Their crime is none other than
43:02living off the river from the river.
43:05100,000 people will come down
43:07with malaria this year
43:09in the mid-basin area
43:11of the Amazon River.
43:13After a brief analysis,
43:15these citizens will know
43:17that they have been marked
43:19by an ailment which is not always fatal,
43:21but that will make decent-quality living
43:23very difficult.
43:37In the following chapters,
43:39we will visit human settlements
43:41such as the Nueva Floresta,
43:43where the settlers struggle
43:45against the consequences
43:47of living in a shattered
43:49and violated jungle.
43:51We will discover where and why
43:53the jungle of our elders
43:55is bleeding to death.
43:59We will travel to the center
44:01of the Amazon volcano
44:03and together discover the motives
44:05for all the destruction
44:07since Europe settled in Brazilian lands,
44:09the province of Santa Cruz,
44:11as it was called then.
44:13We cannot deny that the Amazon
44:15is an injured giant
44:17that is getting weaker each year,
44:19faster than our hearts
44:21and pockets can assimilate.
44:33The lumber industries
44:35plunder almost always illegally
44:37a natural resource
44:39from which there is no return,
44:41like the state treasury,
44:43wasting a resource
44:45that belongs only to the Brazilians.
44:55There is no doubt about it.
44:57Any ailment that besets this jungle
44:59will present its symptoms
45:01in the rest of the world.
45:07We will discover other patients
45:09whose ailment is cyclical.
45:11Gold fever, a human adventure
45:13filled with poison, romanticism
45:15and disappointment,
45:17and that moves the will
45:19of thousands of Brazilians
45:21of the Amazonia.
45:23The garimpeiros are direct heirs
45:25of the first explorers
45:27who searched for El Dorado.
45:29The year 2000
45:31was the year of the 5th centennial,
45:33time measured by an ambiguous calendar
45:35which only counts for the victorious.
45:37The 23rd of April, 1500,
45:39Pedro Álvarez Cabral
45:41landed on the south of Bahia
45:43by chance when he was traveling
45:45towards Calcutta.
45:47He opened the eyes
45:49of the Western world
45:51to this great country,
45:53forgetting the past
45:55and the future.
45:59He was forgetting
46:01that it already had inhabitants.
46:03In Brasilia,
46:05beneath one of the clocks
46:07that commemorate the 5th centennial
46:09of the arrival of the Portuguese
46:11to Brazil,
46:13some of the most important
46:15indigenous leaders
46:17have met in council.
46:19Their thoughts and their words
46:21are worth being heard.
46:23In 1500,
46:25we were approximately
46:27five centuries of contact
46:29with the white man.
46:33As a matter of fact,
46:35we have nothing to celebrate.
46:37After all,
46:39the progress of these cities,
46:41the nation of Brazil
46:43was all built on our sacrifice,
46:45on the blood of the Indians
46:47that lived here
46:49when the white man arrived.
46:51Therefore, Brazil could be
46:53a better country
46:55and accepts those cultural differences
46:57as something enriching,
46:59as something that can contribute
47:01to many fates,
47:03not only that of Brazil,
47:05but that of all mankind
47:07during the next centuries,
47:09during the next millenniums.
47:15Two out of three Brazilian Indians
47:17live in the Amazonia
47:19indigenous reserves.
47:22There are 170,000 people
47:24that occupy a territory
47:26equivalent to that of almost
47:28three times Germany.
47:33A lot of land,
47:35as far as those who are against this,
47:37and also a lot for those
47:39who have to cross it every day.
47:42According to the Constitution,
47:44the indigenous people of Brazil
47:46have the same opportunities
47:48to get on the bandwagon of progress
47:50as the Brazilian citizens.
47:53In the 21st century,
47:55many Indians travel through the jungle
47:57by bus,
47:59although the cement
48:01is still a few centuries behind.
48:04The road to future
48:06is full of ditches.
48:21There are many ways
48:23of eliminating a race,
48:25and the white man
48:27has tried them all.
48:29There have always been
48:31buffalo bills willing
48:33to carry out ethnic cleansing.
48:36One of the chapters
48:38of this series will reveal
48:40one of the cruelest
48:42technical genocides,
48:44based simply on making life
48:46so impossible for an indigenous group
48:48to commit suicide.
48:53In this safety box
48:55in the Goelde Museum,
48:57a priceless piece of Brazilian
48:59human history is kept.
49:19A quartz arrowhead
49:21that an Amazon hunter
49:23carved 9,000 years ago.
49:25Neither Columbus
49:27nor Cabral
49:29had been born yet.
49:39What is truly amazing
49:41is to see Indians today
49:43also sharpening their arrows.
49:45A forceful reality,
49:47as is the economic power
49:49of the Brazilian giant,
49:53the Paleolithic
49:55in the Space Age.
50:06They're not poor folk.
50:08What you see here
50:10is all they need to survive.
50:12They're not wretched.
50:14All those that are unfamiliar
50:16with these indigenous people
50:18arrive here and say,
50:20my God, they're so poor.
50:22My God, they're so wretched
50:24because they don't have cars,
50:26because they don't have television.
50:28That has nothing to do
50:30with their lives.
50:32They are happy that way,
50:34and that is the happiness
50:36that must be preserved
50:38until the moment there is contact,
50:40and that contact must be made
50:42with those who are responsible.
50:44The government is responsible
50:46for the lives and deaths
50:48of those people
50:50and the pure state they live in.
50:56Some episodes will take us
50:58closer to the deep sentiment
51:00of those that protect them,
51:02not without hard work,
51:04like this person you've just met,
51:06Sidney Pozuelo,
51:08Director of the Department
51:10for Indigenous Peoples.
51:18As do all the children
51:20of the world,
51:22he cries when bathed
51:24by his mother.
51:26The Brazil of the samba,
51:28football and Formula One
51:30is the immense site
51:32in which ethnic groups
51:34still remain isolated,
51:36a people indifferent
51:38to their own lives.
51:46We will discover their habits
51:48and their customs.
51:50We will watch how they
51:52communicate with Mother Earth
51:54like no one else does,
51:56and live their lives
51:58peacefully with the dignity
52:00of those who are in their place.
52:02And the Zoe are.
52:04They are the masters of the world,
52:06human beings who will not
52:08leave you untouched
52:10once you have met them,
52:12the great hope in an Amazon planet
52:14that still maintains
52:16a strong amount of purity.
52:18The call of the Zoe
52:20will be the last call.
52:33Brazil celebrated the 5th centennial
52:35of the arrival of the Portuguese
52:37to their territory,
52:39but this man was already here
52:411,000 years before that.
52:43It is a skull that was found
52:45on the island of Marajó,
52:47at the mouth of the river,
52:49the Amazon River.
52:51A skull that was painted red,
52:53which forms part of a funeral rite
52:55that speaks to us of a sophisticated
52:57and civilized culture.
52:59Throughout this program,
53:02we hope you will sign up with us
53:04on this priceless adventure
53:06through the Amazon planet,
53:08a planet that was inhabited,
53:10as we've said,
53:12before the existence of Shakespeare,
53:14to be or not to be.
53:31drum and flute music
54:01whistling
54:23If you feel attracted
54:25by the call of the Amazonia,
54:27we'll be here waiting for you.
54:31drum and flute music
55:01whistling
55:15music only
55:31whistling
56:01whistling