Birds of Passage - Review Thread

To be honest, before I viewed director Ciro Guerra's remarkable film Embrace of the Serpent, I don't think I'd ever seen a film out of Colombia before, but if the talents of Guerra are indicative at all of the film movement to come out of there in the near future, then I'm excited to see what the country's cinematic voices have to offer.  In my opinion, Embrace of the Serpent was not only the best film of its respective year, but one of the best of the decade and one of the most absorbing and thought provoking cinematic experiences of my life.  Shot in beautifully rich black-and-white, Embrace of the Serpent was a brilliantly composed film spanning two separate timelines as a guide begrudgingly takes two different white men down the Amazon river.  In the film Guerra touches on a number of topics including but not limited to religion, the harm and benefit of sharing cultures, the cyclical nature of time, and man's role within the vast expanse of nature.  Though it's generally widely praised by those who have viewed the film, it strikes me as odd that Embrace of the Serpent hasn't garnered more attention since its release in this country in 2016.  It's a masterpiece that will only grow in acclaim with time, and naturally I fervently looked forward to Guerra's followup film.  Well it's finally here in the form of Birds of Passage, which on the surface appears to be a departure from Embrace of the Serpent, yet carries many of its themes and style all the same.  Gone is the stark contrast look of the black-and-white for rich color, and largely gone is the focus on nature in favor of people, but Birds of Passage is a more than worthy successor to Guerra's breakout achievement.  It's possibly a film that will grow on me with a second viewing, and I don't feel that it dazzles with its narrative as well as the ideas behind it do, but at the very least Birds of Passage is a clear sign that Guerra, this time joined by co-director Cristina Gallego, is not only the ambassador for Colombian cinema but one of the most distinct voices in the art today.

Birds of Passage spans from the late 1960s to the early 1980s and focuses on two families, though are technically one since they're linked as cousins, who become heavily involved in the Colombian marijuana boom and the fallout of their participation.  At the center of the story is Rapayet (Jose Acosta), who is a member of the Wayuu tribe of indigenous people but is also integrated with the andujin, the term the Wayuu use for the people of Colombia who have no tribal relations and represent the imposing Western culture closing in on the country.  Rapayet has his eyes on Wayuu beauty Zaida (Natalia Reyes), but her mother, the domineering and deeply superstitious Ursula (Carmina Martinez), requests a sufficient dowry from him in return.  In order to meet the staunch request, Rapayet and his friend Moises (Jhon Navarez) get involved in selling his cousin Anibal's (Juan Bautista Martinez) marijuana to gringos and begin to reap large profits.  As is the case in most drug-related films, Rapayet and his family enjoy the initial riches bestowed upon them through the drug trade, only for it to eventually threaten to ensnare them all.  The film plays itself out in five chapters, and while the narrative beats will feel familiar to anyone who indulges in the sort of drug/crime flicks that are prevalent in Western films, Guerra and Gallego mostly stay away from Hollywood shootouts and rise-and-fall montages for more methodical examinations of the rift the drug game is causing not just between the families but their cultures as well.  The money is allowing the Wayuu people to live beyond their wildest dreams, but despite their constant clamoring for following tradition are clearly more interested in indulging in the prosperity of capitalism.  Holding onto tradition as the narrative evolves becomes more based on stamping out anyone disrupting profit, and the hypocrisy of both families as things begin to unravel is a staunch criticism of the drug outpouring from Colombia from the 1960s through the 1980s, which ingrained in Western thinking that the country was a drug haven with no cultural identity beyond that.  

Birds of Passage can certainly be viewed as a terrific companion piece to Embrace of the Serpent through its exploration of these themes, notably that in both films it's the intrusion of white men promising profits and a value beyond familial traditions that set off the chain of events in which both films surround themselves.  Birds of Passage doesn't single this out as much as its predecessor, but Guerra seems once again to be warning against cultural sharing and inclusion as it only leads to a clash of ideas that culminate in chaos.  It's a pretty interesting stance considering the message that's incredibly prevalent in a lot of American cinema is the exact opposite; different cultures should be celebrated, shared, immersed, and in doing so will ultimately garner more understanding and bring us all together.  But then again, both of Guerra's films are focused on the damage that capitalism and cultural immersion have brought to Colombia in the 20th century.  Whether it's rubber barons, missions, or the drug trade, Colombia has been repeatedly plagued by outsiders with no regard for the country's culture, only the profits its natural resources and indigenous people can provide.  There's a lot to unpack with Birds of Passage, and it's all strung together by a far more approachable narrative than Embrace of the Serpent that should appeal to a larger number of American viewers, though at times I wish that Guerra and Gallego wouldn't so obviously tip their hands.  Aside from a few shocks here and there, it's not difficult to see exactly where Birds of Passage is going at all times, even if the directions that it moves in are always compelling and masterfully handled.  It's not going to offer the wildly visceral thrills of say a Cartel Land (yes, I understand this is a documentary), but anyone blown away by the ideas put forth by Embrace of the Serpent will find plenty to latch onto in Guerra's followup effort.


8/10