Hot Docs

This latest film from the director of the acclaimed Bus 174 is a fiery investigation of the seminal—and highly controversial—research on the Yanomami Indians. In the 1960s and ‘70s, a steady stream of anthropologists filed into the Amazon Basin to observe this “virgin” society untouched by modern life. Thirty years later, the events surrounding the infiltration have become a scandalous tale of academic ethics and infighting. Soon the disputes take on “Heart of Darkness” overtones as they descend into shadowy allegations of sexual and medical violation. Director José Padilha brilliantly employs provocative strategies to raise unsettling questions about the boundaries of cultural encounters. He allows professors accused of heinous activities to defend themselves, and the Yanomami to represent their side of the story. As this riveting excavation deconstructs anthropology’s colonial legacy, it challenges our society’s myths of objectivity and the very notion of the “other.” - Shannon Abel