Xingu (Hamburger, 2012) - #Berlinale 2012

The story of the three Brazilian brothers fighting to set up an Indian reservation in the Amazon jungle.

This is definitively more of a biopic, or even a fictionalized documentary of the three brothers' lives. In grandiose imagery it recounts their struggle for the different indigenous tribes to get them a completely sealed off reservation in the middle of Brazil. This in itself is quite an extraordinary feat, and their story deserves to be told.

The many things those brothers achieved was maybe a bit too much for a dramatization. In consequence some parts of the film have a very documentary feel towards them. I still couldn't quite connect to the personal motivation of the three main characters, there was some kind of invisible force driving them to their actions and I caught myself one or the other time looking for the reason behind that in the story. I was quite fascinated by Joao Miguel's performance within the confines of the script, seems like somebody to watch out for.

The parts are told in fragmented parts and maybe the film should have simply been *much* longer (in the style of Che) to pay those men adequate tribute and giving an interpretation of their personality.

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