Understanding Indigenous Identity through Film
Understanding Indigenous Identity through Film
A look at two films that touch on indigenous themes in very different ways: Embrace of the Serpent and To Have Done With the Judgment of God
Anthropology and film have cohabited since the early days of cinema. The blending of artful narrative with scientifically grounded ethnography was pioneered as a genre – dubbed “ethnofiction” – by Jean Rouch, one of the foremost documentary filmmakers of the 20th century. Rouch’s films focused on social life and rituals in Niger and Mali and, though interwoven with scripted fictions, provoked profound philosophical and political debate on the nature of identity and indigenous life.
This dynamic is on display in two recent Latin American films. To Have Done with the Judgment of...
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