Xingu, a film that ignores Belo Monte

Vivian Virissimo, from Sul 21 – Freely inspired by real events, the film Xingu is aesthetically very well-crafted and fulfills the important function of telling the story of the Villas-Bôas brothers and their epic mission to create the Xingu National Park. Furthermore, it brings to light important historical facts for understanding present-day Brazil, such as the construction of the Trans-Amazonian Highway. However, it falters by presenting a current overview of the park that ignores the impact, or at least the suspected impact, that the Belo Monte hydroelectric dam project will have, the most controversial project currently underway in the country.

The film has many merits in recounting the process that made the creation of the park possible, the political negotiations, the careful work of the Villas-Bôas brothers. But on the day the Park celebrates 51 years of foundation, this Saturday (14), ignoring Belo Monte does not contribute to answering one of the main questions that may disturb the public: is the preservation of the Xingu National Park really guaranteed?

It is undeniable that it is important to tell the story of the park and its founders with a minimum of fidelity – a task that the film undertakes – but the great fear is that Xingu will produce a false sense of accomplishment, that Brazilians should be proud of the indigenous policy implemented by the State, disregarding the serious risks of setbacks faced by indigenous peoples in the demarcation of new indigenous lands – as is the case with PEC 215, which is being processed in the National Congress, to give just one example.

Of course, the film doesn't intend to do that, and it's very successful in portraying the historical period that led to the creation of the reserve, but not mentioning Belo Monte, even in the final seconds of the film, is an authorial choice that is difficult to defend. Sponsored by Globo Filmes, this is a serious flaw that suggests that the Brazilian State, by establishing the Xingu National Park, has already done a great deal for the indigenous people, reserving a space of land that no other country has demarcated (approximately 2,6 million hectares in Mato Grosso).

Even without mentioning Belo Monte in the film's ending, Cao Hamburguer spoke, before the first screening of Xingu, about the risks of environmental and political setbacks at stake in the Amazon. "We are running the risk of going backwards not only in indigenous policies, but also in environmental issues," he stated. "We are telling a story that took place fifty years ago, but which is very current and urgent," he commented.

Pressed about why the construction of Belo Monte is not mentioned, the film's producer, Fernando Meirelles, defends himself by saying that the images of the Trans-Amazonian Highway at the end of the film already implicitly address the issue. He confessed to being against the dam, which, according to him, was imposed without proper impact studies. "There will be seventeen dams along the river to produce electricity that we don't need, to make aluminum for China," he concludes.

With or without Belo Monte, the future of the Xingu National Park is uncertain. In any case, Xingu is indispensable for understanding the details of the Roncador-Xingu expedition that mapped the territory, built airstrips, and paved the way for the "development" model that is still being implemented today.