We Are the Indians

"I love James Bond films, action films and even romantic films, but my favorite film is without a doubt 'The Mission'. My uncle acts in it and nobody calls him anything other than 'Burnt Arse'", says Marcelo Gonzales at the beginning of the film. This young man, from the Mbya Guarani Indian tribe, lives with his family in the Red Earth settlement in the Northeastern part of Argentina. These original inhabitants survive in the immediate vicinity of the rainforest as best they can. Their dilapidated houses are often a tourist attraction for Japanese visitors, and they some times set off into the jungle to hunt for armadillos or pumas or leave in a group to work on the tea plantations. Most of them however do not receive the promised wages for their several days' hard work. In this colorful ethnographic documentary film with mini-portraits of members of the Indian community, we meet with zealous Christian missionary Claudio, an older peasant named Sebastian, and the active Agustin, who goes off to fight for the rights of his people to their land in the city of La Plata. The picture offers a unique look at the conflict between the traditional Indian culture with the white civilization and the way in which the Indians perceive the universal human themes such as identity, friendship, adulthood, death and religion.