A man put his body between bulldozers and the Amazon. They killed him anyway.
Chico Mendes, who was murdered by a rancher in 1988, is an international symbol of the struggle to protect the Amazon Rainforest. As the leader of the rubber tapper trade union, he organized the so-called empates, a pacifist resistance action in which workers blocked the advance of machines entering the forest with their bodies.
Acting
Jorge Paz carries the weight of a real martyr without sanctimony.
Direction
Dual Sérgios capture Brazil's beauty and rot with equal clarity.
Director
Sérgio Carvalho
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Chico's murder made global headlines; the rancher who ordered it served less than 20 years and now runs a cattle farm. Capitalism's recycling program.
The 'empate' tactic—human bodies vs. machines—was borrowed from Gandhi but adapted for workers who literally lived in trees. The film reportedly recreates the 1985 Cachoeira standoff where 3,000 rubber tappers faced down loggers.
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