Look at this.
These footprints are fresh.
We can see that...
they were here today.
They were here today.
I can't understand a word of what they're saying.
The forest is too dense. I can't see them.
But they are very close by.
IN 1989, A FUNAI EXPEDITION LEAD BY JAIR CANDOR FOUND
IN A SMALL STRETCH OF THE FOREST, ENCLOSED BY EXPANDING FARMLAND,
PAKYÎ AND TAMANDUA,
THE LAST TWO SURVIVORS OF THE PIRIPKURA PEOPLE.
THE SUCCESS OF THIS EXPEDITION
WAS MAINLY DUE TO THE PRESENCE OF RITA,
THE THIRD KNOWN SURVIVOR OF THIS PEOPLE.
THIRTY YEARS AGO, AFTER LOSING MOST OF HER FAMILY,
RITA LEFT THE AREA AND NOW LIVES WITH ARIPÃ KARIPUNA,
WHOM SHE MARRIED IN THE LATE 1990S.
ON SOME OCCASIONS,
RITA AND ARIPÃ ESCORTED JAIR ON HIS EXPEDITIONS
TO THE PIRIPKURA INDIGENOUS TERRITORY.
THESE EXPEDITIONS INTEND TO GATHER AND MONITOR EVIDENCE
THAT PAKYÎ AND TAMANDUA ARE LIVING IN THEIR TERRITORY.
THIS EVIDENCE HELPS TO KEEP LAND-USE RESTRICTIONS,
AND IS THE ONLY WAY TO PROTECT THEM.
The last time I saw them was in 2011.
Every time I see them, I'm moved by their situation.
And how they are able to survive...
with virtually nothing.
They have nothing.
And each time...
that it takes us four, five or six years to see them again,
for me, if they're healthy...
I'm vey pleased to know
that they are able to survive the crossfire that is going on,
despite their current situation.
KARIPUNA INDIGENOUS TERRITORY PANORAMA SETTLEMENT - RONDÔNIA
Be careful. Snake.
When I ran away,
everyone was gone.
- They were all gone. - All gone.
Only Pakyî and Tamandua stayed.
Only Pakyî stayed, only the two of them.
The two of them.
When I'm there, we talk a lot.
- Who was singing? - My brother. Pakyî.
We talk, and we talk. We talk a lot.
When someone comes by, he stops.
He keeps quiet. That's right.
He looks around. "Jair is here.
Jair is here. He is coming.
Is Jair here? There's Jair."
That's what he says, right?
"Jair is coming today."
Right? He knows.
He usually guesses when I am going to see him.
A little bird tells him when Jair is coming.
According to him, a little bird tells him...
- It tells him. - It tells him. And he arrives.
When I arrive, it's because the bird was telling the truth.
Pakyî and Tamandua are your brothers?
Are they your brothers?
Pakyî is my brother.
- What about Tamandua? - Tamandua is my nephew.
- Your nephew. - My nephew.
What were your children's names?
His name was Hete'i.
Hete'i, and Tapedju'ia, who was the girl.
- Tapedju'ia. - Tapedju'ia. I had...
- Hete'i was the boy. - The boy.
Two. No more.
The rest died.
I come from the other side of the river,
my grandmother said.
- Canoe. - You crossed in a canoe.
- And then came... - Made of a tree trunk.
...the white men who killed my family.
The ones who killed my family. They killed many of them.
They killed many women.
They killed my sister-in-law...
and her cousin as well.
And children on their mothers' backs.
They were on their mothers' backs...
- They killed them. - Right.
They killed...
Four women were killed. Yes. And then, they stopped.
Then, you crossed the river in a canoe.
- A big canoe. It wasn't small. - A very big one.
- There were too many people. - And everyone came.
Everyone. So, we came here.
My mother, my grandmother, my aunt...
Everyone came.
They feared the white men who were killing people.
- Across the river. - The four women died there.
- In the village... - The village across the river.
- Where you lived... - That's where it happened.
We used to live there. But we crossed the river
and came here.
Aripã as well. Everyone. The Karipuna came, too.
- The Karipuna fled, too? - They did.
I didn't know about them, but everyone came this way.
Me! My turn.
- Didn't you draw Tamandua? - No, I didn't draw him.
What about Pakyî? Is he this one?
I didn't draw Pakyî either.
- Isn't this Pakyî? - No.
- No? - No.
Who is this one?
No, this is an animal. It's a frog.
- This is a frog. - A frog.
- Isn't this Pakyî? - No.
- Two feet... - You didn't draw your brother?
This is an animal. I know the animals of the forest.
- Is this you? - I did this one.
It has long hair, so it's you.
- No, it's not me. - No?
No.
These are my boy and my girl. And a small lizard.
Your daughter and your son?
- Hete'i and Tapedju'ia. - Tapedju'ia...
They came to make "sushimi".
- Did you check the other side? - Yes.
This side looks good, but the other one...
Did you gut it?
Yes.
Now, we just need to fry it, or roast it.
He is talking about cracking the nut.
- Cracking the nut. - That's right.
Here.
The Urucum there.
Will you miss him now?
Miss him? He doesn't know me. He doesn't know about me.
I'm the one who knows him. I know him.
- He doesn't know me. - You remember him.
I remember... I remember him.
- Right. - He doesn't remember me.
No, he remembers you, but he doesn't want to...
He doesn't want to... I don't know.
I think he was angry because you left them there.
But he remembers you. He knows that you are family.
That's it. That's all we have.
That's all.
So, will you see him when you get there?
I don't know. We'll see, Jair.
What if he is there while you are there?
- I don't know. We'll see. - Really?
- We'll see what I think. - Right.
That's enough, right? You don't want to see more.
- It's over. - Tomorrow, we'll go up there.
Right?
I should bring a mirror.
These are coins.
Coins...
I'll take the sinker for fishing in the...
...in the Piripkura.
I'll just leave this here. It doesn't fit.
These ones are going in.
These ones.
These are coins. This is one Real.
I'll take it.
That's maçaranduba.
It's the name of this tree.
So much wood, isn't it?
If you look at the satellite images
from 1999 to the present,
one by one, each year, you will see the difference...
and what happened year after year,
until it almost reached the territory.
So, it's easy to see that,
if it were not for the indigenous territory,
even though there hasn't been a permanent demarcation...
this area wouldn't be preserved.
It wouldn't.
So, I ask myself, can't the government see it?
Isn't there anyone who...
If we want to preserve this part of the Amazon,
this is the way to do it.
Isn't what we have already destroyed
enough to keep this damn country going?
I don't know.
PIRIPKURA INDIGENOUS TERRITORY FUNAI OUTPOST - MATO GROSSO
This is from our latest expedition.
We rowed down this stream...
- And we saw their tracks. - We saw many tracks.
They were old ones.
There was a tapiri here.
So, this will be our itinerary.
I think it will take us at least five days.
Sugar...
Giovana eats too much, Jair. She kills the paca and keeps it.
- Coffee. - Coffee.
One for you, and one for me.
- How much are we taking? - Twenty pounds.
- Did you take the tarp? - Yes.
One for both of you? Don't you want to bring two?
No. We will sleep in opposite directions. It's fine.
One is enough?
What if the rain gets you wet?
Yes...
Then, we will use the tapiri.
- Tapiri... - Tapiri is good.
Yes, it's good. It's cool, it blocks the rain...
I think I won't bring the tarp, I will build a tapiri.
The timber industry used this road.
In 2007, when I got here...
this road was used day and night.
When the interdiction came, in 2008, they stopped using it.
It must be renewed every two years,
so we need to look for evidence
to prove that these guys exist.
If we are not able to do it,
the land goes back to farmers or the timber industry.
And it's always a hustle when it's time to...
renew the interdiction.
We never know if we'll be able to...
renew the interdiction.
There was a path here, right?
The problem is that there are only two of them.
It's hard to find their tracks
and even harder to follow them.
Right?
But we know they are somewhere out there.
The question is, where.
If they have gone that way, we will find their tracks.
I am telling him that if we are lucky tomorrow,
we will be able to find their tracks.
And we will, because we are very lucky.
I am going to my...
- Tent? - Tent.
- Good night, everyone. - Good night.
This is where they came fishing.
They were here after us.
They used timbó.
This is what kills the fish.
- They used timbó. - It comes from a tree, right?
It's used for killing fish.
There is probably a camp somewhere around here.
Over there. There it is, Cleiton.
Look. It's over there.
It's called rabo-de-jacu.
- Jair, there is the tapiri. - The tapiri?
Look that way. Over there.
- They stayed here for a while. - They were here.
There were two fires.
They lived here for a while.
What's under there?
It's fish.
They were cooking fish.
They put the fish there.
- Yam peel... - Yam peel...
- They didn't eat much, right? - No.
They only ate yam.
This is their torch for carrying fire.
They probably left this one here and made a new one.
It's from a palm tree.
- What is it called? - It's pindawyapêa.
- Pindawyapêa? - That's right.
- Is this your brother's? - Yes, he is my brother.
- Is it Tikun, your brother? - Yes, my brother.
- Is he? - Yes.
The other one is my nephew. It's Tamandua.
- Tamandua is your nephew. - Yes.
- And Tikun is your brother. - He is her older brother.
Pakyî is my brother.
- Right. He was here days ago. - Yes.
They disappeared, man.
- They disappeared. - They're gone, man.
That's how they are. If you miss them,
they'll flap their wings and fly.
We are not that far from the outpost.
Around three or four miles away.
The closer we get to the source of this stream,
the more winding it gets.
We won't follow its course anymore,
because we can't see their tracks anymore.
We will cut through the bends
and walk straight forward.
This way, we can avoid...
zigzagging so much.
Aren't we going to find another damn tapiri around here?
Six months before the interdiction expires,
Jair organizes a new expedition to look for more recent evidence
in another area where Pakyî and Tamandua live.
This time, Rita does not go with them.
When I came to Rondônia, in 1966,
people said that the natives were beasts,
that they were animals.
And anyone could pick up a gun and go into the forest.
If you ran into them, you could kill them.
It wasn't a issue. You wouldn't be...
You were killing an animal, so you wouldn't get arrested.
Some men specialized in going
to the settlements at night, while people were asleep,
and cutting their bowstrings,
which rendered them virtually unarmed.
Then, they would set fire to the longhouse
and wait by the entrance for people to run out.
So you had maybe 10, 15 or 20 shotguns
against unarmed people.
No one survived.
When I came to this area, I heard and saw
people putting these crews together
to go out there and to this kind of job.
So, I basically grew up...
I don't know how I managed to change my perspective
and take the natives' side.
But you know, we used to hear people say
that the natives hindered the country's development
and that the rule was to eliminate them.
There's nothing there. I think they shut down that sawmill.
- They shut it down and left. - Yes.
But they didn't stop cutting down trees.
Last year, they cut down some trees.
- Now, they raise cattle. - Exactly.
When I got here, in 2007,
and I saw the roads and the trucks day and night,
I thought, "They are not alive anymore."
What they have gone through in these roads,
with trucks going up and down, new trails everywhere,
men carrying sickles, axes, shotguns, and all that shit...
Those guys are ninja for having survived all that.
They are ninja.
But I ask you, for how much longer?
I don't know.
Laws keep changing all the time,
and one of these days, I don't know...
I hope not, but...
we are always afraid that one of these days...
FUNAI might lose what little power it still has
and fall into the wrong hands.
And then, it's over.
Goddamn it.
My boots were so nice and dry.
Not anymore.
- That's right, we don't... - Yes.
We don't realize how much noise we make.
We must be careful not to fall into any holes.
This is a small tree that they cut down.
Surely, they used it to built a small tapiri
somewhere around here. But it has been some two years
since they were here.
This is the rest of it.
It was left hanging. They cut it right here.
Even the fire went out, right, Cleiton?
These guys don't need anything. They want fire and a hatchet.
They want nothing else.
They need this and the forest still standing.
That's what they need, and nothing else.
It is very likely that they are still alive.
It wasn't this time that...
They are very smart, man.
When we worry that...
something bad might happen to them,
it means running into a lumberjack or a prospector.
But the chances of them...
dying from a disease are very slim.
But if they run into a lumberjack, a prospector...
or something like that, then...
Surely, they wouldn't pass on the opportunity to kill them.
If I sit down, it feels better.
But when I stand, it is like...
It feels like the bones are grinding against one another.
It feels like...
the skin is going to rip open.
- Let's roll. - Let's roll.
Just let me find some support...
so that I can go in.
And here we go again.
Wait up, asshole.
I can't run after you with my bad knee.
Ask them how long it has been since the fire went out.
It went out.
I walked, and walked, and walked...
It is the first time these guys come to us.
- When the fire went out. - We won the lottery today.
Right?
Come.
Ask them if the rain put out their fire.
He doesn't understand what you are saying.
The word ma means he doesn't understand.
You said something similar to a word he knows,
but he doesn't know what it means.
Banana?
Banana.
Tell them to sit down.
Sit down with them.
Only the weather could make these guys come to us.
At least they came here, instead of a farm.
At least they have learned this lesson.
But then, the first time that they...
When they needed us before, we weren't here.
They went to a farm because FUNAI wasn't here.
They looked for fire at all of our outposts.
They found no one, so where would they go next?
That's where.
And they got this fire
in 1998.
They lit this torch in 1998,
and it went out in 2016.
Ask them if they want more bananas.
We can fish for them too. They need to eat something.
The fire went out, and Jair's longhouse...
Then, Jair's longhouse. Fire.
Fire.
Did you leave Pakyî's hatchet in the tapiri?
- Tamandua. - Tamandua. What about you?
- Tamandua. - Tamandua...
Pakyî. See?
Tamandua and Pakyî.
It's not Tikun. It's Pakyî and Tamandua.
He remembered to introduce himself now.
- He's Pakyî. - And this is Tamandua.
Yes.
Tamandua and Pakyî,
the lords of Mato Grosso. You just sit...
What is he saying? He wants to leave, right?
- No. - What is it?
They really don't want to stay here.
Pakyî.
They never saw themselves side by side.
The camera...
Just their faces.
Tamandua was crying.
Hello, good morning. Jair speaking.
We have these two natives with us.
We had made a deal with Wilton that,
as soon as we found them, you guys would send a team over
to do a...
a health assessment with them, okay?
That's great, buddy, but..
That's great, but here's the thing,
we need you to be really quick,
because we don't have much time with them here.
That's great. I will...
I will call you back in 20 minutes.
Sure. Deal.
Okay, bye.
Damn.
It's not going to happen.
They say they'll come this week. They have to come today.
- That's awful, Mr. Jair. - What else can we do, Cleiton?
In 30 minutes, we will call them again.
Then, we can take these guys out fishing.
Tamandua.
I will say it was an encounter.
- Will you write that? - Yes.
Today, five new parties have stated their positions,
making up for the 25 parties with seats in the Chamber.
Eighteen parties are favorable to the impeachment,
among them, PMDB, the largest caucus in the Chamber,
PSDB, and PP.
Five parties are against the impeachment...
Roger that. Are they still there? Over.
Affirmative. We have been trying to get in touch with Brasília,
but it's difficult.
But we have been able to keep them here.
Roger that. Do you have anyone who can speak their language?
As incredible as it may seem, not so much.
Roger that. Maybe you could set a watch
to keep them from running away. Over.
No, negative. This is not our intention.
And we can't force them to stay here either.
I think that, when they wish to leave,
they have the right to do so, and we must respect that, roger?
Roger that.
Take this.
Now, it will roast nicely.
Hello, nurse.
Ask away.
Hi.
Good morning.
Affirmative.
We do. It's...
No, you can come. We will find you guys somewhere to stay.
It's hot.
Come.
- Say ko'ema to them. - Ko'ema?
- In the morning. - Good morning.
- Pakyî. - Pakyî?
Tamandua?
Tell them to take it.
I've been after these guys since 1988.
They were by themselves for over ten years.
We left in 1992, and I came back in 2007 to find them again.
And no one stayed here?
Not for a while. Only farmers, lumberjacks, prospectors...
And they managed to survive in the crossfire around here.
They are really brave.
They have some kick-ass survival skills.
The first time I met them, this one was Tititi.
- Tititi? - Yes. And...
And this one was a child, he was Curumim.
He is his uncle.
So, it was Tititi and Curumim. Then, it was Joveia, Tapeia,
Tikun, Mande'i, and so on, until...
And now, it is Pakyî...
Now, it is Pakyî and Tamandua.
- They can see well, can't they? - You bet.
Very well.
They can see and hear extremely well.
Listen, Mr. Jair...
- They're perfect. - They're perfect.
Fire.
- Fire. - He wants fire.
- He does, right? - He wants fire.
Curumim went that way.
You stay here.
- Goodbye. - Goodbye.
He is saying that he wants to leave.
Curumim went that way.
Fire.
See? They really came for the fire, after all.
You stay here.
How long until this new torch goes out?
It will take a while.
I don't know how it went out. I think it fell into the water.
Here it is.
Let me light this thing for you.
I bet you are happy.
Ask him if he is happy, if he is content.
They are so eager to leave.
This torch of theirs is not burning very easily.
It must burn properly, right?
If it doesn't...
- Goodbye. - Goodbye.
Goodbye.
- Goodbye. - Goodbye!
- Goodbye. - Goodbye.
He put it in place, Jair.
- Fire. - Fire.
Fire.
- Let's go? - Let's go.
Let's go.
- Goodbye. - Goodbye.
Take care.
- Goodbye. - Goodbye.
Godspeed! God bless you, you rascals.
Goodbye!
Those guys are priceless.
Goodbye!
They are already arguing about what to do next.
They always speak very loudly.
Goodbye!
They are gone. One more mission accomplished.
Let's wait another 20 years for their fire to go out,
and see if they come back again.
FOR RITA, PAKYÎ AND TAMANDUA