Tigrero: A Film That Was Never Made

Yes.

Yes.

Yes, we still do it.

We also mark our faces and skin.

We paint everything...

the jaguar, the fish.

Only after five days...

First we put paint...

then charcoal.

It lasts five days.

About four or five days old.

Yes, I did.

Kuberene...

and Iroa.

Yes, we played.

I don't remember, it was too long ago.

Kuberene was kind of a sad boy, but a good person.

The other boy was more cheerful...

enjoyed playing.

One was more joyful, the other sad.

Yes, they had families.

The aruanas were immortal fishes that lived in hidden lakes inside the earth.

One day, though, Hariua, a smart young aruana...

found a shaft of sunlight.

Immediately he remembered the wise advise of Kobehi, the oldest shaman:

"Avoid the shaft of sunlight that comes through a long, narrow, stony path."

"It leads to suffering, pain, danger and death!"

But a strong feeling of curiosity took the young aruana closer...

We don't have...

any written education...

we get our knowledge from our parents and families.

They teach us about our destiny, about being an Indian...

being a human being, and about life.

If we don't respect our elders...

we'll be lost.

We really have to fight to try to maintain the maximum possible...

of our culture, our language, our dances.

During the years of colonialism...

the whites wanted us to be their slaves.

During the republic they tried...

to change us into whites overnight.

They put the hospital here, the hotel, the school...

the machines.

We were confused...

not knowing how to live in this new situation...

and after the years...

of white man's civilization...