Birds of Passage

Colombia 1968: Long before the name Pablo Escobar is on everyone's lips, a family from the matriarchal Wayuu tribe lays the foundations for the notorious drug trade that still destabilizes Colombia today. The young Rapayet sells some marijuana to Americans in the Peace Corps. Business booms and he soon becomes the richest man in the remote steppe region. But this wealth comes at a high price. A brutal war for power and money breaks out, jeopardizing not only the lives of the tribe, but also their culture and traditions. Married director duo Ciro Guerra and Cristina Gallego tell an epic story in impressive and surreal images, in which the myths of the Wayuu are interwoven with the harsh realities of drug trafficking. Unlike series such as “Narcos”, the film, which is based on a true story, completely dispenses with a cool glorification of the drug lords. Instead, it tells the story of what the drug business does to a tribe that - as is stated at one point - has already survived and driven out all kinds of land robbers, pirates, Spaniards and the English - but is in danger of perishing because of American capitalism. Guerra, who was nominated for an Oscar for “The Shaman and the Snake”, once again succeeds in creating a masterpiece that is as powerful as it is poetic - a visually stunning battle between culture and capitalism. “Birds of Passage” was the opening film of the ‘Quinzaine des Réalisateurs’ at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival and was submitted by Colombia for the Oscar in the ‘Best Foreign Language Film’ category. “At once ethnological chronicle and arthouse thriller [...] like the indigenous PATE” (The Hollywood Reporter) “Birds of Passage”, which [...] also appears authentic thanks to its cast of amateurs alongside the professional actors, shows the transformation of their world in many moments that seem incidental. The corruption by money and power is outwardly apparent in the change of houses, clothes and accessories, the entire habitus of the protagonists, but is also expressed in the increasingly meaningless adherence to traditional rules and the loss of connection to the spiritual world: dreams no longer speak to people, they remain as mute as the ominous birds that stomp ominously through some scenes. [...] The sober dynamism with which Gallego and Guerra tell the family story, which drifts ever further into bloody madness, by capturing it in concise ellipses and clear, dramatic images often reminiscent of westerns - that is incredibly exciting. And the poetic, unobtrusive elegance with which the archaic, the modern and the timelessly human flow into one another in this story is unique.” (Patrick Seyboth, at: epd-film.de) "At once ethnological chronicle and arthouse thriller [...] like the indigenous Godfather" (The Hollywood Reporter).