Birds of Passage

"Birds of Passage" (2018 release from Colombia; 125 min.) is a drug drama about a Wayuu (northern Colombia) family. As the movie opens, Zaida has completed her year of confinement "with grace and dignity" according to her mom, and now the village is celebrating Zaida becoming a woman. Rapayet, a young man in the village, has his eyes on her, and his uncle asks Zaida's family. The family, however, is demanding a dowry of 30 goats and 20 cows, among other things. Rapayet needs to come up with money, lots of money, and by coincidence (when a Peace Corps guy is looking for weed) gets involved in the drug trade... At this point we're less than 15 min. into the movie but to tell you more of the plot will spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.

Couple of comments: this is the latest movie from Ciro Guera (who previously brought us the equally excellent "Embrace of the Serpent") and Cristina Gallego. "Birds of Passage" follows one particular family's involvement in the drug trade from 1968 to 1980, and the movie is brought in 5 chapters (called "Songs" in the movie: Song I Wild Grass 1968' Song II The Graves 1971, etc. When you heard the words "drug trade" and "Colombia", we typically associate them with movies like "Escobar: Paradise Lost". "Birds of Passage" is a completely different type drug drama, mostly because this deal with an isolated clan, where family and tradition means everything (literally), and due to the small and remoteness of this clan, everything becomes personal very quickly. The cast, unknowns but for Natalia Reyes (who plays Zaida), is generally outstanding. Last but not least, be sure to check out the scenery, which is almost a character in and of itself.

"Bird of Passage" premiered at last year's Cannes film festival to great acclaim, and it finally appeared this weekend at my local art-house movie theater, I couldn't wait to see it. The Sunday matinee screening where I saw this at was attended poorly (6 people including myself). If you are interested in seeing a Colombia drug drama from a very different perspective that what you probably envision, I'd readily suggest you check this out, be it in the theater (if you still can), on VOD, or eventually on DVD/Blu-ray, and draw your own conclusion.

This film is without a doubt a thought- provoking, chaotic and memorable experience. A lot of films choose to talk about the drug wars and the effects that power and money can have to humans, but this one feels like no other. It is griping and intense and handles its subject material in the best of ways. It is obvious that the creator of the film did everything he could so that the movie feels realistic and interesting to the viewer. Its beautiful and colorful visuals, the exceptional sound design and the strong and immersive soundtrack made you feel as a part of a whole and the film never felt boring or cliche. It is masterfully crafted and really well-paced. Every conversation and direction that the film takes feels logical and you can feel the chaos slowly coming to the surface and destroying this tribe's life. Also, whenever a certain ritual was taking place, like the bird-like dance or the spitting by the old lady that is the matriarch o the tribe, I was instantly hooked by it. Its a movie about life and death and how a small change could lead to a larger one and to a larger one and in the end to death and chaos. Its a story about people which are trapped in their own deadly webs and are unable to escape. Everything that was young and beautiful,the red dress of the young actress, the insects and the kids, the dances and that feel of family, togetherness and spirituality is lost and overshadowed by dullness and corrupted and greedy people, who seek power but in the end find death. Tragic indeed 8/10 and who knows? maybe a 9 on a second watch

This marvelous movie takes place in Colombia, within the Peninsula of the Guajirain, a sparsely populated and arid area, and mostly played with Wayuu autochthons. This timeless univers is characterized by a rather pronounced communitarianism, each village highlighting its differences with the surrounding ones, while the origin of these differences remains, as often, unexplained and obscure. Nevertheless, they share ancestral traditions, folklore and values such as honor and family bonds. Thus, during the first 30 minutes, we do not really know when the film takes place, until the informative and surprising appearance of cars. Thus, we may guess that we are in the 60s / 70s. A marriage proposal between a man and a woman from two neighboring tribes will be, by a strange combination of circumstances related to an exorbitant dowry, the opportunity to integrate the marijuana trafficking, which is a very lucrative universe while slowly distorting personalities. Like in a Greek tragedy, these families will ineluctably suffer a descent into hell, via the classical 'eye for eye, tooth for tooth' philosophy.

The film is visually sober and simple, but of an exacerbated aestheticism, with an unusual care about details, including birds. Moreover, the actors are excellent, especially the two main ones: José Acosta (Rapayet) and Carmiña Martínez (Úrsula).

Guerra & Gallego's Wayuu crime epic is dense and beautiful, but a necessary part of its long maudlin descent is that it becomes a serious drag especially towards the end. It's not as transformatively psychedelic as Guerra's Embrace which I adore but it has some seriously brilliant sequences and the sprawling (mainly Wayuu) ensemble cast gives it a beautiful foundational weight. I felt like I learned a lot about this period and place as well as the dark ripples which a sudden influx of money can have on people's choices, on power and greed. It's harrowing because although it is set somewhere very specific, it feels like it could have happened anywhere.

... but birds can sing this story so it can remain forever.

My favourite parts of the film had to do with the cantors singing about their own view on the happenings while the inspiring photography drives us into another world. In fact many different worlds, considering we're led from the desert to the foggy mountains to the beach.

A sui generis gangster movie where indigenous traditions, folklore, religion and tribal ways of life take us through this journey of a family being torn by its own ambition of being thriving and united. But also - and probably more important for the author indulging in the showcase of such folklore - a story about the modern world destroying the old one.

I had reviewed "El Abrazo de la Serpiente" by Guerra (with a 4 out of 10.. getting myself a lot of bad votes), and my curiosity towards this movie started with the trailer as it was released: EAdlS might have been a bad movie, but the basic material wasn't bad at all - this new endeavour should be better, embracing the easier-to-digest ganster genre. And here we are: despite a certain slow pace and the obvious constant lingering on the local culture which lots of people might not be fond of, this is obviously a huge improvement.

Regarding the weak points I find the direction very static: most of what happens feels like happening on a stage where actors are all well ordered in rows or ensembles positioned perfectly for the viewer, whether they are talking, negotiating or killing each other. Definetely not realistic and contrary to any action-movie standard.

Also the conclusion, though furtunately avoiding the stupid gangster movie traditional tropes, feels totally underwhelming: the writers could have found something in line with the rest of the movie without leaving the viewer disappointed with such a forgettable ending.

I don't know. Maybe in 50 years we'll be considerig Mr Guerra like Antonioni, and people like me, just idiots unable to get his art. I don't think so but we'll see.

Anyways a great movie. Ty to all involved.