'Journal' charts conflict, struggles of South American Indian tribes

Idealizing cultures according to one's preconceived notions stems from one major source of information: the press. Anthropologist Geoffrey O'Connor reveals the mass misunderstanding and consequent conflict between South American Indian tribes and government in his latest documentary, "Amazon Journal."

Released nationwide in theaters as part of a 15-city tour, "Amazon Journal" is a companion to O'Connor's recent book, "Amazon Journal: Dispatches from a Vanishing Frontier." The story provides a unique perspective on the relationship between the modern world and the primitive life of Amazon-region Indians.

Illegally smuggled into Yanomami territory in the Northwest Amazon, O'Connor risks his life in order to understand the relationship between Yanomami Indians and the Brazilian gold miners who have encroached their homelands. He discovers the "smoke screen" that figuratively blocks the vision of the miners who believe they know what is best for the indigenous populations.

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	Amazon Journal Sunday at the Michigan Theater 4 stars

In truth, they are spreading disease among the Yanomami and taking their land away. The miners believe that because they are giving the Indians food and other staples they are helping the native population assimilate into modern culture.

O'Connor painstakingly captures the Yanomami culture on camera. In one particular photo shoot a goods exchange occurs, vividly revealing the attitude of the miners toward the Indians. O'Connor believes the miners think of the Yanomami as "nothing more than a sideshow which broke up the monotony of the forest."

For the miners, they have only one goal: to extract the precious gold that lies deep within the fertile ground of the Amazon. O'Connor insightfully compares this conquest to that of Columbus on his crusade to discover the riches of the New World. In modern-day Brazil, the government supports the mining operations and doesn't account for the original rights of the Indians.

As a result of a Brazilian government plan to erect hydroelectric dams in the rain forest, another Indian tribe residing in the Amazon, the Kayapo Indians, openly protested against such actions. Their resistance to have their land ecologically damaged immediately drew the interest of many outsiders, particularly journalists. O'Connor describes how the press sympathized with the Indians' cause. He takes a close look at rock singer Sting and his influence in bringing attention to the Kayapo Indians.

O'Connor also notes the rise and fall in the popularity of Paiakan, a Kayapo Indian who was once seen as "a man who would save the world," but, due to charges of rape, was scorned by the press. Paiakan, who was later found innocent, never regained respect due to widespread negative press.

Years later, after the government has declared the land rights of the Kayapo Indians, O'Connor revisits their village only to discover a different way of life altogether.

The influence of the media, the government and the miners has introduced them to the modern world - televisions, radios, Coca-Cola and clothing have penetrated their culture.

This culture change, as O'Connor concludes, is what society doesn't allow to fit into our simplistic notions of what Indians are like. It has perpetuated a "legacy of mistrust" which has kept the two worlds in conflict for the past 500 years. As he says, these conflicts may cease only "if we can throw away our cliched images and see them as people with their own way of life."

10-10-97