Amazonian landscapes and indigenous representations in the Brazilian cinematographic production "Ajuricaba: the rebel of the Amazon" (1977)

Abstract

In this article, we will highlight the film Ajuricaba - the rebel of the Amazon, in order to reflect on how the indigenous Manaus and their mythical character Ajuricaba, as well as the landscapes of the Amazon and their embodied meanings, are represented in a narrative that alternates between the century XVIII and the present. By having its history recalled in the filmic narrative that connects with the present, the film highlights “certain historical continuities”, as announced by Shohat and Stam (2006), which we will seek to analyze. In the film, the representation of urban spaces in the Amazon and its relationship between the urban and the non-urban is also symbolic. These landscapes and their reproductions remain linked, according to Aumont (1995), to what is within the field and brings evidence of what is outside the field. These landscapes that are located within the field are no longer just images but acquire meanings and become imaginary, symbolic, and sensitive spaces (Martin, 2003). In this sense, both the landscapes of the Amazon and the character Ajuricaba become symbols no longer of a particular individual and specific space, but of every warrior who resists oppression, [...].