filmclub münster: PÁJAROS DE VERANO/ Birds of Passage

PÁJAROS DE VERANO

Direction: Cristina Gallego & Ciro Guerra, Colombia 2018, 125 min., FSK 12, with Carmiña Martinez, Natalia Reyes, José Acosta et al.
In surreal images, Ciro Guerra and Cristina Gallego tell an epic story in which the myths of the Wayuu are interwoven with the harsh realities of drug trafficking.

The "marijuana bonanza", the lucrative business of exporting marijuana to the United States, was a harbinger of what was to shape a country for decades to come. In La Guajira, Colombia, an indigenous Wayúu family experiences first-hand the consequences of the conflict between ambition and honour. A war between brothers, the consequences of which put their families, their culture and the traditions of their ancestors at stake.

Colombia 1968: Young Rapayet sells some marijuana to Americans in the Peace Corps. Business is booming, and his Wayúu family makes a good living catering to the needs of North American youths. He soon rises to become the richest man in the remote steppe region of Guajira. But this wealth comes at a high price: A brutal war for power and money breaks out, jeopardising not only the lives of the tribe, but also their culture and traditions.
Long before the name Pablo Escobar was on everyone's lips, a family from the matriarchal Wayúu tribe laid the foundations for the drug trade for which the country would later become so notorious. In impressive and surreal images, Ciro Guerra and Cristina Gallego tell an epic story in which the myths of the Wayuu are interwoven with the harsh realities of drug trafficking: "At once an ethnological chronicle and an arthouse thriller like the indigenous PATE", writes the Hollywood Reporter about the multi-award-winning film.