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Transamazonia
In her fourth feature film, screening in the Main Slate section of the 2024 New York Film Festival, South African director Pia Marais has constructed a nuanced, chilling, opaque adventure in Transamazonia. Marais, who directs and co-writes with Willem Droste and Martin Rosefeldt, begins with a plane crash. After tension and suspense, the film concludes in uncertainty.
Transamazonia focuses on the character Rebecca Byrne learning the truth about her identity. Marais uses the occasion to raise searing questions about the deforestation of the Amazon region, and about activism, morality, God, and social responsibility.
In the lush, torpid jungle, an unconscious girl covered in mud and blood wakes up to ants crawling on her hand. Ahead, she sees an Indigenous man, one of the Iruaté people. Silently, he carries her off, in mystical wonderment, we assume, to an Indigenous encampment in the forest. The narrative goes on to zig-zag. The next scene reveals the girl on a hospital bed and beyond, a hall full of reporters with cameras, who call out to her father, Lawrence Byrne (Jeremy Xido). Byrne looks at the girl, but moves to leave, and the reporters press him to identify her. Because the Indigenous man had carried only the girl away to recover, we assume she is the sole survivor of the crash.
Nine Years Later
Nearly a decade later, father and daughter Rebecca (Helena Zengel) sing, pray and lead church services for the locals. Employing knowledge of God’s love and grace that Rebecca received from her miracle survival, they stir the populace’s faith. Indeed, it appears the remote, inner serenity of the peaceful Rebecca with her father’s encouragement heals the sick. Together, Rebecca and Lawrence spread hope andy lead the congregation to sing songs they’ve written. Their faith, paramount in this community of believers, sustains them in their mission to bring Christ’s love to the people.
Marais lets us believe in their fervent faith’s authenticity for a while. And thanks to the superb actors, doubt flees with the hope that Rebecca receives Christ’s powers, as His channel. Then the film takes a sharp left turn, with another in their group counting money in the back offices of the mission. Rebecca observes they had a “good take.” Our cynicism floods in. Are these fake missionaries, scamming the Indigenous people in an age-old story of colonialism?
Expertly Moving Conflicts Forward
The film depicts the conflict between the Indigenous people and the logging industry that steals their land, even as we get more clues about the identities of the father and daughter. In another twist, we learn that Rebecca and her father predominately help the Indigenous people, not the loggers. After one incident the father treats an Indigenous young man’s injury to the upset of the loggers who want to punish him. Lawrence gets antibiotics from a nurse (Sabine Timoteo), who lives nearby.
In another plot twist, the nurse recognizes Rebecca who denies she knows her. Perhaps the nurse knows something about Rebecca and the plane crash, which has given Rebecca amnesia – suppressed memories – and nightmares.
The mysteries abound. Another incident provides clues about the father and daughter’s faith. During a church service a woman in a wheelchair says she wishes for healing. The father and daughter team don’t back away from her but accept and love her. Indeed, without fear, they encourage her to believe in Christ’s love and healing power. The woman stands and haltingly walks. The crowd cheers. Subtly, Marais lets the incident validate the father and daughter without any explanation of why the woman couldn’t walk. We note the goodness delivered, the faith of the congregation and the happiness of the woman.
Transamazonia: The Light and Dark in Human Beings
When they perform good works helping serve the locals and caring for them, we doubt because we remember the money scene. Only the Indigenous people seem to have no mixture of light and dark. They just want to live in peace and protect their land.
As the conflicts escalate betweenthe natives and the rapacious loggers, the Indigenous people decide they’ve had enough. They close the logging road, and the atmosphere of terror augments. A breach occurs between the father and daughter when he asks the nurse to stay with them and help treat the people. Again, the nurse states she recognizes Rebecca. After she shows Rebecca a picture of the women she resembles, Rebecca’s nightmares worsen.
A Point of No Return
Finally, the suspense reaches its peak. Lawrence attempts to broker a peace deal between the loggers and the Indigenous people. He tells the logging company owner, Artur Alves (Rômulo Braga), that Rebecca can heal his comatose wife. Alves promises to depart the jungle and end the abuses if Rebecca’s healing powers revive his wife. Lawrence calls him on his promise.
Now angry with her father, mistrusting him, Rebecca wants to know her real identity. The nurse convinced her the woman she looks like may be her mother who died in the plane crash. Rebecca refuses to heal or pray for anyone until she knows her identity.
As the conflicts intensify, human foibles unravel in this hybrid eco-thriller and coming-of-age story. In those characters with the most light, the quest for faith and truth amidst insincerity and the love of power and money finally achieves its reward. For the Indigenous people, their unity, innocence and beauty appear as irrevocable and immutable as the forest horrifically disappearing before their eyes. As we watch the last minutes of the film, we hope for the protagonists we’ve grown to appreciate, as they face an uncertain future.
Marais has crafted a profound narrative and a strong film. Though it may frustrate those who seek definitions, uncertainty and mystery maintain a subtle coherence. The mysteries thread without substantive answers, enough to make the film haunting and glorious.
