Educational Media Reviews Online

The River Between Us is a documentary that takes viewers to the Manú National Park in the Peruvian Amazon. On one side of the Madre de Dios River, one can find a civilization of villagers living in small settlements. What is on the other side could not be any more different, as a tribe of hunter gatherers called the Mascho Piro reside amidst the dense forests and picked over beaches. Living off the land since being pushed far into the forest by rubber companies in the past, the tribe has been protected by Peruvian law which enables them to live in seclusion. However, within the last decade, the Mascho Piro have been making contact along the river.

Despite the language barrier, the villagers on the other side have created a tenuous trade situation in order to keep the tribe satisfied. Because of the Mascho Piro’s ignorance of societal norms, they are quick to resort to bullying to get the goods they want. Unfortunately, throughout this “relationship” have been spats of violence, with such an incident occurring in 2015 when a fifteen-year-old boy was killed. What resulted was the Peruvian Ministry of Culture dispatching a team of anthropologists to monitor the situation, protecting both the tribe as well as the villagers.

Despite the anthropologists’ efforts to quell tension and keep things status quo, the indigenous peoples are susceptible to outside forces trying to civilize them. Drug traffickers run rampant in the area, along with gold miners and missionaries. Additionally, the tribe does not understand how dangerous it is to fraternize with civilized peoples, as they lack immunity to certain diseases. This becomes even more of a threat with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

Throughout the film, the director Carl Gierstorfer smartly makes use of the environment in his cinematographic choices. Between the contextual point-of-view interviews, the long and wide-angled shots transport the viewer right to the humid Amazon. Overhead drone shots majestically capture the setting and display the multi-layered division represented by the river. The orchestral musical choices selected for scene transitions and background is another wonderful touch.

The River Between Us will be a strong addition to any academic library, drawing on several themes within indigenous studies, Latin American studies, and anthropology. Additionally, the content can easily inspire discussion about what it means to be “civilized” and the injustices of colonization. Viewers should take note that the documentary contains English subtitles.

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