Anthropologist-turned-filmmaker Luiz Bolognesi elegantly straddles the line between documentary and fiction in “Ex-Shaman,” a beautifully composed look at a member of Brazil’s Pater Surui tribe whose training as a shaman has ostensibly made him redundant. Formerly the privileged go-between connecting his fellow tribesmen with the spiritual world, the ex-shaman Perpera Surui is himself in a sort of limbo, distanced from the spirits as well as his now evangelized people. Dexterously evoking the porous nature of worlds seen and unseen, Bolognesi shapes real situations in a fictional manner, building a narrative that feels artless yet constructed. Given the current interest in indigenous stories, it’s likely this melancholy semi-documentary will hit specialized screens following the festival play.

Bolognesi’s years studying ethnology have revealed themselves before, both in his award-winning animated feature debut, “Rio 2096: A Story of Love and Fury,” as well as films he’s scripted, such as Marco Bechis’ “Birdwatchers.” His sensitivity to cultures and their relationship to their environment is especially pronounced with “Ex-Shaman,” which treats the rupture of a people and their traditions with profound respect; the sadness that blankets the entire film isn’t the knee-jerk distress of an activist but the reflective sorrow of someone with an informed view of an irreversible break with tradition.

The Pater Surui of western Brazil were an uncontacted people until 1969, when the outside world arrived bringing disease, Christianity and the so-called civilizing benefits of Euro-American culture. Perpera was 20 at the time, respected as a young shaman whose mediating powers with the spirits made him an essential figure in the tribe’s hierarchy. Then came rubber extractors, government agents and evangelists who taught the Paiter Surui that the traditional spirits were really devils, and Perpera was ostracized. Only when he went to their church was he again tolerated, and now he’s the church caretaker, incongruously dressed in an ill-fitting white shirt and tie as he sweeps the porch. At home, he sleeps with a light on, hoping the illumination will keep spirits that are angry at his abandonment of them from attacking him.

Berlin Film Review: ‘Ex-Shaman’ Variety Magazine, 2018

Release date: April 26, 2018 (Brazil)
Director: Luiz Bolognesi
Cast: Perpera Suruí, Kennedy Suruí, Ubiratan Suruí, MORE
Cinematography: Pedro J. Marquez
Nominations: Grande Prêmio do Cinema Brasileiro for Best Documentary Feature Film, MORE