I enjoyed watching The Territory and it has easily become one of my favorite documentaries to date. I think telling the story of culture and heritage is incredibly important, especially when throughout history many have had theirs stripped away. Territory works to capture that story in the middle, its history in the making. What I believed made it so compelling were the visuals and sounds, particularly its ability to capture the unique personalities entangled in this story.
The person that struck me the most was Bitate, who you can consider to be one of, if not the main character of this story. Chosen to be the president of the Jupaú Association at only 18 years old, he has an enormous burden to carry. As someone close to his age, seeing the challenges he has to fast puts a lot into perspective. His story is one of the many smaller ones that are woven into this blanket of history. A teenager who has become head of an important governing body, something I couldn’t imagine myself doing now let alone at his age.
Throughout the documentary, we see how wise and mature Bitate must be in order to lead his people. However, there are moments when his youth peaks through. This duality makes the film really stand out.
Some questions I have left for the movie are: If a follow-up were to be made where would it start off? Would it include the same characters? What was the emotional toll left on production after experiencing such intense scenarios?