and THAT'S why you never get into a mutually destuctive Colombian drug war just because you shared an ancient Wayuu dance with a pretty girl whose mother doesn't like you.

Very engaging Shakespearean vibe that builds momentum. Many elements of Animal Kingdom, Scarface and Godfather. Focused on the origins of drug trafficking in Colombia.

Glad I saw it on the big screen. Nicely shot by David Gallego on 35mm Techniscope (3-Perf). Lenses: Ultra Prime, ARRI Alura 45-250mm T2.6 F Telephoto Studio Zoom, Angénieux OPTIMO Zoom T2.8 OPTIMO 45-120.

Good article on film's look:
www.moviemaker.com/archives/winter-2019/birds-of-passage-david-gallego/

How do you follow up the magnificent monochrome of Embrace of the Serpent? With this, an epic which tracks the rise and fall of a small time drug trafficker and the family into which he marries. The traditions of the Wayuu people contrast with the encroaching rise of the modern drug trade. Ostensibly the centre is Raphayet, as the man initially on the make but he is soon confronted with his new family's matriarch, Ursula played as a cross between Lady Macbeth and Catherine de Medici by Carmiña Martínez. Calm in demeanour but steely underneath, she is the power behind many of the machinations in the film. Blood is very much thicker than water but it also leads to the spilling of plenty of It.

A powerful story, told with intelligence and a real understanding of the way indigenous people have had their traditional ways dissipate in the wake of the ways of the Western world. Watch these birds fly.

I've been eating bananas incorrectly all this time

45/100

A.V. Club review. This is getting raves elsewhere, which I find mystifying because it's utterly generic apart from its cultural milieu. Standard-issue drug-war melodrama, featuring not one but two Hotheaded Impulsive Johnny-Boy-Style Sidekicks Who Ruin Everything.

Hearing the directors talk about how they premiered this movie outdoors in the Wayuu capital and they had 800 seats and 4000 people showed up in a night with no electricity

I'm crying in my uber

Cinema is so powerful and hearing about these people watching a movie that is in their language and filmed in their territory for the first time ever in their history is so fucking surreal and magical and all I can think is what the fuc did Colombian people do to deserve Cristina Gallego and Ciro Guerra

Cheech and Chong's Bad Dreams

Extremely rote Greek tragedy as gangster drama, except for all of the ways in which it's not (details of indigenous Colombian ritual and belief, blunt critique of neoliberal economics, birds...lots of birds). Not a lecture or an essay or an ethnographic film, though, its primary concern is surprisingly in telling a straight forward story.

Turns out the true disruptor was... capitalism, the weed with roots in hell.

Somewhere on the line between Jodorowsky and Narcos lives this parable about greed, honor, and family. The composition of the landscape shots are meticulous, the jumps in time breezy, and the beauty of the chanting intoxicating. Details are given second shrift to emotions, but the screenplay communicates the nuances of these characters relationships every step of the way. Not only did I enjoy it, I've enjoyed thinking about it.

"Long live capitalism!" -Rapayet,

This is how my weed gets to me?!?

I love epic crime dramas about drugs... I'm a sucker for them and this is one of the best I've seen in years because it is well made, has a wonderfully nuanced script about crime but also culture, and the cast feels so natural there are moments you could mistake it for a documentary. So many films about this topic give only superficial coverage of the drug source, opting to focus more on cops and dealers, but this is such an interesting exploration of the personal and dramatic features of marijuana production. I really enjoyed this.

Birds of Passage is my first film from Colombia! What else should I watch?

Wolf of wall street version wuayu JAJAJJAJAJ no mentira no excelente película estaba entre 4 o 4.5 la dejare en 4 por ahora pero mi mente puede cambiar

Very well made
Kind of a colombian "artsy" version of Scarface

Usually when it's a five-star movie for me, i don't know what to say, well ... it's happening.

Carajo

Moody & visually captivating Colombian crime drama with a rich, multilayered narrative and vivid, dreamy cinematography.

i'm gonna fall in love with colombia even more when Encanto released omg

The cultural-indigenous aspect is beautiful and the film does have some good cinematography but the generic 'easy drug money ruins families & society' plot makes it for a predictable & not really engaging watch.

During the marijuana bonanza, a violent decade that saw the origins of drug trafficking in Colombia, Rapayet and his indigenous family get involved in a war to control the business that ends up destroying their lives and their culture.

Still great, a Crime type story with zero glamorising of that element and which is set in a rural area. So glad that Netflix UK picked this sort of film up.

8,5/10