The Song of The Butterflies: A Gorgeous Look Into an All But Forgotten Indigenous People

The Song of the Butterflies, written and directed by Nuria Frigola Torrent, follows indigenous painter Rember Yahuarcani on his quest to find inspiration for his next great piece. He longs to continue telling the stories, through his exquisite paintings, that his grandmother passed on to him, about the legacy and lore of the Uitoto people in Amazonian Peru.

A Storyteller

Rember lives in Lima, Peru, in what appears to be one of the city’s center plazas. There he tells the stories relayed to him about his ancestors and culture by his grandmother through his art. Rember is part of the White Heron clan which currently has only two families remaining.

Through his incredible paintings, he keeps the voice of his grandmother alive, as she would’ve wanted, in breathtaking color and imagery. Though Rember has painted many pictures, he has gotten to a point where, like most artists, inspiration isn’t coming.

He reaches out to his family, who still lives in the jungle and begins his quest for his elusive muse.

Another Society Decimated by Colonialism

“We are the traces of the great fire of war”

Rember returns to his family home, his father, mother and younger siblings. Rember’s mother is a sculptor and traditional mask maker and Rember’s father is a painter and a teacher to his siblings. In a painting, Rember’s father relays one of the horrifying stories about their ancestors who were enslaved, brutalized and thrown on fires.

Source: PBS

Before greed infested their jungle paradise, the Uitoto people lived in remote peace in an area protected by nature from the rest of the world. Then, word got out about the native rubber trees there and white colonizers were eager to gain control.

During the Rubber Boom, both in the early and middle 20th Century, the Uitoto population went from around 50,000 down to 7-10,000. Disease, murder and displacement of the Uitoto flourished as greed and power-lust ravaged their lands.

Rember reaches out to members of other clans in the region and the stories of massacre abound. One of the stories of the Bofaina clan speaks of their people being forced by a foreman to get up for work before dawn. Treated terribly by the white colonizers, they asked “Why do you treat us this way? We are human too.”

The clan eventually rose up and killed the foreman only to be burned alive in their sleep by other foremen. Fueled by the very rubber they were forced to collect, the fire spread quickly and burned the entire clan within the house.

Source: PBS

Another story involves a place called “Casa Arana” that still haunts the indigenous population today. In it’s prime it was a rubber warehouse right on the river, where indigenous people were forced to come on a daily basis to weigh the amounts of rubber they collected. If they did not fulfill the weight goals set upon them, they could be lashed or even beheaded.

The elder states that this is the place of the largest indigenous genocide of the area. Some claim to still hear the screams of the fallen Uitoto there. Started by Julio Cesar Arana, one of the main figures of the rubber industry, his business, which was reliant on indigenous labor, was responsible for the decline of half of the indigenous population there and in surrounding areas.

Rember finishes his trip meeting with some tribal female elders and talks with them about their contributions to both the clans and the legacy of the Uitoto people.

In All Honesty…

Song of The Butterflies is a quietly sublime film that tells the stories of a people all but exterminated. It gives us a look into the soul and spirit of a culture and community that lived in peace and harmony with their natural surroundings.

Through the stories and art handed down generation by generation, we get a glimpse of the lives of the Uitoto people and the abundant lands they once lived in. The most magnificent part of the the film was the story of how they believe their ancestors of the past, live on in spirit, through all of the stunning butterflies and moths that fill the region. It brings a sense of hope and beautiful spirituality to a history marred by suffering and colonialism.

Cinematographer Nicolas Landa helps create Rember’s and the Uitoto’s story through impeccably elegant imagery, capturing the beauty of the land, its animals and its people with masterful skill. His imagery paints the backdrop for the film story that is a feast for the eyes and senses.

Art by Rember Yahuarcari. Source: PBS

The importance of this film and it’s subject cannot be understated. We live in a world that is still ravaged by big business and greed. As a collective, we must come to terms with and redress our history of brutality and imperialism in the name of rapacity and white supremacy.

The Uitoto’s land is still under threat today. If we do nothing to preserve what is left of the Amazon, the rain forest, its precious inhabitants and indigenous population will be eradicated forever. We cannot afford to stand idly by and let another indigenous people be erased from history.

But as we’ve seen countless times in all of human history, human lives and nature mean nothing when there is money to be made. I can only hope that, soon, we understand the importance of preservation and respect for life.

Nature will balance itself eventually. What remains to be seen is if humanity as a collective will be there after it does.

The Song of the Butterflies is available to stream for free at POV.org until October 29, 2021